Maude back to gold

With the price of gold reaching levels not seen in years, Maude Lake Exploration (MAU-V) has suspended its plan to create and list a diamond exploration vehicle.

Instead, the Montreal-based junior will focus on the 185-claim Comtois gold property, west of Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Que., where late last year, it earned a half-interest in 130 claims owned by Cameco (CCO-T).

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

Metallurgical tests 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 4.5-26.7 grams gold.

Maude Lake says the holes indicate a mineralized zone, which may add substantially to Comtois’s indicated resource. At last count, the resource 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 cutoff grade of 4 grams gold per tonne.

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 16-58 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’s diamond assets include the Fregate 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 two structural corridors: Wemindji-Caniapiscau/Wemindji-Baie Sept-les and Wemindji-Baie Sept-les/Tmiscame-Corvette. The properties host several diabase dykes and possible circular anomalies.

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

Suspension of the plan to form a subsidiary will not affect exploration of the diamond projects. Results of the winter sampling program are pending.