Astral VP Dale Brittliffe on Mexico assays of 39.1 g/t gold, 93.3 g/t silver over 5m

Astral Mining Corp TSXV:AA announced assays from Los Crestones Property in Sinaloa State, Mexico. Highlights include

39.1 g/t gold, 93.3 g/t silver and 2.13% copper over 5 metres (including 13.2 g/t gold, 87.9 g/t silver and 2.77% copper over 1 metre)

30 g/t gold, 259 g/t silver and 3.06% copper over 4 metres (including 22.8 g/t gold, 347 g/t silver and 5.28 g/t copper over 0.4 metres)

20.4 g/t gold, 22 g/t silver and 0.82% copper over 2.5 metres (including 49.9 g/t gold, 33.2 g/t silver and 1.35% copper over 1 metre)

9.13 g/t gold, 41.8 g/t silver and 0.55% copper over 4 metres (including 30 g/t gold, 150 g/t silver and 1.06% copper over 1 metre)

41.6 g/t gold, 256 g/t silver and 5.24% copper over 0.7 metres

VP of Exploration Dale Brittliffe tells ResourceClips.com, “Before we came in, Los Crestones had never been drilled. It’s high in the mountains and was staked by the local landowners. We first set foot on the property in October 2010 to do some confirmation work and due diligence. Two Mexican companies had been in there. They had done quite a lot of sampling and gave the data to the vendor. The first company liked the look of it but couldn’t come to an agreement with the vendor. The second company also did a lot of work but dragged their feet on negotiating a deal. We went down there, looked at it, said we’d like to do a deal, and did a deal. The second Mexican company came back to the vendor just one week after we signed. We got lucky there.

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High Price of Gold Makes Astral Mining a Safer, Stronger Bet

By Doug Hadfield

The first good news of the year for readers at Resourcex Investor was the price of gold. The start of the year heralded all-time high prices for gold easily topping $900 per ounce, driven by the weak US dollar, high oil prices and renewed geopolitical concerns. Just a month later, gold continues to break all time highs, confidently striding toward the long anticipated $1,000 mark.

It seems the world now faces some of the most difficult economic conditions since the dotcom meltdown, a reality echoed by everyone from Alan Greenspan, who believes the likelihood of a US recession is 50/50, and that a global recession is at some point “inevitable.”

In early January, the Financial Times of London surveyed the opinions of 55 top economists from around the globe. "Nearly nine in 10 think public finances are not in good order," the authors stated.

All this may sound like bad news – and to policymakers it may well be – but resource investors know that the effect of this trend on the gold price is only good news.

In fact, the gold price as measured against the world's five most important currencies – including the US and Canadian dollar, the Euro, Yen, and British Pound Sterling – has gained an, had gained a whopping 150% in the past seven years – until the beginning of January – according to gold analyst Adrian Ash, from the Bullion Vault. Since then gold has gained another $100 per ounce, which is both staggering and unprecedented.

Junior Resource companies closely aligned with the price of gold – such as Astral Mining (TSX.V:AST) – are basking in the glow of this new reality: A long-term gold price well above the previous long-term average of about $350 per ounce.

President and CEO of Astral, Manfred Kurschner recently told me, “Although most junior exploration company’s share prices are not reflecting the current buoyant gold price, it is only a matter of time before those companies with potential discoveries will get noticed. We are not yet in the phase of the gold cycle where any company with exploration or gold in their name is going to have it’s share price soar. That I believe is some time away. But if you do your homework there will definitely be money made on the right juniors in the next while. The majors are finally having some recognition and the mid-size companies are starting to move, so usually the juniors are next.”

Last year, the Northern Miner wrote ran a story outlining the effect that positive assays had on the company’s share price: “Wide, high-grade gold values from a second-phase trenching program on the Jumping Josephine (JJ) project in southeastern B.C.'s Rossland-Republic trend gave Astral Mining (AST-V, ASMGF-O) a boost in the market recently,” the author stated. “Infill trenching on the Main zone returned up to 7 metres of 31.2 grams gold per tonne in trench 2A, including a 1-metre interval of 133.9 grams gold.”

That program was an infill program, conducted at 10-metre intervals, and followed initial trenching completed in 2006 done at 50-metre spacings across the structure. Fifteen trenches completed on the Main zone traced the gold-mineralized quartz stockwork over 270 metres of strike, which remains open to the southwest and northeast.

Now, with a Phase II drill program complete and more assays confirming solid grades, Astral Mining appears to be set for a renewed share price assessment.

“The thing to remember with this high-grade gold discovery is that it is located on the surface, several kilometers away from a paved highway, in a mining district with mills, smelters and power in close proximity, Kurschner said. “That makes a 500,000 to one million-ounce gold discovery much less risky than a 5 million-ounce low-grade discovery high in the Andes or in northern BC, where infrastructure costs can quickly make a project uneconomical even with the current high gold price.”

In 2007, Astral and JV Kootenay Gold (TSX.V: KTN) amassed an impressive database of assays from JJ. In November, the reported assays including 15.18 g/t gold over 4 m (incl. 1 m at 56.4 g/t gold); 7.74 g/t over 5 m (incl. 15.99 g/t over 2 m); 13.83 g/t over 3 m (incl. 35.6 g/t over 1 m); 8.28 g/t over 6 m, and 12.44 g/t gold over 8 m from hole 48 (incl. 26.9 g/t gold over 3 m). Similar or better results were achieved throughout the year.
Gold mineralization at JJ is hosted by structurally controlled quartz stockwork veining at the Main Zone, which has been intersected along 15 section lines over a strike length of 700 metres and to vertical depths of up to 225 metres below surface. The company is presently designing an aggressive exploration program for 2008, including additional drilling, a 3-D IP geophysical survey, and additional trenching and soil grids.
An updated NI 43-101 Resource Estimate is expected after the 2008 Phase 3 drilling results are completed and compiled. This will add value to a share price that is set to push beyond its present price ceiling.

Astral Mining has only 27 million shares(FD) outstanding and controls a 60% interest in the Jumping Josephine project.

This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.

Astral Mining Expands Limits of Jumping Josephine Discovery with new Assays
By John Hurst

After a summer of quiet trading and a gentle easing of its market capitalization, Astral Mining Corporation (TSX.V: AST) has had a jump-start in both its valuation and volume. The jump, not surprisingly was the result of strong results from Jumping Josephine.

Astral and it’s joint venture partner, Kootenay Gold (TSX.V: KTN), have now completed the Phase II drilling program at the discovery. The drill program consisted of 38 holes totaling 5,100 metres.

The second set of assays, reported on November 29, appeared to improve upon solid results from earlier in November that returned 4 metres averaging 15.18 g/t gold and included 1 m at 56.4 g/t gold. New assays tested to a greater depth than the first results, and included 12.44 g/t gold over 8m, 7.74 g/t over 5m, and 8.28 g/t over 6m.

CEO Manfred Kurschner is effusive about the ongoing success at JJ, noting that the grades exceeded expectations.

“We’ve only drilled perhaps 60 holes of which we have only reported less than 30, so we have another 32 holes to report,” said Kurschner. “This is a brand-new gold discovery, not a re-worked discovery or an old mine or an old deposit that we’ve revisited. In fact, it’s a brand-new, done-the-math achievement. Then through systematic exploration, we’ve moved it from having the discovery, to trenching, to doing the second phase of drilling, in about a year and a half.”

Jumping Josephine is located in the west Kootenay region of southeastern B.C., in a mining district that has had historical production of more than nine million ounces of high-grade gold, yet has remained under-explored since prior to World War II.

Gold showings were initially exposed on the property during road building for logging activity. After further prospecting in 2003, nine gold showings were discovered on the property. Kootenay subsequently assembled a claim position in the area surrounding and including several small past-producers in the Granville Mountain (Bonanza Pass) area.

Now Astral is earning a 60-percent interest in the 11,785-hectare Jumping Josephine project. The property comprises 24 contiguous mineral claims and seven crown-granted mineral claims optioned to Kootenay by Ralph Englund.

Kurschner says Astral has enough cash to get the company through all of the 2008 work programs at Jumping Josephine. He recently raised over $1 million in flow-through dollars to be spent on its British Columbia properties.

With continued good assay results and a strong resource market, Astral could raise enough money through the exercise of warrants and options to minimize dilution and fund several years of exploration.

In the mining exploration business, a key feature of success is telling the story. Kurschner, an entrepreneur who understands the market, has the ability to tell a story, to raise the money and to assemble a team of people who are able to deliver results.

“People need to keep in mind,” he said, “that with these discoveries, to go from the initial event, which in our case was high-grade trenching results that were put out last December, where we trenched seven metres just over an ounce – 31 grams – that’s the initial event that showed potential. Now, to carry it forward is going to take a lot of drill holes.

“What people need to remember is that 60 holes do not make a deposit,” Kurschner advised. “Some of the greatest discoveries in the world have taken hundreds of holes.”

“We now know that there’s going to be size and dimension to JJ – and it is open – it hasn’t been shut off by drill holes that came up dead. So now, we are able to visualize in a three-dimensional view what is going on underground. It is quite an achievement to do this within one year.”

Astral will benefit, too, from the exceptional infrastructure the area offers. The property is bisected by Highway 3, which links Grand Forks, BC, to the west with Castlegar to the east. The eastern edge of the property is adjacent to the intersection of Highways 3 and 3B, which provide access to the historic mining communities of Rossland and Trail, BC, to the southeast.

The infrastructure includes an extensive network of good-quality gravel logging tracks with vehicular access to all claims. Logging remains active in this area.

Astral Mining offers investors the potential upside of a high-grade gold project that has advanced quickly under the direction of an industry veteran. In addition, Director and vice-president of exploration is David Terry, PhD, has extensive experience in international project management and management of exploration programs for both major and junior mining companies. He was formerly a regional geologist with the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, and has worked for many mining companies.

With Phase II drilling complete and having shown consistent high-grade mineralization, the company is now ready to move on to further advancing its drilling and testing the Jumping Josephine property’s mineralized limits. For a company with only 25 million shares out, fully diluted and trading at approximately $0.60 per share (November 30, 2007), there are few better looking gold exploration deals to jump for than Jumping Josephine.

This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.