Vancouver — Calgary-based
The company acquired the 32.2-sq.-km property, 80 km northwest of Hanoi, in 1996. Tiberon holds a 70% interest, 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). In 1992, work ceased because of budgetary constrictions. The GSV had drilled 16 holes into a massive sulphide body that is now being explored by Tiberon.
Tiberon has drilled 20, widely spaced holes over the 2-km-long anomaly that defines the Da Lien prospect. Within this prospect are three main zones: Eastern, Central and Western. All of the holes were drilled vertically, except hole NP-24, which was angled at minus 60.
The eastern zone measures 400 by 300 metres, and geophysical data suggest it may extend for an additional 500 metres. Hole NP-26 is the most easterly hole to cut this zone; it intersected 20 metres grading 1.11% tungsten trioxide, 0.64 grams gold per tonne, 0.46% copper, 0.32% bismuth and 9.5% fluorite. Also included in the hole was a 35.8-metre section that assayed 0.5% copper.
Another interval that cut the Eastern zone occurred in hole NP-18, which cut 16 metres grading 0.9% tungsten trioxide, 0.55 gram gold, 0.45% copper, 0.21% bismuth and 10.4% fluorite.
Hole NP-24 intersected a 30-metre section that assayed 0.84% tungsten trioxide, 0.41 gram gold, 0.13% copper, 0.1% bismuth and 24.7% fluorite.
The Central zone measures 300 by 400 metres and had three holes drilled into it. Hole NP-17 returned the best grades, including a 23.6-metre interval averaging 0.61% tungsten trioxide, 0.55 gram gold, 0.46% copper, 0.18% bismuth and 9.7% fluorite.
The Western zone measures 500 by 400 metres and was tested by three holes. The best grade occurred in hole NP-7, which cut 8.8 metres grading 1.01% tungsten trioxide, 0.46 gram gold, 0.38% copper, 0.19% bismuth and 8% fluorite. This included an 8.3-metre interval that cut 0.66% tungsten trioxide, 0.25 gram gold, 0.35% copper, 0.2% bismuth and 17.3% fluorite.
Drilling has now established tungsten mineralization over a 1.3-km strike length and over a width of about 300 metres. Most of the mineralization in the Eastern and Central zones is near-surface and potentially amenable to open-pit mining.
Over the past four months, tungsten concentrate prices have risen from the US$4,000-per-tonne range to around US$7,000 per tonne. Tiberon attributes the rise in price to the exhaustion of Russian stockpiles which have supplied 20% of the world’s tungsten needs over the past 10 years.
The next phase of drilling will use step-out exploration holes to expand the size of the mineralization, as well as perform infill delineation drilling.
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