Maude Lake adds land north of Comtois

Montreal-based Maude Lake Exploration (MAU-M) has signed an option agreement with Newmont Mining (NEM-N) to acquire a 95% interest in a 15-claim property, which is contiguous to the north of the Comtois gold property and near Lebel-sur-Quvillon, Que.

To acquire its interest, Maude Lake must spend $200,000 on exploration by February 2005. Socit de dveloppement de la Baie James holds the remaining 5% interest. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

The property has remained dormant since the mid-1980s, when Noranda (NRD-T) cut two gold-mineralized zones with two drill holes. Highlights from the holes included:

• 5.3 metres grading 3.43 grams gold per tonne;
• 1.5 metres grading 5.3 grams; and;
• 2.6 metres grading 10.4 grams.

The zones lie about 7 km north of Comtois’ North and South auriferous zones. Geophysical surveying indicates that they may be continuous.

The company has planned a drilling program for mid-August.

In June, based on the results of a winter exploration program, Maude Lake upped its resource calculation at Comtois. Indicated resources for the two zones amount to more than 1.8 million tonnes grading 4.5 grams at a cutoff grade of 1 gram gold. Included are 695,485 tonnes of indicated material grading 9.05 grams gold at a cutoff grade of 4 grams. The gold mineralization is situated in a 1.2-km-long corridor, which is open to the east and west.

Metallurgical tests indicate that conventional methods (cyanidation) should yield gold recovery rates of up to 95%.

Maude Lake is earning a half-interest in the Comtois property from the gold exploration subsidiary of Cameco (CCO-T).