BEIJING, July 20, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silver Dragon Resources Inc. (OTCBB:SDRG) ("the Company") is pleased to announce that China's Inner Mongolia Department of Land & Resources has issued a new exploration license for its Dadi Property in 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. 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 Dadi during the 2010 exploration season, consisting of 10,000 metres of diamond drilling, 2,000 metres of underground exploration-development, and 2,000m of trenching. This program will be completed later this year, and the annual geological report and an accompanying metallurgical testing report will subsequently be provided to form the basis for a mining license application. Sino-Top's management anticipates that the Dadi property will be constructed into a silver, lead, and zinc producing mine in 2011.
To date, about 4,200 metres of drilling (13 holes) and 700 metres of tunnelling 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 Dadi Property, one of our key assets in China, is secured under the name of Guangda, our local subsidiary in Inner Mongolia. Importantly, Dadi is fully funded to carry out the proposed 2010 surface and underground exploration-development program, with the objective of becoming an operating mine in 2011."
About the Award-Winning Dadi Polymetallic Silver Property
Dadi 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 Dadi exploration area, covering 12.48 square kilometers, is located in the Mesozoic volcanic basin in Keshiketeng County, Inner Mongolia, China. Geologically, the Dadi property is located in the south edge of the Daxinganling metallogenic belt and at the joint between the Daxinganling mountain chain (with north-east direction) and the Xilamulunhe structure belt which trends in an east-west direction. These two structural belts are also two major ore-forming belts of China. This entire tectonic setting provides a dynamic geologic environment for the development of mineralizing systems. The major exposed rocks in the Dadi Property are Upper Jurassic Baiyinggaolao Formation dacitic tufaceous lava, dacitic tuff, rhyolitic tuff, and tufaceous sandstone and conglomerate, among which dacitic tufaceous lava and dacitic tuff are the main host rocks of mineralization.
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.
An independent review of the Dadi property was completed in Q1-2010, with the results presented in a Technical Report prepared by Southampton Associates Inc. of Toronto, Canada (see press release of May 6, 2010).
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).
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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 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.