Empire Mining Corporation has been awarded an exclusive Prospecting Permit covering much of the chromite-bearing, Bulqiza ultramafic massif in eastern Albania. The permit area totals 134.25 km2, located approximately 40 km northeast of the capital Tirana.

The Prospecting Permit allows the company to assess the license area by carrying out geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys. It also grants the company an exclusive six-month right to convert open areas within the Prospecting Permit to one or more Exploration Licenses, which permit drilling and project development.

The Bulqiza massif contains over 350 chromite occurrences and deposits including the producing Bulqiza-Batra Mine (excluded from the Empire permit) which is widely recognized as one of the largest podiform chromite deposits in the world with past production of about 20 million tonnes grading 35-42% Cr2O3 and reported reserves of 18 million tonnes grading +35% Cr2O3.

Albania was the world's third largest producer of chromite in the 1980's when production amounted to more than 1 million tonnes per year, mainly from the Bulqiza massif, however, primarily as a consequence of the collapse of communism the local industry has been largely dormant since that time. Bulqiza ores are characterized by exceptionally high grades and generally command premium prices on world markets.

The main orebodies in the Bulqiza massif are found in the middle part of the mantle section within a harzburgite-dunite unit but dominantly within the harzburgites. The mineralized bodies are tabular, pseudo-tabular, pipe-like, and lens-like, and in many cases foldedand chromite can be massive, disseminated, layered or nodular. The chromite is of metallurgical grade and rarely refractory, frequently with a Cr:Fe ratio exceeding 1.5:1.

Empire's Prospecting Permit surrounds the Bulqiza-Batra Mine and covers the most prospective geological terrain within the Bulqiza massif. The permit area contains extensive known chromite mineralization including the projected north and south extensions of the fold structure controlling and hosting the chromite ores in the Bulqiza-Batra Mine.

Empire has carried out mapping, sampling and data compilation utilising some of Albania's most experienced chromite geologists. Empire believes that the potential exists within its permit area to delineate a substantial mineable resource of high quality +35% chromite. Subject to the final approval of Empire's Exploration Permit application expected in December; mapping, trenching and definition drilling is planned to commence in Spring 2009.

 

Albania is located in the southeastern Balkan region of Europe.

Albania reacted slowly to the events of 1989 that culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall and did not fully rid itself of its communist government until the election of 1991. Today it's a parliamentary democracy which is converting its economy into a western oriented free-market system. Albania is a strong ally of Western Europe and the United States and the majority of Albanians support integration into NATO and the European Union as a primary goal of government.

A progressive investment climate is attracting much new foreign investment across many industry sectors. The regulatory environment has been streamlined and corporate taxes have been lowered and are among the lowest in the world. A new mining law was passed in 1994 and subsequently improved with a number of amendments in 2004, including the liberalization of the licensing process. In addition, a new bill was passed which allows for the flow of technology, machinery and equipment into the country free of any customs duties.

A favourable geological setting bestowed Albania with a wealth of minerals. The country's mining history dates back more than 2,000 years and includes historical production of chromite, copper, zinc, nickel and iron, primarily from the country's northern mountains.

From 1946 to 1989 Albania was virtually cut off from the rest of the world by an ultra-Stalinist regime but despite the inefficiencies of the country's communist dictatorship which made its mines technologically backward and costly to run, from the 1960's to the late 1980's it was an important copper producer and the third largest producer of chromite behind South Africa and Kazakhstan; and, the second largest exporter of chromite, with peak production estimated at over 200,000 tonnes per year in the late 1980's.

After the fall of the communist regime and the self imposed economic isolation, Albania's overall economic collapse, critical shortage of cash along with escalating extraction costs, and antiquated machinery and infrastructure caused a significant decline in the chromite mining industry in the years to follow while copper and nickel production ceased in 2000 before resuming in 2004.

Today, robust commodity prices and the recovering Albanian economy have led to an increase in mineral exploration and mining activities in several regions of Albania. Both chromium and copper production have increased steadily since 2004, and several foreign companies have begun to explore for and develop Albania's abundant mineral wealth utilizing modern geophysical and geochemical technologies. An interesting development for the Albanian mining industry has become the increasing interest of the Chinese, particularly in chromite and iron-nickel mines.

Link:
- Albania (CIA World Factbook)