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HOUSTON LAKE MINING INC. (HLM-TSX.V)
PRESS RELEASE
Houston
Lake to Commence Exploration on Three Projects
May
29, 2002:
Sudbury, Ontario - Houston Lake Mining Inc. (CDNX:HLM,
"Houston Lake") is pleased to announce that
the Company will be active on all its projects this summer.
Preliminary evaluation of the McLennan and Jesse (North)
gold properties in the Kenora Mining District of Ontario
is targeted for early June. Follow up exploration is also
expected to start in June on the Pakeagama Lake rare metals
project situated in the Red Lake Mining District of Ontario.
Preliminary exploration is slated to begin later this
week on the Ghost Lake tantalum project located near Dryden,
Ontario. McLennan and Jesse (North) Gold Project Houston
Lake has maintained a 45% ownership interest and recently
obtained an option on the remaining 55% in the 139.6 hectare
(345 acre) McLennan Gold Property subject to a 1.5% NSR.
Houston Lake also has the right to earn a 100% interest
in the 144 hectare (355.7 acre) Jesse Gold Property subject
to a 2.5% NSR which adjoins the southwestern boundary
of the McLennan Gold Property. Historic work had focused
on the McLennan Shear Zone at the northerly-striking contact
of mafic volcanics with a large gabbro body. Assessment
files record highlights in trenching results of 2.74 g/t
Au over 7.0 m. (.080 oz/t Au over 23.0 ft.) and 5.34 g/t
Au over 5.0 m. (.156 oz/t Au over 16.4 ft.) and in drilling
results of 3.06 g/t Au over 4.57 m. (.089 Au oz/t over
15.0 ft.) along the volcanic/gabbro contact. In 1997 a
new 10 to 20 metre wide shear zone internal to the gabbro
was identified with a strike length in excess of 800 metres
(2624 feet). In 1997 results of 44.76 g/t Au over 1.2
m. (1.305 oz/t Au over 3.9 ft.) were reported from trenching
over this new shear zone in the northern portion of the
property. Subsequent sampling of a stripped area located
approximately 100 metres to the north along the same shear
structure returned 9.99 g/t Au over 4.8 metres (.291 oz/t
Au over 15.7 ft.) which included 43.78 g/t Au over 1.0
metres (1.277 oz/t Au over 3.3 ft.). The extension of
the new shear zone into the southern portions of the McLennan
Gold Property did see limited exploration in 1997 but
did not report significant gold values. Houston Lake plans
to further evaluate the mineralized shear zones with an
initial channel sampling program. Pakeagama Lake Rare Metals Project The
Company’s 100 percent-owned 768 hectare (1897 acre) Pakeagama
Lake rare metals property and covers all known surface
exposures of the Pakeagama Lake pegmatite. Preliminary
work carried out by the OGS and expanded upon by Houston
Lake has determined that the Pakeagama Lake pegmatite
is already the second largest complex-type, petalite sub-type
in Ontario with a strike length of over 280 metres open
in both directions and a width of up to 125 metres. The
rare metals mineralizing system may extend for over 610
metres along strike to the 700 g/t tantalum oxide showing
on the shore of Pakeagama Lake. Channel sampling perpendicular
to the strike of the Northern Wall Zone of the Pakeagama
Lake pegmatite has returned 1.21 percent lithium oxide,
0.53 percent rubidium oxide, 0.10 percent cesium oxide,
222 g/t tantalum oxide, 107.0 g/t niobium oxide, 0.13
percent beryllium oxide, 35.8 g/t thallium, 56 g/t gallium,
8.1 g/t germanium and 120 g/t tin over 11 metres. Channel
sampling across the Core Zone yielded 13.9 metres grading
4.62% lithium oxide. A soil geochemical program is planned
to begin in June to further define the known limits of
the Pakeagama Pegmatite towards the 700 g/t tantalum oxide
showing on the shore of Pakeagama Lake. Ghost Lake Tantalum Project Houston
Lake has an option to earn a 100 percent interest in the
464 hectare (1188 acre) Ghost Lake tantalum property which
covers the Boundary Zone which spans over 3.2 km (2.0
miles) of a newly defined extension of the Cat Lake -
Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, one of most important
domains of rare metal (tantalum) mineralization in the
Canadian Shield and host to the world-class Tanco tantalum
mine. Significant rare element mineralizing systems with
appreciable values of tantalum, cesium, beryllium, rubidium
and tin have been previously identified during work conducted
by the Ontario Geological Survey ("OGS") over
the property. Reported values of the OGS include 186 g/t
(0.019%) tantalum oxide and 115 g/t (0.012%) tin (E. Berger,
1990) and 179 g/t (0.018%) tantalum oxide (F. Breaks,
1991). The potential of the Ghost Lake property is emphasized
by an elevated tantalum to niobium ratio of approximately
3:1 which approaches that of the Company’s Pakeagama Lake
tantalum mineralizing system. Pronounced and broad lithium
(holmquistite) and boron (tourmaline) anomalies are traceable
for over 650 metres (2100 feet) on the Ghost Lake property
and have been found elsewhere to be important pathfinders
to rare metal (tantalum) mineralization. A preliminary
exploration program will begin this week and will involve
line-cutting, geophysical surveys and prospecting. Corporate Update Houston Lake has received $100,000 in cash payments from Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (TSE:AGE, NYSE:AEM "Agnico-Eagle") in accordance with the Tib Lake Option Agreement (see Joint Press Release dated March 8, 2002). Under the first year option requirements Agnico Eagle is required to spend $500,000 in exploration on the 1632 hectare (4030 acre) Tib Lake property which is located in the Thunder Bay Mining District of NW Ontario and will be the Operator. The Tib Lake property is located in the Lac Des Iles area just 15 km. (9 miles) from the Lac Des Iles mine of North American Palladium Ltd. At December 31, 2001, the total proven and probable reserves, and measured and indicated resources at the Lac Des Iles mine had increased to 159 million tonnes averaging 1.55 grams of palladium per tonne containing 8.0 million ounces of palladium. The Tib Lake gabbro is the second largest intrusion of the Lac Des Iles suite of rocks and, as such, is a prime target for palladium-platinum-gold exploration. Houston Lake is pleased to report that the Company has reached settlement on a claim made against it. Under the settlement agreement Houston Lake is required to make a cash payment of $85,000 and issue 75,000 common shares subject to regulatory approval. Houston
Lake is actively exploring for Gold, Rare Metals, and
Platinum Group Metals with a strategic focus on northwestern
Ontario. Houston Lake Mining Inc. has a total of 15,250,695
common shares issued and outstanding. The common shares
of Houston Lake Mining Inc. trade through the facilities
of the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol HLM. For
further information on all of the Company's projects,
we invite you to visit us at www.houstonlakemining.com. For
more information, please contact: E.
Grayme Anthony B.Sc., P. Geo., F.G.A.C.,
M. B. A. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein. |