Vancouver — Investors are showing increasing interest in Calgary-based
Vietnam suffered economic stagnation throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, during which time it suffered extensive military conflict, followed by restrictive communist policies. It is only in the past decade that government reforms started to encourage economic growth as well as foreign mineral exploration. The government’s “Doi Moi” (or “renovation”) program signals the shift from a Soviet-style economy to a more open-door policy.
Among the beneficiaries of this policy is Tiberon, which has been exploring an area known as the South China Plate. This geologic province extends to the north into southern China, where it hosts numerous intrusion-related polymetallic hydrothermal deposits. The two largest polymetallic deposits, the Dachang and Gejiu, are each said to contain more than US$10 billion worth of economically recoverable ore.
In 1996, the company acquired the 32.2-sq.-km, road-accessible Nui Phao property, 80 km northwest of Hanoi. Currently, Tiberon holds a 70% interest in Nui Phao, with the remainder held by Vietnamese parties, who are carried through to the feasibility stage.
The property was originally discovered in the 1980s and explored by the Geological Survey of Vietnam, (GSV) — until 1992, when work ceased as a result of budgetary constrictions. The GSV had drilled 16 holes into a massive sulphide body that is now being explored by Tiberon.
In early 1999, geologists identified the 600-by-300 metre Main gossan, which is associated with the massive sulphide body. Subsequent sampling by Tiberon yielded economic grades of tungsten, fluorite, copper, bismuth and gold. Ground geophysics, completed by the company in the fall of 2000 in the vicinity of the Main gossan, delineated an anomaly that is 2 km long and up to several hundred metres wide. This anomaly is believed to represent a large zone of polymetallic mineralization that extends around the margin of a Cretaceous-aged granite.
Da Lien
So far, most of the exploration within the licence area has concentrated on the Da Lien prospect, which hosts the Main gossan and its associated anomaly.
Tiberon has drilled a total of 20, widely spaced holes over the 2-km-long Main gossan area. To date, only one hole has been released: NP-5, which was centred on the gossan. Tiberon reports that NP-5 hosts the thickest intersection of retrograde skarn. Most of the other holes are said to have encountered mineralized zones averaging 20-50 metres in thickness. Three drill rigs have been commissioned at the Da Lien prospect, though drilling is currently stopped for the Vietnamese New Year and Tet holiday.
Hole NP-5, whic was drilled vertically for 200.2 metres, is 250 metres from the nearest historical drill hole. NP-5 cut oxide from 0 to 19 metres, which graded 0.54% tungsten trioxide, 12.3% fluorite, 0.8% copper, 0.24% bismuth and 0.58 gram gold per tonne. This was followed by a 42-metre interval that assayed 0.52% tungsten trioxide, 16.8% fluorite, 0.17% copper 0.1% bismuth and 0.42 gram gold, starting at a down-hole depth of 48 metres. At a depth of 113 metres, the hole cut an 8-metre section that assayed 0.38% tungsten trioxide, 0.13% copper and 0.07% bismuth, plus 0.19 gram gold per tonne.
Copper and bismuth were assayed using nitric-hydrochloric acid digestion with atomic absorption analysis at Chemex Laboratories in Vancouver. Gold and Tungsten were analyzed using neutron activation by Becquerel Laboratories in Mississauga, Ont. Fluorine results were determined by Loring Labs in Calgary using the specific ion electrode assay method.
Check assays for tungsten, performed by Becquerel Laboratories in Sydney, Australia, indicated that 26 samples were, on average, 40% higher in tungsten than was indicated in the original analysis. Ried Keays, an expert in neutron activation techniques, says the difference in assay results is due to the fact that the tungsten-bearing mineral scheelite is irregularly distributed in the rock and produces “a nugget effect.”
Tiberon states that in order to obtain a more representative sample, all future 2.5-kg samples will be entirely pulverized to minus-150 mesh and homogenized before a 30-gram portion is taken for analysis. Previously only 250 grams of the 2.5-kg sample were crushed, to minus-150 mesh.
New targets
Tiberon’s geophysical and geochemical programs have also identified three additional mineralized targets: the Western anomaly, 2 km west of the Main gossan; Nui Chiem, 1 km northwest of the Main gossan; and the Boundary anomaly, in the far-north-western portion of the licence.
Tiberon commissioned one drill to focus on the Western anomaly, which represents a coincident polymetallic geochemical and induced-polarization geophysical anomaly centred at the intersection of two major faults. Previously, shallow reconnaissance drilling to bedrock revealed evidence of a major shear zone.
At the Nui Chiem anomaly, Tiberon completed a geological mapping and sampling program that revealed a 1,000-by-500-metre gold-copper-silver-arsenic anomaly. Shallow reconnaissance drilling is planned for there as well.
The northern Boundary anomaly was discovered during follow-up examination of an airborne radiometric anomaly. Tiberon says highly anomalous gold values were recovered from stream-sediment samples. Prospecting of the area revealed quartz veining and small-scale workings by locals. A sample of quartz vein (10 cm wide), collected from the local workings, assayed 18 grams gold per tonne.
Tiberon has 30.5 million shares fully diluted and $2.6 million in its coffers.
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