Playfair Mining holds a 100 percent controlling interest in four advanced-stage Canadian tungsten projects – Grey River in Newfoundland, and the Risby, Clea, and Lened properties in the Yukon – that host a combined historical resource of over 88 million pounds of contained tungsten MTUs . Intriguingly, with further exploration each of these projects has the potential to add to Playfair’s resource total.
       Playfair’s Grey River Project is believed to host the largest typical wolframite (tungsten) deposit in Canada. The 4,324 acre property is located close to the fishing village of Grey River (pop. 350) on the south coast of Newfoundland. Previous exploration work conducted by ASARCO between 1957 and 1970 includes a 6,300-foot (1,920 meter) adit into and along the main vein, surface geological mapping, trenching and diamond drilling, and a 275 ton bulk sample. The $15 million (today’s dollars) exploration effort established the presence of a large and widespread tungsten-quartz vein. Subsequent exploration by Playfair on the #10 Vein established a NI 43-101 compliant resource that increased ASARCO estimate by 59.3% to an inferred resource 16.1 million pounds of tungsten. The deposit is open both at depth and on strike.
       “We have made great strides towards our production goal,” says Moore.
       A pending scoping study performed by Golder Associates Ltd. will determine Grey River’s economic potential and establish a program for further development of the deposit. The study will provide an overall preliminary economic assessment and outline a plan to advance the project to production, including geotechnical, mining methods, process engineering, infrastructure, environmental, capital cost, operating costs and economics. The company has also commissioned a baseline environmental study at Grey River.
       The Clea property is located in the Selwyn Tungsten Belt, one of the world’s largest tungsten districts. The Clea, previously explored by HBED and Placer Dome, hosts two high grade tungsten showings with reported high grade drill intercepts, and a “historic resource” (non-NI 43-101 compliant) of 257,000 tonnes of 0.93% tungsten.
       The Lened deposits are located between the world-class Cantung and Mactung tungsten deposits. Extensive work by Union Carbide Corporation included 168 drill holes, leading to a 1982 estimate of a 737,000 tonne “mineable reserve” (non-NI 43-101 compliant) of 1.14% tungsten. Additional showings on the property have the potential to increase that number.
       Risby’s now NI 43-101-compliant inferred resource estimate of 65 million pounds of tungsten oxide, is 38% higher than the 48.2 million pounds of contained tungsten calculated by Hudson Bay Exploration and Development in 1982.
       “We believe we have excellent potential to expand the size of the deposit through additional drilling and development,” says Playfair President Neil Briggs.

       Playfair controls an early-stage tungsten project – Granite Lake – which shows promising exploration potential. The company started an extensive exploration program at its Granite Lake property this summer. Although the company plans to prospect the entire property, the main focus of the exploration program is a large geochemical anomaly of tungsten, copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead, silver and flourine. The field crew will sample surface showings and trenches to report an established strike-length, width and mineralization zones. The data will be used to develop drill targets for a subsequent drill program.
       “We consider Granite Lake to be an early stage but highly prospective exploration target that will be extremely exciting to explore,” says Briggs.
       The property hosts many well-documented tungsten occurrences and an extensive (5 km by 10 km) geochemical anomaly of tungsten, zinc, copper, molybdenum, lead and silver. Five major mining companies explored the area between 1979 and 1983, discovering numerous occurrences of both tungsten and molybdenum on the property. Past sampling by the Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources showed up to 4.44% tungsten oxide over 5.0 meters. An airborne geophysical survey conducted by Playfair earlier this year identified the anomaly that is subject of the present exploration program.

       With four advanced-stage and one highly prospective exploration tungsten projects in Canada, Playfair Mining is well-positioned to step into a growing gap between worldwide supply and demand and, in the process, achieve its goal of becoming one of the world’s principal developers of new high-grade tungsten resources.
       Playfair Mining is led by a highly experienced management team with a solid history of mining discoveries and development. President Neil Briggs, while working for Falconbridge Nickel Mines, established a regional exploration office in Canada’s Atlantic provinces. Chairman Donald Moore has over 30 years experience in the mining sector, including participating in the early development of the famed Hemlo gold deposits in Ontario.
       Currently, China controls about 57 percent of the world’s known tungsten reserves and produced 83 percent of the world’s tungsten supply in 2004. But China’s reserves are diminishing. In 1999, China began to cut back on the sale of its tungsten to world markets, helping to trigger a rise in tungsten prices – which by 2005 had more than doubled to reach levels not seen since the 1970s. Tungsten prices then leveled to about $12 a pound, but are expected to resume an upward climb in the fall, according to Moore.
       “Our goal at Playfair is to become the next tungsten producer outside of China,” says Playfair President Neil Briggs. “We are aggressively pursuing this vision.”