Great Western Minerals evaluates phosphate assets

Saskatoon-Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (GWMG), spurred on by sharp increases in phosphate prices, says it will further evaluate the economic potential of phosphate as a byproduct at its Hoidas Lake Rare Earth Elements (REE) property located 50 km northeast of Uranium City in northern Saskatchewan. The company says that, based on data compiled for the 43-101 Resource Estimate prepared in 2007, the phosphate values range from a minimum grade of 0.05 percent to a maximum grade of 40.9 percent, with a mean or average value of 17.7 percent. The phosphate content will be further evaluated from the results of the recent winter drill program and in the proposed summer drilling program. “Our focus remains on the rare earth sector, but if we have an attractive by-product potential in our deposit, we are going to exploit that to increase the potential revenue and profitability,” said Jim Engdahl, GWMG president and CEO. “In addition, the results from our winter drilling program will also give us a better indication of the potential phosphate resource and further refine our economic strategy moving forward.” He added, “We remain encouraged by the fact that we still have only drilled 1000 metres along the 10,000-metre section of known showings, and to a depth of only 300 metres. As we drill deeper, we continue to intersect new zones at depth and parallel to the original JAK structure. With the JAK Zone open along strike and to depth, this still leaves tremendous potential for the rest of the property, not only for REE, but for the phosphate as well. We look forward to our planned summer drill program further increasing this potential.” GWMG is a Saskatoon-based company exploring for, and developing, strategic metal resources in North America. GWMG is a public company since 1983 and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GWG; its U.S. symbol is GWMGF. GWMG’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Great Western Technologies Inc., located in Troy, Mich., produces a variety of specialty alloys for use in the battery, magnet, and aerospace industries.