4 Junior piecing the golden puzzle together.

Fitting the geological pieces of the golden puzzle in the Detour Lake mining camp together has been a fairly methodical process for Trade Winds Ventures Inc.

This Vancouver-based junior holds claim to several option properties in Northern Ontario, three of which are in the Detour Lake area within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, approximately 160 kilometres northeast of Timmins.

East of Trade Winds' two option properties, Block A and Gowest (Detour West), Placer Dome produced 1.7 million ounces of gold during the mid-'80s and late '90s. Existing roads have allowed for easy access to the western properties.

On the Block A property, Trade Winds has an option agreement with Pelangio Mines Inc. This has led to exploration expenditures of $7,875,000 over the last two-and-a-half years and a 50 per cent interest in the property.

Following a trend called the M Zone, the company also spent $1.9 million, earning 60 per cent interest on the Gowest property, which is adjacent to the western end of Block A. Trade Winds then purchased the remaining 40 per cent, recently completing the acquisition in May.

President and CEO Ian Lambert describes the M Zone as a "consistent gold structure.

"We're quite fortunate on this particular structure because it is very predictable," he says. "We were able to step out 800 to 900 metres to the west on our first drilling on the Gowest property, and it was exactly where we thought it was within just a few metres."

Trade Winds has drilled approximately 185 holes, or more than 70,000 metres, since December 2003. The M Zone starts at the eastern boundary of Block A and extends west onto the Gowest property. The structural corridor is at least four kilometres in length and open to the west. Although it "pinches and swells," Lambert says, the Zone itself runs in some areas as much as 30 metres wide, while others are as narrow as four to five metres.

The company is also finding healthy veins to the north and south of the structure.

While gold veins have been discovered primarily in quartz rock, Lambert says some gold has precipitated right into the host rock (greenstone) along the M Zone itself, with high grade values.

"We have a pretty good track record," he says, adding he is pleased with the exploration program.

The budget for 2006 is about $5 million, Lambert says. At the same time, they are working toward their first calculation of a resource estimate, which is expected to be completed by the end of the summer once all the data from the winter 2006 drill campaign comes in.

Lambert says within the next several years the eastern end of the virgin territory holds potential for an open pit mine, because the M Zone structure comes near surface, although the remainder would have to be mined using ramp or underground methods. Still, the resource would have to prove up positive, and more "pieces" would have to fall into place.

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The company has also invested $800,000 on the Aurora property south of Block A. They have yet to discover a definitive structure there.

Further to the northwest is the Red Lake mining district, where Trade Winds has spent $1.1 million on the Birch Lake option property with Pelangio Mines Inc.

"There are some excellent grades coming out of there, like 229 grams over 2.45 metres," says Lambert.

The company's efforts are on exploration at the Detour Lake properties until the Birch Lake island can be accessed next winter. They have budgeted about $500,000 to $600,000 for a winter program, enough to give Trade Winds a 60-per-cent interest in the project.

Presently, Trade Winds' focus is on the M Zone structural corridor on the two Detour Lake properties.

"People will eventually see that this is going to be a mine," Lambert says. "It is pretty clear to us that it has the underpinnings to be successful."

QUICK FACTS

Trade Winds Ventures

City: Vancouver

Founded: 1988

CEO: Ian Lambert

No. of Employees: 12-25

www.tradewindsventures.com

BY ADELLE LARMOUR

Northern Ontario Business