St. John’s – Newfoundland – Vulcan Minerals Inc. (“the Company” TSX-V: VUL), announces that further to its March 15 news release, it is arranging through the Operator for a new engineering firm to carry out field engineering work on its Medicine Hat project towards accelerating the pace of work. A work program and budget are being prepared. A preliminary evaluation indicates the need to determine the gas deliverability of the more prospective wells initially. It is expected that field operations, consisting of flow tests, will commence immediately after spring-break up when road bans are lifted in the area within the next 2-3 weeks.
A geological and geophysical evaluation of the onshore Bay St. George Basin in Western Newfoundland is ongoing. A series of prospective deep targets known as the Hurricane Deeps (exceeding 3,000 metres in depth) have been identified in the basin. They present a variety of trapping mechanisms, in a stratigraphic location with better reservoir potential than seen in the shallow wells and a favourable structural location vis a vis the interpreted petroleum source area. Shallow drilling (less than 1,000 metres) in the basin thus far has identified all of the components of an active petroleum system. Two shallow wells near the Hurricane Deeps contained oil and gas shows consistent with leaked sealing rocks above the reservoirs probably related to fault movements. The Hurricane Deeps area presents multiple sealing mechanisms for potential petroleum traps independent of faults. These include unconformity traps which have proved successful in the McCully gas field of New Brunswick, which is currently under development by Corridor Resources Inc. The McCully field occurs in a similar geologic setting containing lower Carboniferous rocks similar to the Hurricane Deeps area. The Hurricane Deeps contains a potential play area in excess of 100 square kilometres. The Company’s Bay St. George permits cover approximately 250,000 acres with the potential to contain multiple deep play areas.
Preliminary plans call for the acquisition of additional seismic in late summer-early fall of 2007 to firm up specific drill targets. Initial governmental and land access permits have been obtained. A drilling program will commence, subject to financing, upon the availability of a drilling rig capable of drilling in excess of 3,000 metres. There are currently no such rigs available on the island of Newfoundland, though it is anticipated that such a rig will be available in late 2007-early 2008 to carry out programs announced for other operators in Western Newfoundland. The company is currently finalizing a technical package to solicit partners to assist in its proposed deep drilling program. Progress will be reported as significant events occur towards this goal.
The Company is also advised by NWest Energy Inc that a resource assessment report by Sproule and Associates of Calgary on the four offshore Western Newfoundland exploration licenses (1,500,000 acres) is nearing completion. The report will be an independent assessment of the prospectivity of these licenses, which will be used to solicit partners to advance a drilling program. NWest is one of the largest acreage holders in the offshore Newfoundland and Labrador area and is owned 30% by Vulcan Minerals Inc.