Sultan launches Jersey Emerald scoping study (January 18, 2007)

Vancouver Junior explorer Sultan Minerals (SUL-V, SLMLF-O) is taking the first steps toward reviving a former mining camp in southeastern British Columbia that once ranked among North America’s leading producers of tungsten metal.

The Vancouver company is preparing a scoping study that will determine the economic parameters for extracting a tungsten resource that was ignored by previous operators of the Jersey Emerald property, before mining operations ceased in 1973.

The property is located in tree-lined mountains about 12 kilometres south of Salmo in the Nelson mining district.

Former operator Placer Dome walked away after tungsten prices tumbled to US$50 per tonne and a resource tax, imposed by the governing B.C. New Democrats, wiped out whatever profits could have been achieved by keeping the mine going.

Hopes for a reopening rest on soaring tungsten prices and drilling on the East Emerald zone, which was overlooked by previous operators and has the potential to contain a large volume of ore that may be amenable to low-cost bulk mining and treatment methods.

Chinese export restrictions have tightened the supply of tungsten, a metal that is renowned for its durability, high melting point, and a range of applications that include filaments and armour-piercing bullets.

Previous drilling on the East Emerald zone indicates that it may be accessible from surface and from the underground workings of the Invincible mine, one of five former tungsten mines that supplied strategic metals to the United States during the Second World War.

Sultan chief executive officer Arthur Troup said his confidence has been enhanced by results of four drill holes, which successfully intersected a sizeable zone of low-grade, bulk tonnage, tungsten mineralization with associated gold values.

The four holes were drilled 775 feet along strike to the northeast of a previous batch drill holes, which indicate that the East Emerald zone contains a resource of 3.7 million tonnes of material, averaging between 0.37% and 4% tungsten.

Highlights include hole E-06-05, which carried continuous mineralization over an interval of 201.33 feet, grading 0.08% tungsten oxide, including 0.10% tungsten oxide over 107.5 feet. Hole E-06-06 returned 0.11% tungsten oxide over 102 feet.

“This bulk tonnage-style mineralization was not recognized during the 30 years of tungsten production when mining focused on high-grade underground deposits,” the company said.

Drilling has stopped for the Christmas break, but is expected to resume from underground in the first weeks of February.

Mr. Troup said the company is talking to several engineering firms, one of which will be hired to do a scoping study that will tell the company what it must do to take the project to the pre-feasibility stage.

Future underground drilling is also geared to delineating molybdenum deposits that are big enough and sufficiently continuous to support block caving extraction techniques. The company will also be looking for higher grade tungsten mineralization to enhance the economics of a future mining operation.

Shares of Sultan closed unchanged at 18 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange, January 18