By Paul Burton
World Gold

        Griffin Mining has completed the first sale of zinc concentrate from its Caijiaying zinc-gold mine in Hebei province, China.
        Payment has been received in advance of the delivery of 1,200 t of zinc concentrate to local Chinese smelters.
        Mladen Ninkov, Griffin's chairman, commented, "Griffin has now left the world of the junior speculative resource companies and entered the realm of a revenue-producing mining company."
        An August 2003 feasibility study demonstrated the viability a zinc-gold mine with an initial throughput of 200,000 t/y using a western-style decline and low cost Chinese mining methods to feed a process plant to produce zinc concentrates.
        The study showed life of mine production of 314,250 t of zinc metal and 108,450 kg of silver in concentrate, with 39,850 oz of gold in bullion.
        The company is also initiating an extensive reverse circulation drilling programme on the highly prospective epithermal gold targets and zinc mineralized extensions within its existing license areas.
        A reverse circulation (RC) drill rig imported from Australia has now reached the Caijiaying mine site, where it has been placed on the first drill pad ready for the immediate commencement of drilling.
        Drill results should become available in the fourth quarter of 2005.
        Caledon Resources, meanwhile has announced assay results from a recently completed diamond drill programme, designed to test deeper targets located on the Mojiang gold project, situated in Yunnan province, part of SW China's Golden Triangle.
        Previous shallow drilling at Mojiang successfully identified a relatively flat lying, near surface zone of gold mineralization, over a strike length in excess of 2 km and hosting an average zone thickness of approximately 40 m.
        The recent reconnaissance programme of 1,060 m drilled in seven holes was planned to test for parallel zones and "feeder" structures at depth below the recently drilled surface mineralization.
        The new drilling successfully identified deeper zones of gold mineralization, assaying up to 15.36 g/t over 18 m, and identifying wide and sometimes high grade zones up to 200 m below surface.
        This new information, in combination with known data compiled from proximal underground Chinese workings, opens up further scope for resource potential at depth on Mojiang.
        A revised geological and structural model is under preparation and will form the basis for further drill hole targeting, both shallow and deep, at Mojiang.
        Finally, Central China Goldfields (CCG) has completed its orientation BLEG (Bulk Leach Extractable Gold) survey in the Baima region of China's Sichuan Province, where the company has four of its seven exploration licenses.
        The survey (which is a method of sampling stream sediments with a high degree of sensitivity, thereby allowing rapid coverage of large areas with low density sampling) identifies the known prospects of Song Pang Guo and Shu Niu Jia as giving the largest responses (5-15 ppb), at least 2 km downstream and detectable for over 6 km.
        These new areas have been visited and reconnaissance mapping is in progress.
       The company is also in the process of applying for new exploration licences over these new areas.
        Following the success of the BLEG sampling method, CCG has now started applying this method over the 4,000 km Maqu region, north of the Baima region, where the company has a first right of refusal to apply for exploration licences.
        Editor's Note: Paul Burton is editor of World Gold, 45 Victoria Rd., South Woodford, London E18 1LJ, United Kingdom, 1 year, 12 issues, $395. World Gold has an enviable reputation as a global authority on the gold industry. For more information on this newsletter visit www.worldgold.net.