Canada Fluorspar (CVE:CFI) has unveiled a second set of assay results under the company's phase 3 diamond drilling program at its Grebes Nest property in Newfoundland, including fluorspar grades as high as almost 90% over significant widths.
The results, reported in a statement Thursday from two drill holes in the western part of the target, follow the first set of assays released, which included one hole intersecting 48.68% fluorspar over 16.85 metres.
One of the holes reported today, GS-13-09, intersected 89.58% fluorspar over 6.95 metres. Shares of Canada Fluorspar were sitting at 20 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Grebes Nest vein is part of the company's St. Lawrence fluorspar project in Newfoundland, and lies about 4 km from the former Tarefare mine and less than 6 km from the former Blue Beach North mine, according to its statement.
The company has 41 known mineralized veins on its fluorspar assets in St. Lawrence, two of which – Blue Beach and Tarefare - have been drilled and vended into a partnership with French chemical giant Arkema, while drill rigs started working at its own Director Vein in January. After the rigs finished turning at Director, Canada Fluorspar moved on to Grebes Nest, with 5,000 metres of drilling planned on this vein by the end of the year.
With the Blue Beach and Tarefare veins now being reviewed under the partnership, the Canadian company is looking to unlock the potential value of the Director Vein, as well as the Grebes Nest Vein, this year through drilling.
The company has said that ground geophysical survey results indicate that the Grebes Nest mineralized structure has the potential to extend for more than 4,000 metres along strike, with the most recent holes extending the previously reported strike length by 100 metres to 525 metres.
"These latest drill results only increase my excitement about the potential of Grebes Nest and show grades as high as we have seen on our St. Lawrence site," said president and CEO Lindsay Gorrill, in the release.
"We have now received assays on 5 of the 21 drill holes results that continue to provide indication of a 1.5 kilometer strike on the portion of Grebes Nest vein we call West Grebes."
The company said the latest holes intersected the Grebes Nest vein at depths ranging from 110 to 115 metres, vertically below surface. The preliminary interpretation of the drilling results show that the western part of the target area, according to the Canadian junior explorer, maintains a "relatively uniform strike and width within a depth of 100 to 115 metres vertically below surface".
"The parallel veins, such as the vein identified in drill holes GS-13-03 and GS-13-09 have been known to develop into significant mineable veins in other locations in the St Lawrence area," Canada Fluorspar said in its statement.
Fluorspar is used to reduce the amount of energy needed to produce aluminum, and is also used for photovoltaic solar panels, but the biggest application is fluoro chemicals – which are used in products ranging from air conditioners and refrigerants to lithium batteries and the material Gore-Tex. Consumption of the mineral is expected to reach 7 million tonnes by 2015, but there is currently no domestic supply in Canada or the U.S. as these two countries rely on Mexico, the second biggest producer after China – which is expected to become a net importer soon.
Historic mining operations on the St. Lawrence property produced more than 4.2 million tonnes of fluorspar during a 44 year continuous production from 1942 to 1977. Production resumed in 1986 and continued until 1991, when St. Lawrence Fluorspar reopened the nearby Blue Beach North Mine and processed 440,000 tonnes of ore from small open pits, one of which was located in a surface pillar at the Director Mine near the main shaft. The first holes drilled at the Director vein as part of the company's 2013 exploration program returned values of 80.12% fluorspar over 3.95 metres, and 51.94% fluorspar over 13.39 metres.
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