Drilling update at Caijiaying

Griffin Mining Ld 22 July 2004 GRIFFIN MINING LIMITED MINE CONSTRUCTION AT CAIJIAYING ON TIME AND BUDGET CASH AT BANK US$20 MILLION DRILLING PROGRAMME TO BEGIN BETWEEN ZONES II & III 22nd July 2004 Griffin Mining Limited ('Griffin' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce the following: Construction Progress at Caijiaying Construction of the underground mine and processing facilities at Caijiaying continues according to schedule - within budget and on target for commissioning in Spring 2005. More recently construction work has commenced on the processing plant and supporting facilities with the completion of the final process plant design and commencement of contracts for the plant construction, main decline development, site offices, site access roads and other facilities. In addition, development of the underground mine is now well advanced with a vertical ventilation shaft almost completed to the first level, 350 metres of horizontal development, commencement of stope definition underground drilling and the start of development of the first ore stopes. Whilst having incurred expenditure in connection with the above, Griffin currently retains in excess of $20 million in cash at bank and no debt. Drilling to Commence Between Zone II & III Following completion of a successful orientation geophysical survey at Caijiaying, the Company will now commence a programme of further infill geophysics and drilling in the area between zone III (the area of initial mine production) and the 1.5 kilometre area south to zone II. This initial programme will comprise the drilling of widely spaced diamond drill holes from surface. Underground Drilling Results & Exploration Activity The first set of results from the 2004 underground resource definition drilling program on the zone III deposit have become available. As previously announced, the priority has been to drill up gold-bearing ore adjacent to the mine development in the zone III area that can be readily accessed once production starts next year. The initial results confirm the previously suspected potential indicated from prior surface drilling of: Hole No Interval Au g/t ZK 313-14 2.00m 30.9 ZK 313-14 8.00m 11.65 A number of diamond core holes were drilled from the level 116 metres underground in a fan across the strike of the target which gave the following results (at a 7% Zinc cut off; 2 metre internal dilution and with no upper cut): Hole No Interval Zn % Au g/t Ag g/t UGCJY-005 6.15m 7.43 3.15 11.35 UGCJY-008 9.08m 11.43 3.09 18.02 UGCJY-004 5.15m 8.55 1.48 19.38 UGCJY-006 5.45m 15.28 0.77 96.84 One further hole will be deepened later and another was abandoned. The gold is contained within moderate to high grade zinc mineralized zones although high-grade zinc also occurs outside these zones in addition to the intercepts reported above. Overall, the results confirm the presence of a steeply dipping 3-7 metre wide (true width) gold-bearing lode over a vertical extent of 50 metres. The upper part of the lode will be available for mining in the early part of next year. Further drilling will now be done along strike to fully quantify this lode system in preparation for mining. This lode system was not included in the original mining ore reserve but is likely to make a valuable addition to it once the strike extent has been determined. In addition to the drilling work, underground mapping and sampling has located several previously unsuspected gold-bearing lodes in the walls of the access incline returning a 6 metre long channel sample at 6.63 g/t Au and 3.95% Zn across a 3 metre true width structure. A further lode yielded 3.98 g/t Au over an interval of 1.5 metres. It is planned to trial mine these lodes from the incline in the near future to determine their orientation and extent. Griffin is also planning a geophysical survey over the regional exploration licence area, where recent microscopic studies have provided further confirmation of the epithermal gold potential of this area. Commenting on the results, Chairman Mladen Ninkov said 'These new results are further evidence that significantly more gold mineralization exists in the zone III deposit than was indicated in the original drilling and the Company's policy of delineating reserves via underground drilling has been vindicated. I am also very happy with the progress that is being achieved with the construction of the mine which is, so far, on time and within budget. Caijiaying continues to fulfill all our expectations and I look forward to further exploration success in the coming months.' Further information Mladen Ninkov - Chairman Telephone: +44(0)20 7629 7772 Roger Goodwin - Finance Director Griffin Mining Limited Philip Davies Telephone: +44(0)20 7953 2000 Charles Stanley & Company Limited This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
UK 100

Latest directors dealings