Claude aims to expand production at Seabee

Vancouver — The Seabee gold mine in Saskatchewan’s La Ronge district has produced more than 650,000 oz. gold since production began in 1991. With the underground mine starting to show its age, owner Claude Resources (CRJ-T) is looking to expand production through accelerated underground mine development and bulk-sampling programs at several nearby exploration properties.

The Saskatoon-based company raised more than $9 million in a recent private placement and intends to use the bulk of the proceeds to complete bulk-sampling programs and related infrastructure at the Porky and Santoy Lake properties.

A 5,000-tonne sample will be extracted from the Porky West zone, which hosts an indicated resource estimated at 90,000 tonnes grading 7.33 grams gold per tonne, plus an inferred resource of 130,000 tonnes grading 5 grams. The portal has been collared and about 880 metres of decline is planned to the 130-metre level to extract the bulk sample.

An 8-hole drill program was completed at the Santoy Lake property situated 11.5 km east of the Seabee mine. Highlights include a 0.85-metre interval grading 144 grams gold, 1.8 metres of 14 grams, 1.15 metres of 30.4 grams, 0.85 metre of 10.17 grams, 0.58 metre of 20.3 grams, 1.65 metres of 7.32 grams, with the widest interval being 9.35 metres of 1.65 grams. An application for a bulk-sampling program at the Santoy Lake project has been filed with government agencies.

At the Seabee mine, Claude is accelerating underground development and exploration in order to expand and extend the life of the narrow-vein underground operation.

Production during the latest quarter was below budget at 9,500 oz., down from 10,800 oz. in the same period in 2004. Grades were lower than forecast, at 5.69 grams compared with 7.41 grams a year earlier. As a result, Claude posted a loss of $1.9 million on revenue of $7.5 million for the latest quarter ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $100,000 on revenue of $8.1 million a year earlier.

For the first half of 2005, Seabee produced 20,900 oz. gold, compared with 20,700 oz. a year earlier. The company still expects to produce 46,000 oz. gold for the full year as access is gained to higher-grade stopes in the third quarter.

Claude reported a net loss of $1.7 million for the 6-month period, compared with a loss of $500,000 in the first half of 2004.