Resource expands again at Eau Claire (May 03, 2004)

A 2-year drilling program by Eastmain Resources (er-t) at the Eau Claire gold deposit in the James Bay region of Quebec has increased the known resource.

A new calculation estimates the indicated resource to be 1 million tonnes grading 9.5 grams gold per tonne, based on a cutoff grade of 4 grams per tonne. Cutting back high-grade assays brings the grade down to 8.2 grams per tonne. An inferred resource, based on a 2.5-gram cutoff grade, stands at 2.1 million tonnes averaging 6.5 grams per tonne, a grade that was not significantly affected by cutting.

Reducing the cutoff grade to 1 gram per tonne gives a total resource — all classed as inferred — of 5.6 million tonnes at 5.4 grams gold per tonne, or 4.7 grams per tonne after cutting back high grades.

The mineralized bodies are 15 quartz-carbonate-tourmaline veins plus a sulphide zone. Lower-grade gold values in the amphibolite host rocks are included in the low-grade resource.

Eastmain also notified its joint-venture partner, Soquem, that it has spent the $2.5 million required to earn a 75% interest in the project under their agreement. In 1999, Soquem earned a half-interest from Eastmain by spending $2 million under an option agreement.

In the space of two years, the drilling at Eau Claire has doubled the size of the known resource. At the end of 2001, the deposit had an indicated resource of 972,900 tonnes grading 9.6 grams gold per tonne and an inferred resource of 509,665 tonnes grading 3.8 grams per tonne.

The principal change is in the size of the inferred resource, which has expanded along structural extensions of the veins intersected in deeper drill holes over the past two years.