Maude Lake shifts focus

With the price of gold reaching levels not seen in years, Maude Lake Exploration (MAU-V) has put its plan of creating a new diamond exploration vehicle on hold.

Earlier this year, Maude unveiled a plan to transfer its diamond prospects to a new company in return for shares. A certain percentage of the new company’s shares would have been spread among shareholders, who were to vote on the move at the company’s general annual and special shareholder meeting slated for June 20.

Maude also planned to secure a Canadian exchange listing for the new company.

Instead, Maude plans to focus its efforts on the 185-claim Comtois gold property, west of Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Que., where late last year, the company earned a half-interest in 130 claims owned by Cameco (CCO-T).

Gold mineralization at Comtois has been delineated within a 1.2-km-long corridor of felsic volcanic rocks that remains open both to the east and west.

Metallurgical tests on the Comtois material indicate gold can be recovered using conventional cyanidation methods, and recovery rates above 95% are anticipated.

Drilling late last year on Colline de l’ouest, 1 km west of Comtois, included hole 82, which cut 11.2 metres (from 74.2 metres below surface) grading 3 grams gold per tonne. Hole 85 returned 3 metres (from 227.8 metres) of 8.6 grams and hole 86 yielded 2.5 metres (from 231.9 metres) of 14.4 grams gold.

Channel sampling at Colline de l’ouest last summer returned 1-metre intervals of between 4.5 and 26.7 grams gold.

Maude Lake says the holes indicate a mineralized zone, which may add substantially to Comtois’s indicated resources, which at last count stood at 1.8 million tonnes running 4.5 grams gold at a cutoff grade of 1 gram gold, for 262,488 contained ounces. Included are 695,485 tonnes of 9.05 grams gold, at a cut off of 4 grams gold.

In late February, Maude reported encouraging results from four of seven holes collared over the new Bell zone on the Cameco option.

Hole 87 cut 3 metres (from 129.3 metres) running 7.6 grams gold. Three other holes returned between 16 and 58 grams gold over widths of 1-1.5 metres.

The three remaining holes cut intervals of anomalous gold.

The zone comprises four new silicified, albitized and sulphide gold-enriched zones.

Maude expects to wrap up an ongoing resource evaluation at Comtois soon.

The company’s diamond assets include the Fregate diamond prospect, which the company can acquire for 250,000 shares and $800,000 in cash and exploration spending before 2005.

Fregate, about 350 km north of Matagami, comprises three claim groups over the junction of the Wemindji-Caniaspiscau/Wemindji-Baie Sept-Iles and Wemindji- Baie Sept-Iles/Tmiscame Corvette structural corridors. The properties host several diabase dykes and possible circular anomalies.

The company has also staked 70 claims hosting kimberlite prospects in Quebec’s Wemindji-Otish area. The company also has an option on another 65-sq.-km. land package in the area, which it can acquire for 250,000 shares plus $32,505 in cash and $500,000 on exploration before 2005. The properties host at least 40 exploration targets.

Maude says its decision to hold off on the formation of the new subsidiary will not impede planned exploration on the diamond projects. The results of the winter sampling program should be reported shortly.