Matamec begins drilling campaign on Montclerg gold project

Matamec Explorations Inc. ("Matamec") announces that it will begin a 2,000 metre drilling campaign on its Montclerg gold project, situated at the eastern end of the world famous Porcupine gold camp in Timmins, Ontario (figure no.1" target="_blank">figure no.1). The historic Montclerg gold-bearing zone is hosted by mafic volcanic rocks (near a contact with ultramafic rocks) on the north side of the Pipestone Fault between the Kidd-Munro volcanic and the Porcupine sedimentary assemblages (figure no.2). Gold values in the Montclerg zone have been found in both quartz-carbonate veins and in altered mafic volcanic wall rocks. The zone consists predominantly of gold-bearing quartz-carbonate veins like those that occur in most other Porcupine camp deposits and account for more than 80% of the total gold production in Canada. Archean-age gold deposits like those in the Porcupine mining camp, as well as elsewhere in the world, are characterized by great vertical/depth continuity that is typically measured in thousand of metres. Previous diamond drilling programs that tested the historic Montclerg deposit consisted of shallow drill holes (generally less than 150 meters long) that are unevenly distributed (figure no.3). Furthermore, the geologically important ultramafic / basalt contact where gold ore bodies occur in several area mines (e.g. Harker-Holloway and Aunor mines) have seen limited drill-testing on the Montclerg property. The current exploration drilling campaign aims to test the vertical continuity of the historic Montclerg mineralization and to search for gold-bearing mineralization at the ultramafic / basalt contact using drill holes that will average 400 metres in length. Positive results from this first exploration campaign will result in a second major phase of drilling to try and delineate an economic gold-bearing zone. The present drilling campaign will be executed under the supervision of Dr. Ed van Hees, APGO licensed geologist, who has an excellent understanding of gold-mineralization in this mining camp. He gained this understanding through supervising numerous surface and underground exploration programs for major and medium-sized companies over a period of 25 years. His understanding about gold deposits in the camp has also been obtained through a number of minesite and regional research projects that he conducted as part of his Ph.D. dissertation. Additional exploration targets with potential, besides the down dip extension of the Montclerg zone, include the along-strike extensions on Montclerg and CMX zones, as well as targets elsewhere on the Montclerg property. The CMX zone is spatially related to metasedimentary rocks and a quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusion adjacent to the Pipestone Fault and has only been tested by a few diamond drill holes. Gold mineralization in this zone is hosted by quartz-ankerite-arsenopyrite veins and has not been tested to depth. Additional potential to find new, gold-bearing shear zones or quartzfeldspar porphyry intrusions also exists beneath the extensive clay cover in the relatively unexplored portions of the property. SODÉMEX II exercises 500,000 warrants Matamec also wishes to inform its shareholders that SODÉMEX II, a limited partnership sponsored by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, exercised 500,000 warrants, obtained from a private placement (Press release February 3, 2006), and subscribed for 500,000 common shares of Matamec at a price of $0,13 per share. The common shares are subject to hold period expiring May 26, 2006.