Canada Fluorspar (CVE:CFI)(OTC:CNDFF) unveiled Thursday its sixth set of results from its phase 3 diamond drilling program at its Grebes Nest property in Newfoundland, with the company saying it continues to be encouraged by the mineralized structure.
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. Probable Reserves of the Blue Beach North and Tarefare veins total approximately 5.4 million tonnes at an average grade of 39.8% fluorspar, according to the Canadian company's statement.
One of the latest drill holes from Grebes Nest, GS-13-12, located in the same plane as a hole reported in July, intersected the structure with an average grade of 43.14% fluorspar, over 7.3 metres, and intersected two additional veins down depth at 19.12% over 4.0 metres and 55.4% over 3.25 metres.
Two other drill holes were also announced Thursday as part of the sixth set of results, with all the holes located on the western end of the grid. According to the St. Johns-based company, ground geophysical survey results indicate that the mineralized structure has potential to extend for more than 4,000 metres along strike.
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, later moving on to Grebes Nest. The Canadian company is looking to unlock the potential value of the Director and Grebes Nest veins this year through drilling.
"I continue to be encouraged by both the width and grade of the Grebes Nest Vein and that the silica content is lower and blastonite, a brecciated fluorite in an admix of microcrystalline quartz and fluorite, is virtually absent compared to the other granite-hosted veins," said president and CEO Lindsay Gorrill.
"Grebes Nest Vein has been normally competent material with minor fracturing as compared to most similar veins in the St. Lawrence area and has resulted in better than 95% core recovery from the mineralized intervals. This good recovery results in a much higher level of confidence in calculating the average grade of the intersections."
Drill hole GS-13-16 at Grebes Nest, also released today, intersected an average grade of 26.8% fluorspar over 2.75 metres, while drill hole GS-13-18 returned grades of 63.9% fluorspar over 2.77 metres.
So far, the specialty mineral resource company has completed six phase 1 drill holes together with 26 additional drill holes in phase 2 and 30 drill holes in phase 3 as part of the 2013 exploration program. Assay results for remaining completed drill holes in phase 2 and phase 3 are still pending, the company said.
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.
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.
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