St. Jude cuts more gold at Benso (February 02, 2004)

Vancouver — St. Jude Resources () has released encouraging drill results from the Benso concession in Ghana, West Africa.

Drilling on the G zone has determined that mineralization strikes for more than 300 metres and extends up to 100 metres in depth.

Highlights from the ongoing program are as follows:

— Hole 178 cut 12 metres averaging 1.18 grams gold, starting 20 metres down-hole. This included a 2-metre interval that averaged 2.11 grams gold and a 5-metre section that cut 1.67 grams gold.

— Hole 179 — 8 metres grading 2.65 grams gold starting at 37 metres down-hole;

— Hole 180 — 3 metres of 13.12 grams gold starting at 65 metres down-hole;

— Hole 181 — 14 metres of 5.16 grams gold starting at 65 metres down-hole;

— Hole 182 — 4 metres of 2.37 grams gold starting at 45 metres down-hole;

— Hole 183 — 6 metres of 2.53 grams gold starting at 5 metres down-hole (followed by a 2-metre section that averaged 1.85 grams gold starting at 18 metres down-hole).

The Benso concession consists of three prospective blocks known as Amantin, Subriso and Chichiwelli, which together cover 42.8 sq. km of the Ashanti gold belt.

St. Jude has been focusing on the Subriso block in the area of the historic Subriso gold mine, where geological, geochemical and geophysical studies have outlined two large north-striking parallel zones of surface mineralization. These zones measure 2,500-3,000 metres long, and only a small portion of each has been drill-tested.

The upcoming resource estimate will include results from more than 20,000 metres of drilling (183 holes) at Benso, including the new G and I mineralized zones along with Subriso East, West and Central.

St. Jude holds three assets in West Africa: Hwini-Butre, Benso and Goulagou. The Benso concession is 30 km south of Hwini-Butre, in the same structural zone as the Hwini-Butre deposits.

In 2002, a resource estimate by Watts Griffis & McOuat concluded that the Adoikrom, Father Brown and Dabokrom deposits at Hwini-Butre hosted a total of 4.2 million tonnes grading 11.51 grams gold in the indicated category and 1.7 million tonnes of 10.32 grams gold in the inferred category. An additional 5.6 million tonnes of inferred resources averaging 1.14 grams gold exist in eluvial and reworked surface material.

The junior stands to earn a 65% interest in Hwini-Butre from Crew Development (CRU-T) by completing a feasibility study and paying Crew US$800,000. The government of Ghana holds a 10% carried interest.

Benso is a joint venture with Fairstar Explorations (FFR-T). St. Jude stands to earn a 60.125% interest in the project by submitting a feasibility study. The Ghanaian government owns a 10% carried interest.