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The tungsten market has been quiet for ’09. Ferro-tungsten prices have been slowly creeping up due to short supply, so it is exploration as usual for the tungsten business. Tungsten exploration outside of China is critical, as the country has a monopoly on the metal used for military and aeronautical equipment.
By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News
The tungsten market has been quiet for ‘09. Ferro-tungsten prices have been slowly creeping up due to short supply, so it is exploration as usual for the tungsten business. Tungsten exploration outside of China is critical, as the country has a monopoly on the metal used for military and aeronautical equipment.
North American Tungsten Corp’s (TSX.V:NTC) exploration program is bringing the company good news. The drilling program on the company’s 100 per cent owned Cantung mine continues to intersect high grade mineralization. “Ongoing definition and exploration drilling at Cantung has discovered a high grade western extension at the lower levels of the West Extension zone of the mine. This extended zone is within 100 feet of existing underground development and further highlights Cantung potential for defining additional mineralization” said North American Tungsten Chairman and CEO, Stephen Leahy. “This recent exploration drilling by Cantung geology and engineering teams is adding significant near term value as we continue to focus on expansion of the existing resource and extension of the Cantung mine life.” The Company is a publicly listed Tier 1 Junior Resource Company engaged primarily in the operation, development, and acquisition of tungsten and other related mineral properties in Canada. The company’s Cantung mine and Mactung development project make it one of the few tungsten producers with a strategic asset in the western world. Mactung is one of the world’s largest known undeveloped high grade tungsten-skarn deposits.
Largo Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: LGO) has completed a new block model and updated mineral resource estimate incorporating the results from its 2008 drill program. The updated mineral resource has increased The grade of WO3 and Molybdenum by 14 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. The tonnage of the new Measured and Indicated category has increased by 58 per cent compared to the previous Indicated mineral resource estimate, While the contained pounds of WO3 and Molybdenum have increased by 56.5 per cent and 76 per cent respectively. Most importantly, the 2008 drilling program provided much better definition of the higher-grade zone which is estimated to contain a Measured and Indicated resource of 60.3 million tonnes grading 0.137 per cent WO3 and 0.045 per cent Mo and Inferred mineral resource of 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.134 per cent WO3 and 0.047 per cent Mo (WO3 equiv 0.214 per cent) at a 0.17 per cent WO3 equivalent cut-off grade. These estimates represent grade increases of 35 per cent and 70 per cent over the overall deposit grade for both WO3 and Molybdenum respectively. The Northern Dancer deposit is one of the world’s largest known tungsten-molybdenum porphyry systems. The deposit, which has been tested by drilling for 1.2 kilometers along strike, 500 meters vertically and 600 meters in width, remains open along strike to both the northeast and southwest as well as at depth.
Malaga Inc. recently published a technical report on tungsten reserves and resources on its PastoBueno property located in the Ancash Province in Peru. The report describes 98,448 metric tonnes of proven and probable reserves with a WO3 average grade of 0.95 per cent, 142,490 metric tonnes of measured and indicated resources with a WO3 average grade of 1.05 per cent and 1,204,000 metric tons of presumed resources with a WO3 grade of 0.82 per cent. Tungsten concentrates have been produced at Pasto Bueno for the last 100 years, since 1910 it has been reported that more than 6 million tonnes of ore has been processed yielding more than 42,000 tons of WO3 concentrates. No drilling had been performed on this property, prior to Malaga’s 2007 campaign. Historical production at Pasto Bueno came from the mining of six main veins.