BEIJING, June 14, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silver Dragon Resources Inc. (OTCBB:SDRG) ("the Company") is pleased to announce that China's Ministry of Land & Resources has issued a new exploration license for its Laopandao Property, Inner Mongolia, China, under the name of Inner Mongolia Guangda Mining, Ltd. ("Guangda"). Guangda is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sanhe Sino-Top Resources & Technologies, Ltd. ("Sino-Top"), in which Silver Dragon has a 40% equity interest (see press release of Oct. 13, 2009). Guangda was formed for the specific purpose of developing the Company's exploration properties in China, commencing with Dadi and Laopandao, into producing mines.
Silver Dragon and its Chinese Joint Venture partners are currently implementing a major surface and underground exploration program at Laopandao during the 2010 exploration season, consisting of 5,160 metres of diamond drilling, 1,300 metres of underground exploration-development and 1,000m of trenching to define the resource potential on the property culminating in the preparation of a preliminary assessment by Q4-2010. As of today, 1,923 metres of drilling (7 holes) have been completed since the start of the current year.
Marc Hazout, President and CEO of Silver Dragon, reports that, "We are pleased that our Laopandao Property, part of our core assets in China, is secured under the name of Guangda, our local subsidiary in Inner Mongolia. Importantly, Laopandao is fully funded to carry out the proposed 2010 surface and underground exploration-development program."
The Company has retained Southampton Associates Inc. of Toronto, Canada, to prepare a National Instrument 43-101 report on the Laopandao Property, as well as to evaluate the viability of a central mill complex to process future production from the Dadi Polymetallic-silver Property and the Laopandao Property.
About Laopandao
Laopandao is one of the six exploration properties of Sanhe Sino-Top Resources and Technologies Ltd. ("Sino-Top"), a Chinese company that holds exclusive exploration rights to these properties, located in the prolific Erbahuo Silver District in Inner Mongolia, China. Silver Dragon Resources Inc. has a 40% ownership interest in Sino-Top. The Laopandao exploration area covers 44.88 square kilometres and is located approximately 650 kilometres north by northeast of Beijing in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia (see Project location Map at http://www.silverdragonresources.com/_gui/China_Project_Location_Map.jpg). Mineralization zones have been identified in the northern, central, and southern portions of the exploration area. The most significant recent discovery was the existence of Ag-Sn-Cu-Pb mineralization on the peripheries of a previously identified tin mineralized zone. The mineralization is mainly a continental volcanic-sedimentary rock altered strata-bound mineral type.
About Sino-Top – China Mining 2009 Award Winner*
Sanhe Sino-Top Resources & Technologies, Ltd. (``Sino-Top'') was originally incorporated in 2003 as a Chinese company wholly-owned by Huaguan Industrial Corp. (``HIC''), a subsidiary of the state-owned North China Geological Exploration Bureau. Sino-Top became an American-Chinese joint venture in 2005. Silver Dragon Resources Inc. acquired Sino-Top in 2006, and currently owns 40% of Sino-Top after having sold 50% of its ownership interest to its Chinese partners. The Chinese side, led by Gansu Shengda Group Ltd. ("Shengda"), at 52%, and HIC, at 8%, collectively own 60% of Sino-Top. Sino-Top holds exclusive exploration and development rights to six properties in northern China (Inner Mongolia), covering a total area of 139 km2. Sino-Top won the prestigious Prospector/Explorer of the Year Award for its Dadi Silver Polymetallic Project at the China Mining Congress & Expo 2009 held in Tianjin, China, during October 20-22, 2009.
About Silver Dragon Resources Inc.:
Silver Dragon Resources Inc. is a mining and metals company focused on the exploration, acquisition, development and operation of silver mines in proven silver districts globally. Silver Dragon's objective is to acquire silver mining assets that contain promising exploration targets, have highly leveraged, out-of-the-money silver deposits, and/or are producing properties with significant untapped exploration potential. It is management's objective to grow Silver Dragon into a significant silver producer by developing the Cerros las Minitas project in Mexico, its six Sino-Top properties in China ( particularly Dadi and Laopandao), and its Erbahuo Silver mine (via its Chifeng Silver Dragon subsidiary), also in China. For more information, please visit the Company's website at: www.silverdragonresources.com (now available in Chinese).
The Silver Dragon Resources Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4242
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein which are not historical, such as statements regarding the exploration and development of the Laopandao and Dadi Silver Project, outcome and timing for the completion of further assays and metal amounts in partial assay results, are forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur. Information inferred from the interpretation of assay results and information concerning mineralization zones may also be deemed to be forward looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when and if a project is actually developed. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, certain delays beyond the company's control with respect to future assay results, delays in testing and evaluation of assays, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.