TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BWR Exploration Inc. (TSXV:BWR) (“BWR”) exploration personnel, along with two members of Manto Sipi Cree Nation from God’s River, Manitoba, have recently completed a clean-up and base line site visit to the Little Stull Lake exploration camp, located in NE Manitoba, in anticipation of a proposed exploratory drilling program, that BWR is planning during the winter of 2020/21. Chief and Council of Manto Sipi Cree Nation (“MSCN”), in consultation with BWR as well as the Province of Manitoba, requested that the Little Stull Lake exploration camp undergo a clean-up program, as there was concern from community members on how the camp had been left by previous exploration campaigns.
After 12 years of dormancy since the last drill program on the project, all remaining fuel drums (diesel fuel), have now been checked for leakage and have been re-purposed as furnace and stove oil and are now safely stored in a temporary poly berm. The old berm that was put in place in 2007 had deteriorated over the years; all empty fuel barrels and propane tanks have now been removed from the project and have been disposed of properly. While in the camp (October 12-17) a soil sampling survey to test for contaminants related to improper fuel storage was also completed. Several soil samples were collected in and around the fuel storage area which will be analyzed for petroleum products to determine the extent, if any, of contamination by a laboratory in Winnipeg. The environmental and site visit report will be submitted to MSCN’s Chief and Council once the analyses of the samples become available, along with any remediation recommendations. In addition to the clean-up and soil sampling, one member of the MSCN community visited several of the proposed drill site locations accompanied by BWR’s geologist, and the member now has a better understanding of the environmental disturbance that exploratory drilling poses, and what historical drill sites look like after a decade of natural regrowth, that he can share with his community.
Over the past few years, BWR has shown high respect for the process and the confidential nature of the negotiations and discussions that are being held between the Province and both communities. BWR has been in consultation with the Manitoba Ministry of Agriculture and Resource Development (“ARD”) working alongside the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Relations (“INR”) prior to and since their announcement of November 21, 2019, where Minister Blaine Pedersen and Minister Eileen Clarke signed a new consultation protocol agreement with former Chief Oliver Okemow of the MSCN. The signing was followed by several months of negotiations that eventually lead to the request by the newly elected Chief (Chief John Ross) and Council to have BWR complete an initial base line and environmental site visit.
BWR was advised in early January 2020 by ARD that consultation between BWR, MSCN and the Province was ready to advance, however it involved several meetings, some of which would need to be held in the community. The first “in-community-meeting” was held on January 24, 2020. A second in-community-meeting was planned for March 13, 2020, however this meeting was postponed due to unforeseen events including the Covid-19 pandemic with its related travel restrictions. All travel in and out of northern Manitoba communities was prohibited and restricted to emergency personnel only in mid-March 2020, since then phase 2 and 3 cautionary openings occurred in the spring and then summer when local travel could resume to the northern communities, however, only residents of Manitoba and western Canada as well as northwest Ontario would be permitted to travel to northern regions of Manitoba as per phase 3 guidelines.
The Little Stull Lake Gold project is located within the traditional territories of both God’s Lake First Nation (“GLFN”) and Manto Sipi Cree Nation (“MSCN”). These two communities are related but are separately governed, and as such BWR needs to respect their commonality as well as their individuality as Nations. BWR understood that the new consultation protocol agreement signed in late 2019 addressed some, but not all of the outstanding issues as they pertain to BWR’s proposed early stage exploration program on MSCN Treaty Land Entitlement selections, four of which overlap on BWR mineral claims in the Little Stull Lake Gold project area.
BWR continues to support the objectives of the protocol consultation process and now anticipates engaging in relevant and consequential consultation with MSCN over the next while, involving but not limited to the creation of a partnership with the community, that will include implementing Covid-19 mitigation measures for use of the camp under the supervision of MSCN. Tightly monitored exploration should be able to advance under an early stage exploration work permit, allowing BWR to proceed with financing for the project for an exploratory drilling program in Q1 2021 anticipated to include the drilling of 2,000 meters in 10 holes, followed by additional exploration drilling (to be determined) during the spring/summer of 2021.
BWR Exploration Inc. is a public company focused on exploring for base and precious metals, with its flagship Little Stull Lake Gold Project in NE Manitoba along with other exploration projects in Northern Ontario, and Northern Quebec, Canada. Management of BWR includes an accomplished group of exploration/mining specialists with many decades of operational experience in the junior resource sector. There are currently 89,502,461 shares issued in BWR Exploration.
Neither the Toronto Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For information about BWR Exploration Inc. please visit our website: http://www.bwrexploration.com
or call/email:
Neil Novak, P.Geo., President, CEO & Director,
BWR Exploration Inc.
82 Richmond St. E, Toronto, ON M5C 1P1
Office (416) 848 6866
nnovak@bwrexploration.com
For additional information regarding BWR please contact:
Carl Desjardins, Paradox Investor Services Inc.
Cell: 514-618-4477
carldesjardins@paradox-pr.ca