Maude Lake raises funds

Over the past three months, Montreal-based junior Maude Lake Exploration (MAU-M) has secured $200,000 from various provincial government bodies and pension funds.

In August, Sodemex and Sodemex II each privately placed $25,000 with Maude Lake. Sodemex is held equally by Soquem, a corporation owned by the Quebec government, and Capital d’Amerique, a subsidiary of the provincial Caisse de depot et de placements. Sodemex II is held solely by Capital d’Amerique.

The placement consisted of the issuance of 277,778 shares at 18 cents per share, with each share accompanied by a warrant allowing the holder to buy an additional share for 21 cents until Feb. 26, 1999, and for 24 cents until Feb. 26, 2000. The proceeds will be used for administration.

In early October, Maude Lake privately placed $100,000 with the labor fund Fonds regional de solidarite Abitibi-Temiscamingue. The placement included the issuance of 555,556 shares at 18 cents per share, with each share accompanied by a warrant giving the holder the right to buy one share for 21 cents until April 1999, and 24 cents until October 2000.

Lastly, Maude Lake Exploration obtained a maximum of $50,000 in assistance under a program run by Quebec’s Department of Natural Resources. The grant will be used to cover half of the admissible work that will be carried out soon on Cameco’s (CCO-T) Comtois gold property, 20 km west of Lebel-sur-Quvillon.

Maude Lake can earn a half interest in the Comtois property by spending $2 million on exploration over four years. The property includes a felsic-volcanic unit containing gold and polymetallic mineralization. The unit’s Osborne zone is a gold-bearing structure of mineralized lenses that has been traced by drilling over a distance of more than 1 km and to a depth of 400 metres.

Following the completion of trenching, Maude Lake plans to begin a closely spaced drilling program targeting the best Osborne-zone intersections.

In other news, Maude Lake has obtained the visa for a final prospectus submitted to the Quebec Securities Commission. The offer consists of the issuance of between 250 and 1,000 units. Each unit will be offered at $1,000 and will include 4,000 flow-through shares and 1,000 common shares, each priced at 20 cents. Every common share will be accompanied by a warrant allowing the holder to buy a common share for 26 cents by March 30, 2000.

The proceeds are earmarked for exploration at the Comtois property and the Baden gold property in Ontario.