Maudore rises on good gold grades

Vancouver – A new set of high-grade gold results from the Comtois project in western Quebec gave Maudore Minerals‘ (MAO-V) share price a healthy boost.

Hole 159 returned 52.4 grams gold per tonne over 3 metres, within a 7.5-metre interval grading 26 grams gold and starting 376.5 metres downhole. The hole comes from the Osborne North zone and may indicate the zone carries higher grades and wider intervals than previously thought.

Hole 161 cut 1.5 metres grading 6.9 grams gold, hole 167A returned 6 grams gold over 1.5 metres, and hole 167A hit 10.4 grams gold over 0.6 metres, all at depths between 530 and 630 metres. The intercepts confirm the vertical continuity of the deposit and indicate it still carries potential at depth. Also proving depth potential, holes 164 and 168 returned 1.5 metres intercepts grading 22.1 grams gold and 15 grams gold, respectively, from just over 300 metres depth.

And two holes indicated the potential to expand the Osborne South zone considerably to the west. Hole 181 returned 13.6 grams gold over 1.1 metres and hole 183 returned 10 grams gold over 3.1 metres from more than 200 metres west of the current boundary of the mineralized area.

The Comtois deposit hosts 808,000 tonnes grading 20.2 grams gold for 524,000 contained oz. The resource defined to date extends to only 200 metres depth and along a 2.2-km strike; recent results showing mineralization at depth and to the west look likely to increase the resource.

Investors certainly thought so. In the two days following news of the latest drill results Maudore’s share price gained 75 or 38.5% to close at $2.70. The company has a 52-week trading range of 95 to $3.16 and has 15.9 million shares issued.

Maudore has three drill rigs active on the property, two of which are working to delimit and expand the known resource. The third drill rig was added recently; it is exploring newly identified volcanogenic massive sulphide targets nearby on the property.

Maudore optioned the property from Cameco (CCO-T, CCJ-N) in 1998 and spent the necessary exploration funds to earn in a 54% interest. In late 2005 the junior took complete ownership of the project, buying Cameco’s portion for $140,000 plus the cost of buying back the almost 223,000 Maudore shares that Cameco held, for 22 a piece. The deal to end the joint venture also eliminated the 2% net smelter royalty to which Cameco had been entitled.

The property covers 120 sq. km of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, near Lebel-sur-Quevillion. Sulphide-rich mineralization occurs within volcanics.