UEX Reports N.I. 43-101 Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate for the Raven Deposit of 9.15 million pounds of U(3)O(8) in the Indicated category, and 1.13 million pounds of U(3)O(8) Inferred at a cutoff grade of 0.05% U(3)O(8), and the latest resource for the West Bear Deposit
Trading Symbol: UEX-TSX
VANCOUVER, Jan. 5 /CNW/ - UEX Corporation ("UEX") is pleased to announce
that it has received a National Instrument 43-101 ("N.I. 43-101") Mineral
Resource Estimate report from Golder Associates Ltd. ("Golder") of Burnaby,
BC, for the Raven Deposit ("Raven"), and updated resources for the West Bear
Deposit ("West Bear"). The two deposits are located within UEX's 100%-owned
Hidden Bay Project in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan,
Canada.
The new Raven resource estimate contains 3.97 million tonnes grading
0.105% U(3)O(8) in the Indicated category containing 9.15 million pounds of
U(3)O(8), and 0.49 million tonnes grading 0.104% U(3)O(8) in the Inferred
category containing 1.13 million pounds of U(3)O(8) at a cutoff grade of 0.05%
U(3)O(8). The new resources at Raven are in addition to a previously reported
N.I. 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate at the adjacent Horseshoe
Deposit which comprise 3.58 million tonnes grading 0.24% U(3)O(8) in the
Indicated category containing 18.69 million pounds of U(3)O(8), and 0.31
million tonnes grading 0.21% U(3)O(8) in the Inferred category containing 1.43
million pounds of U(3)O(8) reported on September 29, 2008, and documented in a
technical report dated November 13, 2008 which is filed on SEDAR. These
Horseshoe resources substantially exceeded the non-N.I. 43-101 compliant
historical Gulf Minerals Canada ("Gulf") resource on Horseshoe of 13.6 million
pounds U(3)O(8) at grades of 0.17% U(3)O(8).
Total contained Indicated uranium resources at the West Bear Deposit have
not significantly changed from the December 2007 N.I. 43-101 compliant
resource calculation, and stand at 78,914 tonnes containing 1.58 million
pounds U(3)O(8) grading 0.908% U(3)O(8) at a cutoff of 0.05% U(3)O(8). A
supporting technical report reviewing all resources on the Hidden Bay Project
will be filed on SEDAR shortly. Geological aspects and drilling results from
Raven are also documented in the November 12, 2008 technical report on the
Horseshoe and Raven deposits which is filed under UEX's disclosures on SEDAR.
Indicated resources in the new N.I. 43-101 compliant resource estimate at
Raven are comparable in contained uranium to the historical, non-43-101
compliant resource of 9.4 million pounds of U(3)O(8) reported in the Gulf
historical resource, which comprised 3.06 million tonnes grading 0.14%
U(3)O(8). The additional Inferred resources expand the deposit beyond the
historical figures. In addition, western and eastern portions of the Raven
deposit are both open, and further stepout drilling which will commence in
January 2009 is anticipated to increase the mineral resource inventory of the
deposit. As with the previous Horseshoe resource, expansions to the resource
base at Raven have come through the tracing of mineralization into areas
previously untested by historical drilling, and establishment of better
continuity of mineralization between the widely spaced historical drill holes.
At a lower cutoff grade of 0.02% U(3)O(8), resources at Raven increase to 7.60
million tonnes containing 11.57 million pounds U(3)O(8) in the Indicated
category at a grade of 0.074% U(3)O(8), and 0.83 million tonnes containing
1.42 million pounds U(3)O(8) at a grade of 0.078% U(3)O(8) in the Inferred
category.
"With the new resource calculation at Raven, UEX has now exceeded its
objective of identifying 30 million pounds of U(3)O(8) in resources on the
Hidden Bay Project" said Stephen Sorensen, President and CEO of UEX. Sorensen
went on to say that "since mineralization at Raven and Horseshoe is still
open, and additional mineralization at Horseshoe Northeast is currently being
defined, UEX's goal for 2009 is to establish resources of 40 million pounds of
U(3)O(8) on its Hidden Bay Project."
UEX is considering a few production options which include a toll milling
arrangement with one of the operators of the two active uranium mills in the
region, namely Cameco Corporation's ("Cameco") Rabbit Lake mill less than 5
kilometres to the northeast of the Raven and Horseshoe Deposits, and AREVA
Resources Canada Inc.'s ("AREVA") McClean Lake facilities located 12
kilometres to the northwest of these deposits, or potentially constructing a
stand-alone facility which could process ore from all of UEX's Hidden Bay
deposits. In all scenarios, given the Horseshoe and Raven Deposits' location
in impermeable basement rocks, any open pits created by mining either deposit
will be evaluated as tailings disposal facilities for UEX's deposits, and for
other operators in the area.
With over 90% of resources at the Horseshoe and Raven Deposits already in
the Indicated category, feasibility level mining and economic assessment work
can commence in parallel with resource expansion and drilling. UEX anticipates
updating N.I. 43-101 compliant resources on the Horseshoe and Raven Deposits
after the completion of recently announced winter 2009 drilling program of
approximately 25,000 metres. This program will test open and partially defined
areas of mineralization which lie beyond the current resource limits.
Raven Resource Calculation Details
The January 2009 Raven resource estimate was prepared by K. Palmer, P.
Geo., of Golder, an independent Qualified Person as defined by N.I. 43-101.
The resource calculation utilized 187 diamond drill holes (45,300 metres from
holes RU-001 to RU-160, and RV-001 to RV-028) drilled between 2005 and 2008,
to define the deposit at 7.5 to 50 metre drill centers. The resource estimate
was calculated using a minimum cutoff grade of 0.02% U(3)O(8) utilizing a
geostatistical-block model technique with ordinary kriging methods and the
DATAMINE Studio 3 software package.
Details of the resources at different cutoff levels are provided in
Tables 1 and 2 below. The bulk of the resource is in Indicated category at a
0.05% U(3)O(8) cutoff. At a cutoff grade of 0.10%, most of the contained
U(3)O(8) in the Indicated Resource is within areas averaging 0.165% U(3)O(8).
Table 1
January 2009 Indicated Mineral Resources at the Raven Deposit
with tonnes and grade at various U(3)O(8) cutoff grades.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cutoff Tonnes Dry Density U(3)O(8) (%) U(3)O(8) (lbs)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
0.02 7,602,400 2.46 0.074 11,572,000
0.05 3,967,600 2.46 0.105 9,154,000
0.10 1,446,900 2.46 0.165 5,273,000
0.15 598,500 2.47 0.229 3,019,000
0.20 286,400 2.48 0.291 1,838,000
0.25 154,000 2.48 0.350 1,189,000
0.30 85,500 2.48 0.412 777,000
0.35 52,000 2.49 0.470 539,000
0.40 31,800 2.49 0.532 373,000
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Table 2
January 2009 Inferred Mineral Resources at the Raven Deposit
with tonnes and grade at various U(3)O(8) cutoff grades.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cutoff Tonnes Dry Density U(3)O(8) (%) U(3)O(8) (lbs)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
0.02 833,200 2.41 0.078 1,418,000
0.05 494,000 2.42 0.104 1,134,000
0.10 146,200 2.45 0.189 611,000
0.15 81,200 2.47 0.244 437,000
0.20 40,100 2.47 0.316 279,000
0.25 20,700 2.47 0.401 183,000
0.30 14,600 2.46 0.454 146,000
0.35 11,400 2.46 0.489 123,000
0.40 9,100 2.47 0.518 104,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The current resources at Raven are still open to the west and east into
areas that were included within the historical resources defined by Gulf.
Historical drilling results include several significant drilling intersections
by Gulf that lie beyond the limits of the current resource, including
intercepts of 0.21% U(3)O(8) over 15.54 metres in hole LB-031, 0.52% U(3)O(8)
over 3.35 metres in hole LB-038, and 0.16% U(3)O(8) over 13.72 metres in hole
LB-048, which suggest that mineralization at Raven may extend for at least 200
metres westward from the current resource outline.
West Bear Resource Calculation Details
The updated January 2009 West Bear resource estimate was also prepared by
K. Palmer, P. Geo., of Golder. The resource calculation utilized the results
from 216 drill holes totaling 6,400 metres which were completed during 2005
and 2007 sonic drilling programs. The resource estimate was calculated using a
minimum cutoff grade of 0.01% U(3)O(8) utilizing a geostatistical-block model
technique with ordinary kriging methods and the DATAMINE Studio 3 software
package.
The new resource reported below reflects the remodeling of the deposit
after significant resampling of drill core was undertaken to better define
mineralization outlines. The changes in volume, with corresponding decrease in
grade with respect to the December 2007 N.I. 43-101 compliant Indicated
Resource (73,800 tonnes grading 1.00% U(3)O(8), containing 1.61 million pounds
of U(3)O(8) using a cutoff grade of 0.15% U(3)O(8) - see December 13, 2007
news release), reflect incorporation of lower grade material in the new
resource outlines. All resources at West Bear are classified as Indicated;
details at different cutoff levels are provided in Table 3 below:
Table 3
January 2009 Indicated Mineral Resources at the West Bear Deposit
with tonnes and grade at various U(3)O(8) cutoff grades.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cutoff Tonnes Dry Density U(3)O(8) (%) U(3)O(8) (lbs)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
0.01 209,655 1.99 0.36 1,654,594
0.02 188,137 1.99 0.40 1,646,208
0.03 112,950 1.99 0.65 1,605,245
0.04 85,265 2.02 0.84 1,584,573
0.05 78,914 2.03 0.91 1,578,500
0.10 76,067 2.03 0.94 1,574,010
0.15 70,316 2.04 1.01 1,557,586
0.20 63,767 2.04 1.09 1,532,152
0.25 57,332 2.04 1.19 1,500,142
0.30 52,067 2.04 1.28 1,468,219
0.35 47,764 2.04 1.37 1,437,236
0.40 43,560 2.05 1.46 1,402,640
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hidden Bay Project - Total Resources
With the new N.I. 43-101 compliant resources reported here for the Raven
and West Bear Deposits, and the September 2008 N.I. 43-101 compliant resource
at the Horseshoe Deposit, total resources on the Hidden Bay Project at a
cutoff of 0.05% U(3)O(8) now stand at 29.43 million pounds U(3)O(8) Indicated
and 2.56 million pounds U(3)O(8) Inferred. Note that the total resources
exceed 30 million pounds U(3)O(8) in the Indicated category if a 0.02%
U(3)O(8) cutoff grade is considered for Raven. A summary of resources is
illustrated in Tables 4 and 5 below:
Table 4
Total N.I. 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resources on the
Hidden Bay Project, January 2009,
at a cutoff grade of 0.05% U(3)O(8).
------------------------------------------------------------------
Deposit Tonnes U(3)O(8) (%) U(3)O(8) (lbs)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Horseshoe 3,577,700 0.237 18,693,000
Raven 3,967,600 0.105 9,154,000
West Bear 78,914 0.908 1,578,500
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total - all deposits 7,624,214 0.175 29,425,500
Horseshoe & Raven only 7,545,300 0.168 27,847,000
------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 5
Total N.I. 43-101 compliant Inferred Mineral Resources on the
Hidden Bay Project, January 2009, at a cutoff grade of
0.05% U(3)O(8). No resources classified as Inferred are present at
the West Bear Deposit.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Deposit Tonnes U(3)O(8) (%) U(3)O(8) (lbs)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Horseshoe 311,200 0.208 1,426,000
Raven 494,000 0.104 1,134,000
West Bear 0 0.000 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
Horseshoe & Raven total 805,200 0.144 2,560,000
------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Horseshoe and Raven Deposits
Mineralization at the Horseshoe and Raven Deposits comprises shallow
dipping zones of hematization with disseminated and veinlet
pitchblende-boltwoodite-uranophane that are hosted by folded arkosic quartzite
gneiss. Mineralization comprises a combination of disseminated
pitchblende-chlorite-hematite, and narrower, higher grade nodular and veinlet
pitchblende in hematite-clay alteration. Within the resource areas above,
mineralization at Horseshoe has been defined to date continuously over a
strike length of approximately 600 metres and a dip length of up to 300
metres, occurring at depths of 100-420 metres below surface. At Raven, which
lies 0.5 kilometres west of Horseshoe, mineralization has been defined over a
strike length to date of approximately 700 metres at depths below surface of
100 to 300 metres in two dominant, subhorizontal zones. The deposits are
located less than 5 kilometres south of Cameco's Rabbit Lake operations, and
12 kilometres southeast of AREVA's McClean Lake operations. Both are hosted by
competent basement rocks that could be amenable to both open-pit and
conventional underground ramp access mining methods, pending a positive
feasibility study.
Raven and Horseshoe mineralization comprises pitchblende and other
uranium oxides and silicates without potentially deleterious nickel-arsenide
minerals that may affect extraction and pose tailings disposal problems. As
reported in the September 29, 2008 news release, representative samples
derived from composited drill core assay rejects from the Horseshoe Deposit,
and from three HQ diameter metallurgical holes from both the Horseshoe and
Raven Deposits, have undergone preliminary testing for leach and effluent
treatment conditions and grindability analysis under the direction of Melis
Engineering Ltd. at SGS Lakefield Research Limited in Lakefield, Ontario.
Leaching tests on composites indicate that the uranium in the Horseshoe and
Raven Deposits is easily leached under relatively mild atmospheric leach
conditions. The excellent extraction levels are comparable to other
metallurgically simple basement-hosted deposits in the region, including the
nearby Eagle Point Deposit.
In progressing toward a combined feasibility study on the Horseshoe and
Raven Deposits, environmental baseline studies were commenced by Golder in
2006, and Golder continues to collect biological, hydrogeological and other
environmental data. During the 2007 and 2008 drilling programs, geotechnical
studies of the area of the deposits also commenced, assessing rock properties
and hydrogeology. Further baseline and geotechnical studies are scheduled for
2009 following the input of more detailed information on the project design
generated from initial scoping work prior to commencement of the full
feasibility study. Several additional infill holes were drilled to upgrade
inferred portions of the Horseshoe Deposit to Indicated status in October
2008, which confirmed mineralization continuity in the two largest inferred
zones at Horseshoe; results will be reported when received.
About the West Bear Deposit
The West Bear Uranium Deposit is in the southern portion of the Hidden
Bay property, where it lies within a very thin cover of Athabasca sandstone
and underlying basement pelites straddling the unconformity. Mineralization
occurs at a vertical depth of between 10 and 31 metres (or approximately 33 to
100 feet) from surface and is one of the shallowest, undeveloped uranium
deposits in the prolific Athabasca Basin. Combined with the relatively soft
nature of the host rocks and overburden, UEX believes that the deposit could
be mined using low cost, open pit techniques within a very short timeframe.
The deposit is located close to two existing uranium mills, Cameco's Rabbit
Lake Mill and the McClean Lake Mill, operated by AREVA.
Golder is carrying out an environmental baseline study ("EBS") and a
feasibility study for West Bear Deposit. The EBS has been underway at West
Bear since August 2005 and Golder has now collected all necessary biological,
hydrogeological and other environmental data for use in the West Bear
feasibility study.
The technical information in this document has been compiled and reviewed
by D. Rhys, P. Geo., a qualified person as defined by N.I. 43-101.
About UEX
UEX is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company actively
involved in 19 uranium projects, including seven that are 100% owned and
operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA that is operated by UEX, ten
joint-ventured with AREVA and one under option from Japan-Canada Uranium
Company, Limited, which are operated by AREVA. The 19 projects, totaling
374,513 hectares (925,442 acres), are located in the eastern, western and
northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium belt,
which accounts for approximately 23% of the global primary uranium production.
UEX is currently developing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin
which include the Kianna, Anne and Colette Deposits at its Shea Creek Uranium
Project, a joint venture with AREVA in the western Athabasca Basin, and the
West Bear, Raven and Horseshoe Deposits located at its 100%-owned Hidden Bay
Project in the eastern Athabasca Basin. UEX's exploration and development
budgets planned for 2009 total approximately $16.5 million, of which UEX will
be responsible for approximately $10.9 million, with additional funds
available for potential expansion pending the drilling results.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF UEX CORPORATION
Stephen H. Sorensen,
President & CEO
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on
UEX's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding UEX's outlook for our
future operations, plans and timing for the commencement or advancement of
exploration activities on our properties, and other expectations, intention
and plans that are not historical fact. The words "estimates", "projects",
"expects", "intends", "believes", "plans", or their negatives or other
comparable words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and
assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed
or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from UEX's expectations include
uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and geology,
continuity and grade of deposits, fluctuations in uranium prices and currency
exchange rates, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in UEX's Annual
Information Form and other filings with the securities commission on SEDAR.
Many of these factors are beyond the control of UEX. Consequently, all
forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by this
cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or
developments anticipated by UEX will be realized. For the reasons set forth
above, investors should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements. Except as required by applicable law, UEX disclaims any intention
or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
%SEDAR: 00017609E
For further information: UEX CORPORATION, SUITE 1007 - 808 NELSON STREET,
VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA, V6Z 2H2, PH: (604) 669-2349, FAX (604) 669-1240,
Website: www.uex-corporation.com, email: uex@intergate.ca
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