Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd.

The Bralorne properties are located 241 kilometres north east of Vancouver and 11 kilometres northwest of Gold Bridge, British Columbia. The town site of Bralorne was originally built to support historic mining operations. The property encompasses several historic mine workings including the Pioneer, Bralorne, King and Taylor-Bridge areas in the Bridge River gold district. A total of 30 veins were developed at the mines through a number of shafts and 80 kilometres of tunnels on 44 levels, the deepest of which traced the 77 vein to a depth of 1900 metres. From 1928 to 1971, the Bralorne, Pioneer and King mines produced 4.15 million ounces of gold from 7.9 million tons of ore processed through two 500tpd operations.

Near the turn of the 20th century, placer miners---following gold up the Fraser, Bridge and Hurley Rivers, and then Cadwallader Creek---discovered the source of the yellow metal on the property, staking the first claim in 1896 and starting small scale production shortly thereafter. In 1928, using mining and milling methods of the time, larger scale production commenced and by 1931 a 100 tpd mill had been constructed on the Bralorne property. Production continued at rates between 136 tonnes and 500 tonnes per day from then until low gold prices forced miners to halt their operations in 1971.

In 1991, Avino Mines & Resources acquired the historic Bralorne, Pioneer and King mines and the significant unexplored land packages that lay between the historic mines, marking the first time in history that all the claims were held by one Company.

In 1993, Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd. acquired the option to earn a 50% interest in the property from Avino Mines & Resources. By 2002, Bralorne Gold Mines had acquired full control of the entire property.

Historically the focus was on mining high grade ore and ore was delineated by driving drifts on the veins at successively lower levels in the King, Bralorne and Pioneer mines. Minimal exploration work was conducted and the areas between the mines were left undeveloped. Under Bralorne Gold Mines, new discoveries were made within these gap areas using geochemical surveys followed by diamond drilling, the most significant are the Peter Vein on the historic Taylor Bridge property and the Bralorne-King (BK) Zone, which lies between the historic Bralorne and King Mines.

In 2004, a start-up mill was constructed and permitted, and trial mining was carried out on the Peter and 51BFW veins in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, on-going drill exploration intersected bonanza grades in the Bralorne-King mine gap area.