U.S. REPORT Amax, Piedmont drilling cuts wide intersections at

A drilling program at the Haile gold mine in South Carolina is returning a number of good intersections as Amax Gold (NYSE) continues its earn-in program.

The best hole returned a 110-ft. intersection from 430 ft. to 540 ft. grading 0.33 oz. gold per ton.

Amax can earn a 62.5% interest in the property from Piedmont Mining (NASDAQ) by completing a preliminary feasibility study by May, 1992, paying Piedmont US$1.75 million and issuing the company one million Amax Gold shares.

Piedmont has operated a heap leach operation on the property since 1985 and is now winding down its mining operations.

Earl Jones, president of Piedmont, said he expected mining to be complete by the third week of July although he noted that leaching will continue through to year-end. He projected gold production for the year at about 9,000 oz., compared with 22,402 oz. gold in 1990.

Amax’s current drilling program is aimed at testing the property’s potential to support a large-scale mining and milling operation.

Jones said the property definitely has the potential to host a large deposit, and he said past mining operations covered nine separate areas over a mineralized strike length of over one mile.

With the May 1992 deadline approaching, Jones said Amax is running “all out.” The company is currently operating six reverse circulation rigs around the clock testing both along strike and between old pits, as well as deep targets.

Many of the recent holes are infill holes confirming previous drilling. Jones noted that most of the recent holes represent sulphide gold mineralization which generally starts below about 150 ft. of oxidized material.

Although no new reserve calculations have been compiled, the company expects reserves to increase as a result of the drilling.

Proven, probable and possible reserves at the Haile property were last reported at 24.3 million tons grading 0.043 oz. gold per ton.

Recent results are as follows with holes not listed sequentially cutting less than 0.02 oz. gold.

Hole Interval(ft.) Gold(oz./ton)

RC 1304 215 0.18

RC 1305 215 0.12

RC 1306 5 0.025

RC 1307 125 0.056

RC 1308 205 0.056

RC 1309 -Being redrilled-

RC 1310 85 0.30

RC 1311 150 0.15

RC 1313 90 0.065

RC 1314 20 0.048

RC 1315 195 0.12

RC 1316 45 0.088

RC 1317 5 0.036

RC 1319 45 0.067

RC 1320 200 0.12

RC 1321 180 0.040

RC 1322 60 0.027

RC 1323 110 0.33

RC 1326 -No assays yet-

RC 1327 45 0.043

DDH 099 235 0.11

DDH 100 230 0.018