On May 8 Canada Fluorspar Inc (CFI) announced the third set of results from the diamond drilling program at its Director Vein on the company’s St Lawrence project in Newfoundland, saying it is encouraged by the data that validates the trenching results from last year.
The third set of results are from three holes, with one drilled along the northern section of the Director Vein, beneath former Alcan mine workings, and two holes from the southern extension of the vein. “The assays from the first two holes on the south extension at shallow depths are very encouraging,” said company CEO Lindsay Gorrill. “This is the area where we saw high assays results from trenching done in 2012. Drill hole DS-13-116, showing almost 60 percent grade with 13 metres width, is a significant intersection and validates the trenching done in 2012.”
The international fluorspar market consumes approximately 5.6 million tonnes of the mineral alternatively called fluorite every year , with an estimated value of $1.6 billion. Among its many applications, the mineral is used in the production of hydrofluoric acid which is the primary feedstock for the manufacture of virtually all organic and inorganic fluorine-containing compounds including fluoropolymers and fluorocarbons.
The current drill programme was planned to evaluate the mineral potential, at depth, of the southern extension of the ‘Director’ structure and to test the north extension of the adjacent Hares Ears vein to the west. Historic mining operations by Alcan on the property produced in excess of 4.2 million tonnes of fluorspar during 44 years’ continuous production from 1942 to 1977. Production resumed in 1986 and continued until 1991, when St Lawrence Fluorspar Limited reopened the nearby Blue Beach North Mine and processed 440,000 tonnes of fluorspar ore from small open pits, one of which was located in a surface pillar at the Director Mine near the main shaft.
CFI’s 100 per cent owned St Lawrence veins are located just outside of its 50/50 joint venture with Newspar on the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland – the other facet of the company’s dual strategy.
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