By Paul Burton, World Gold

       Central China Goldfields' principal focus is on the exploration, discovery and development of gold deposits in the western Qinling fold belt, in Sichuan.
        Its primary project is the Snow Mountain gold project, which is located in the northern Sichuan Province, on moderately steeply dipping or undulating terrain at elevations of 2,000 - 3,800 m above sea level.
        Snow Mountain encompasses seven non-contiguous exploration licenses totaling approximately 54.3 km(, now owned by jv company, Sichuan Snow Mountain Mining Exploration Unite Center (SSMMEUC), in which Central China is earning a 75% interest through expending US$7 million over six years on exploration.
        The Snow Mountain gold project is located in the western Qinling fold belt, where, over the last two decades, several small to large Carlin-like (sediment-hosted) gold deposits have been discovered, largely from basic geochemical reconnaissance techniques, which have defined the western Qinling fold belt as significant Carlin-like gold province.
        Previous work by Chinese geologists in the mid-1980s discovered gold mineralisation at Qiaoqiaoshang (QQS), Songpanguo (SPG), Shuiniujia (SNJ), and Erdaoqiao (EDQ).
        From 1987 until 1999, comprehensive work was conducted on each of the discoveries, including detailed project scale mapping and trenching on all prospects, underground development at QQS, SPG, SNJ, EDQ and Shanpengzi (SPZ), and metallurgical testwork at QQS, SPG and SNJ.
        Drilling was only undertaken at QQS, the most advanced prospect.
        The Snow Mountain project currently has a resource, estimated by SBMGE to Chinese standards, of 950,500 oz of gold within three of the licenses, of which 225,500 oz are N1 43-101 compliant.
        Central China is engaged in exploration on known deposits with a view to proving up and confirming the previous work.
        In April this year, Central China Goldfields began a fieldwork programme with exploration work contracted to Brigades 604, 606 and the Metallurgical & Geological Exploration Investigation, subdivisions of SBMGE, who then held the exploration licenses.
        Initial soil sampling in the Xiangshujia (XSJ) license area, identified two new gold-in-soil zones measuring up to 200 m by 500 m and 200 m by 300 m in area.
        The new zones are located approximately 6 km along structure to the northwest of SPG deposit and 7 km west northwest of the SNJ deposit.
        The company has just completed an orientation Bulk Leach Extractable Gold (BLEG) survey on stream sediment samples in the SNJ area to test the effectiveness of this method for discovering other targets.
        The orientation BLEG survey in the Baima region, where the company has four of it seven exploration licenses, showed that known prospects SPG and SNJ gave the largest responses, 5-15 ppb, at least 2 km down stream and may be detectable for over 6 km.
        Most recently, Central China confirmed that a total of 10 trenches, approximately 300 m long, have been dug at SNJ and results received to date from two of these have confirmed the presence of gold mineralisation.
        Trench 36R returned 12.8 m at a grade of 3.54 g/t gold, while trench 39R showed two areas of mineralisation: the eastern section returning 6.1 m at 5.46 g/t gold and the western section 6.8 m at 4.02 g/t gold.
        Additional trenching and underground sampling to increase resources is in progress, and all of the results are being compiled into a 3D model to understand better the geometry of the orebody.
        Editor's Note: Paul Burton is editor of World Gold, 45 Victoria Rd, South Woodford, London E18 1LJ, UK. This focus is extracted from "Beyond the Wall - Foreign Involvement in China's Gold Mining Industry" published by World Gold.
        To many investors, China's gold industry remains opaque and shrouded in secrecy. In these circumstances it is difficult to gauge the relative merits of the projects being investigated by the scores of foreign explorers and developers.
        This report reviews exploration and development projects, province by province, before presenting an in-depth, and independent, analysis of the activities of 16 international gold companies.
        This report promises to be the most thorough and comprehensive review of foreign exploration in China undertaken to date.
        The report also includes expert commentary on geology and gold occurrences, mining laws, the regulatory structure in China and the domestic gold producing industry.
        To obtain this special report for a price of US$1,755 visit www.worldgold.net or email editor@worldgold.net for a brochure.