UEX Corporation (UEX-T) Sept 8, '14 has completed the first phase of its review of its Hidden Bay Project historical drill core and database. The review program has identified several high-quality basement uranium targets that were not previously known to UEX or previous operators of Hidden Bay. UEX intends to drill these priority basement targets during the upcoming winter exploration program on the Hidden Bay property. This 10,000-metre drilling program will have an estimated budget of $2.5 million. Highlights
- Twelve target areas have been identified from UEX's database of 379 km of electromagnetic conductors, historical drilling and exploration data as being prospective to host basement-hosted uranium deposits.
- Two target areas with significant Millennium-like indicative clay alteration in the basement at depths of less than 75 m from surface were identified by UEX's explorationists during the recent in-the-field review of historic Hidden Bay drill core. The basement deposit potential of these alteration zones was not tested by previous exploration operators.
- One of the significant clay alteration zones has anomalous uranium mineralization over several metres both within the alteration zone and in adjacent drill holes.
- Excellent basement-hosted uranium potential was visually confirmed in five of the six target areas selected during the first phase of drill core review. The core from the remaining additional six targets identified during our database review will be analyzed in the upcoming year.
Roger Lemaitre, President and CEO of UEX Corporation stated, "While we expected to find high-quality basement targets at Hidden Bay, we were surprised by the speed and ease with which we are able to confirm the validity of these targets from our core library and drill-hole database. With the discovery of Millennium-like clay alteration in the shallow basement environment in two locations, one of which has associated anomalous uranium mineralization, the team and I are very excited about our upcoming drill programs. Having seen this Millennium-type clay alteration during my tenure with Cameco Corporation, I am keenly aware of the potential that such alteration represents."
The Basement-Hosted Core and Database Review Program
As a result of the recent industry successes in identifying new basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, the UEX team undertook an all-encompassing project review with the intention of finding the critical geological, geophysical and geochemical indicators associated with basement-hosted uranium deposits. With over 379 km of electromagnetic conductors defined on the property to date, a drill hole database of 1,800 holes of which less than 25% extended more than 25 m below the unconformity, the historic unwavering focus of previous exploration operators in the search for classic unconformity deposits and sandstone depths of 0 to 175 m, the Hidden Bay Project represents some of the most prospective shallow basement-hosted uranium terrain in the Athabasca Basin.
Our systematic database review, which has been conducted over the last few months, successfully identified twelve areas of high potential for basement-hosted deposits. The UEX exploration team undertook a field review of the historic core to corroborate the historic observations documented in our database. To date, drill core from six of the twelve target areas have been reviewed in the field.
The exploration team has confirmed that in five of the six areas reviewed to date excellent potential exists for the discovery of basement-hosted uranium deposits. Highlighting the review was the discovery of substantial massive hydrothermal clay alteration in basement rocks within and adjacent to graphitic fault zones in the Dwyer Lake and Wolf Lake areas. The clay alteration zones in both targets areas are several metres thick and are of a style of alteration resembling that of the basement alteration system associated with the Millennium and Roughrider uranium deposits.
At both Dwyer Lake and Wolf Lake, the Athabasca sandstone is approximately 40 to 60 m thick and the alteration systems were found in the 50 to 100 m depth range. Previous operators did not follow up on this prospective basement alteration with additional holes in either the down-dip or along-strike directions.
In the Wolf Lake area, continuous clay alteration was observed over a core length of 100 m into basement rocks. Several nearby holes contain anomalous uranium mineralization, which included intersections of 0.135% U3O8 over 0.5 m, 0.12% U3O8 over 3.5 m and 0.068% U3O8 over 2.5 m all at shallow depths of less than 70 m from surface.
The UEX team is now focusing on the process of acquiring the necessary permits and planning the logistics needed to execute a winter exploration program to begin testing the targets identified during the first phase of the core review program.
About the Hidden Bay Project
UEX's Hidden Bay Project is located in the eastern Athabasca Basin and is proximate to several of the region's major uranium deposits and mines. The property lies adjacent to two operating uranium mills, is divided by a provincial highway and is located minutes from daily all-weather commercial air service at a nearby regional air terminal. The Hidden Bay Project has been explored for uranium by UEX and preceding companies for over four decades, with this exploration leading to the discovery of three deposits documented in National Instrument 43-101 ("N.I. 43-101") reports which are referenced below.
Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by R. Sierd Eriks, P.Geo., UEX's Vice-President of Exploration and by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX's President and CEO who are both Qualified Persons as defined by N.I. 43-101 standards.
About UEX
UEX (TSX:UEX, OTC:UEXCF.PK, UXO.F) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company actively involved in fifteen uranium projects, including five that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA that is operated by UEX, as well as eight joint-ventured with AREVA and one joint venture with AREVA and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company, Limited, which are operated by AREVA. The fifteen projects, totaling 255,690 hectares (631,823 acres), are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium belt, which in 2013 accounted for approximately 15% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project, and the Horseshoe, Raven and West Bear deposits located at its 100%-owned Hidden Bay Project. UEX currently has a cash position of approximately $6.7 million.
UEX's two major projects have mineral resource estimates as follows:
UEX Corporation - Indicated Mineral Resources (1) (2) (3)
| Project | Tonnes | Grade
U3O8 (%) | Total
U3O8 (lbs) | UEX's share
U3O8 (lbs) | | Shea Creek (2) | 2,067,900 | 1.484 | 67,663,000 | 33,222,533 | | Hidden Bay (3) | 10,372,500 | 0.160 | 36,623,000 | 36,623,000 | | TOTAL INDICATED | 12,440,400 | 0.380 | 104,286,000 | 69,845,533 |
UEX Corporation - Inferred Mineral Resources (1) (2) (3)
| Project | Tonnes | Grade
U3O8 (%) | Total
U3O8 (lbs) | UEX's share
U3O8 (lbs) | | Shea Creek (2) | 1,272,200 | 1.005 | 28,192,000 | 13,842,272 | | Hidden Bay (3) | 1,109,200 | 0.111 | 2,715,000 | 2,715,000 | | TOTAL INFERRED | 2,381,400 | 0.589 | 30,907,000 | 16,557,272 |
Notes:
| (1) | The mineral resource estimates follow the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and classifications follow CIM definition standards. | | (2) | The Shea Creek mineral resources were estimated at a cut-off of 0.30% U3O8, and are documented in the Shea Creek Technical Report with an effective date of May 31, 2013 which was filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com on May 31, 2013. | | (3) | The Hidden Bay mineral resources were estimated at a cut-off of 0.05% U3O8, and are documented in the Hidden Bay Technical Report with an effective date of February 15, 2011 which was filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com on February 23, 2011. |
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