NEWS !Playfair Mining Ltd.: Drilling Starts Up on Playfair's Granite Lake Tungsten-Molybdenum Property
Canadian Corporate News via COMTEX
Oct 11, 2007 8:00:09 AM
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Oct 11, 2007 (Marketwire via COMTEX News Network) --
Playfair Mining (TSX VENTURE:PLY)is pleased to report that it has commenced an aggressive diamond drill program on its Granite Lake property in south-central Newfoundland. Granite Lake is an under explored but highly prospective project because of the large size and scope of the tungsten, molybdenum, zinc, copper, lead and silver geochemical anomaly (5 km by 10 km) found on the property as well as numerous bedrock occurrences of both tungsten and molybdenum.
Past trench sampling of tungsten enriched quartz veins and quartz stockworks on the property by the Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources reports highlight sampling results as follows: 4.4% WO3 over 5.0 metres, 1.90% WO3 over 5.0 metres, 2.75% WO3 over 1.5 metres and 3.06% WO3 over 2.0 metres.
Don Moore, CEO of Playfair Mining, states, "The commencement of drilling at Granite Lake is indicative of Playfair's strategy to provide investors with exposure to early stage exploration while at the same time moving the company's more advanced stage projects towards production. The blend of early stage exploration projects alongside advanced stage deposits within the Playfair portfolio provides a varied pipeline of activity. The Granite Lake anomaly is a very large multi-element anomaly with excellent bedrock showings and Playfair is excited to commence drilling. We are entering into a very busy period of time at Playfair and look forward to an active several months."
This summer's ground exploration program, completed in late September, focused on both historical showings and newly identified mineralization typically associated with east - west trending, near vertical dipping mineralized quartz veins and stockworks. The follow up of historical showings and overburden covered anomalies via extensive mechanical trenching resulted in the creation of 26 trenches, totalling an inclusive length of about 1,330 metres, from which 175 channel/chip rock samples were collected. Additionally, a total of 111 surface rock samples were collected during prospecting. The samples have been submitted to the laboratory and Playfair anticipates results in the coming month.
About Tungsten
Tungsten is an extremely hard, heavy, steel-grey to white metal that is remarkable for its robust physical properties and vast uses. Tungsten cannot be substituted in many industrial applications. Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metallic elements. Tungsten is a strategic metal and emerging economies such as India and China are consuming increasing amounts of tungsten. The current price of tungsten is approximately US $12 per pound.
Until 2005, China was the world's largest exporter of tungsten concentrate. Rapid industrialization and structural economic changes within China have resulted in the restriction of tungsten exports from China. China is now the world's largest consumer of tungsten. Escalating Chinese consumption, in conjunction with the ongoing demand in the world's principal economies has resulted in a dramatic increase in the price of tungsten. Tungsten prices are quoted per Metric Ton Unit of contained tungsten trioxide (WO3). One MTU contains 10 kilograms of WO3 and is the standard weight measure of the tungsten trade. Ammonium Paratungstate ("APT") is an intermediate product in the production of tungsten metal for which prices are available. A price of US$260 per MTU equates to US $26 per Kilogram or US $12 per pound.
Playfair is very well positioned to benefit from the expanding global demand for tungsten having four high-grade deposits, all located within Canada.
Mr. Michael Moore, P.Geo is the qualified person who has reviewed the technical information contained in this release on behalf of Playfair.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
D. Neil Briggs, President and Director