Claude Resources gets final operating permit for Santoy 8

Claude Resources (CRJ-T, CGR-X) has obtained the final operating permit it needs for the Santoy 8 gold project in northeastern Saskatchewan and expects pre-production will start in the second quarter of 2010 with commercial production by the first quarter of 2011.

The permit advances Santoy 8, a satellite deposit about 14 km east of the company’s Seabee mine and mill, from an exploration project to a production project.

“The Santoy 8 project is already as large or larger than the Seabee ore body was 18 years ago and we expect to mine from this deposit for many years to come,” Neil McMillan, Claude Resource’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.

McMillan also noted that the company believes the Santoy 8 project will be a “positive catalyst” for improving production and cutting operation costs at the Seabee operation as a whole.

The Seabee gold mine at Laonil Lake is about 125 km northeast of the town of La Ronge. Since 1991, Claude Resources has produced about 880,000 oz. gold from its Seabee mining operation.

Santoy 8 contains reserves of 177,300 tonnes grading 7.02 grams per tonne for contained gold of 40,015 oz. Indicated resources number 545,600 tonnes gold grading 8.98 grams gold for 157,529 oz. gold, and an inferred resource of 391.500 tonnes grading 8.10 grams gold for contained metal of 101,955 oz. gold, to a depth of 250 metres.

The Saskatoon-based company plans to continue exploring the ore body at depth and along strike during 2010.
Mineralization in the Santoy region is hosted in siliceous shear zones with sulfide-chlorite-quartz veins and in silicified granitoid sills.

Gold mineralization at Santoy 8 extends over a strike length of 900 metres and comprises the Santoy 8 and 8E lenses. True width varies from 1 to more than 15 metres, with the deposit open along strike and down plunge to the north.

In addition to Seebea and Santoy 8, the company owns 100% of the Madsen property in northwestern Ontario’s Red Lake gold camp.

In Toronto Claude Resources is trading at $1.23 per share. Over the last year the company has traded in a range of 61¢-$1.46 and has 118.91 million shares outstanding.