Canada Fluorspar Inc. (CVE:CFI) announced Tuesday the fifth set of assay results from the St. John’s-based company's phase 3 drill program on its Grebes Nest property in Newfoundland.
One of the drill holes, hole GS-13-21, intersected a vein structure with an average grade of 71.39 per cent fluorspar over 17.01 metres and intersected the Grebes Nest Vein about 60 metres vertically below surface.
Drill hole GS-13-20, located about 400 metres northwest along strike from this first drill hole, intersected two significant vein structures: the first vein intersection having an average grade of 42.46 per cent fluorspar over 9.70 metres and a second vein intersection having an average grade of 50.65 per cent fluorspar over 7.77 metres.
Drill hole GS-13-04, located about 900 metres northwest along strike from the first drill hole, intersected a vein structure having an average grade of 28.13 per cent fluorspar over 8.00 metres and intersected the vein at a depth of about 175 metres vertically below surface. This vein is presently being tested further down depth.
The three drill holes are located on the western end of the Grebes Nest grid area. Ground geophysical survey results indicate that the mineralized structure has potential to extend for more than 4,000 metres along strike.
“These latest drill results confirm a strike length for West Grebes Nest vein to be over 1.3 kms," said president and CEP LindsayGorrill in a statement Tuesday.
"I am also very encouraged by both width and grade of this latest finding 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."
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.
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.
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.
So far, the specialty mineral resource company has completed six phase 1 drill holes together with 26 additional drill holes in phase 2 and 27 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.
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.
Shares in the company were trading up the day of the news, adding 1.5 cents to share price as of 11.25am EST, an increase of more than 8 per cent.
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