Tungsten grades buoy Tiberon

Vancouver — Calgary-based Tiberon Minerals (TBR-V) has tabled more encouraging results from ongoing drilling at its Nui Phao Tungsten project in Vietnam.

The latest holes, 32 and 33, were collared in the Central zone as infill holes to help delineate a tungsten resource minable by open-pit methods. Both holes were drilled vertically. Hole 32 was drilled 60 metres southwest of previously reported hole 27 (77 metres grading 0.31% tungsten trioxide followed by 46 metres of 0.63% tungsten trioxide).

Hole 32 intersected 40 metres grading 0.41% tungsten trioxide, 0.22% copper, 0.11% bismuth and 8.2% fluorite, plus 0.28 gram gold per tonne, starting at a depth of 37 metres. Included was an 8-metre interval grading 0.75% tungsten trioxide, 0.28% copper, 0.13% bismuth, 4.4% fluorite and 0.38 gram gold.

Farther down-hole, a 28-metre interval cut 0.33% tungsten trioxide, 0.12% copper, 0.05% bismuth, 10.6% fluorite and 0.17 gram gold. This included a 6-metre section of 0.5% tungsten trioxide, 0.14% copper, 0.08% bismuth, 15.8% fluorite and 0.17 gram gold.

Hole 33 was collared 200 metres west of hole 18 (16 metres averaging 0.9% tungsten trioxide) and returned the following intercepts starting at a down-hole depth of 27 metres:

– 6.2 metres grading 0.69% tungsten trioxide, 0.41% copper, 0.17% bismuth, 1.7% fluorite and 0.48 gram gold;

– 8 metres grading 0.59% tungsten trioxide, 0.3% copper, 0.07% bismuth, 5.2% fluorite and 0.18 gram gold;

– 2 metres of 1% tungsten trioxide, 0.38% copper, 0.19% bismuth, 14.2% fluorite and 0.5 gram gold;

– 14 metres grading 0.51% tungsten trioxide, 0.34% copper, 0.14% bismuth, 4.8% fluorite and 0.4 gram gold; and

– 44 metres averaging 0.51% tungsten trioxide,, 0.13% copper, 0.11% bismuth, 11.4% fluorite and 0.34 gram gold.

Hole 30 was drilled 200 metres east-southeast of hole 26 (20 metres averaging 1.11% tungsten trioxide). Only minor tungsten mineralization was encountered and no grades above 0.3% tungsten trioxide were encountered.

“We’ll be moving the drill rigs into the rice fields and basically continuing our delineation of the Central zone,” says Tiberon Vice-President Kevin Flaherty. A fifth drill rig is being added to increase the pace of delineation drilling.

Over the past year, drilling has investigated a large geophysical anomaly. Dubbed the Da Lien prospect, it extends for 2 km in an east-west direction and is roughly 600 metres wide. The Central zone, which measures 200 metres wide, carries the highest grades and thickest drill intercepts discovered to date.

A paved road, railroad and a high-voltage powerline run through the middle of the Nui Phao project property.

A scoping study is being conducted by Thibault & Associates, and bench-scale metallurgical work is expected to begin once the scoping study is completed. The company expects to launch a prefeasibility study later, after it has released a resource estimate.

Tiberon is well-financed, having raised $3.7 million in 2000. An additional $1 million has been raised this year through the exercise of warrants.