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Universal Power Corp. sees Analogies in Key Uranium Regions
By Anne Fletcher
With money jingling in its pocket, Universal Power Corp. (TSX.V:UNX, FSE:3U2A) is ready to start exploring both in Africa and also a world away in northern Canada.
The Vancouver-based junior expects to begin work on its Mbamba Bay uranium property in southern Tanzania before the end of the year.
At the same time, Universal Power is two-thirds of the way through a non-brokered private placement, raising a gross of $2.68 million as of the end of November. The company expects to complete the placement shortly, bringing in an additional $720,000.
As well as getting its African project underway, Universal Power is also planning to start work this spring on its recently-acquired Great Bear iron ore-copper-gold property in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Universal Power completed the acquisition of the 45,000-acre property, covering 20 claim blocks, in October. Great Bear, 430 kilometers north of Yellowknife, lies between Alberta Star Development Corp.’s Eldorado South project and Cooper Minerals Inc.’s Terra properties, both of which saw diamond drilling in the 2007 exploration season.
The Great Bear property is geologically analogous to the Olympic Dam deposit at Roxby Downs in southwest Australia. Olympic Dam is a large deposit of copper, uranium, gold and silver, which supports an underground mine as well as an integrated metallurgical processing plant. It is the world’s largest-known single deposit of uranium, although the uranium accounts for only a small part of the mine’s revenue.
And Universal Power has also started geophysical work on its Sibley project in northwest Ontario to identify drill targets for this winter. Universal Power has an option to earn a 60% interest in 217 claims units in the Havoc Lake area, near Thunder Bay.
The Sibley Basin is a mid-Proterozoic-age sedimentary basin that has the potential to host unconformity-related uranium deposits such as those found in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin.
In Tanzania - based on a recently-completed NI 43-101-compliant report - Universal Power expects its Phase 1 exploration on Mbamba Bay to include geological mapping and sampling, a ground radiometric survey, shallow trenching and shallow reconnaissance air blast drilling of about 100 holes.
Phase 1 is expected to cost about $250,000, with a $400,000 deeper 50 hole, reverse circulation drilling program to follow, depending on initial results.
The 960-square-kilometre Mbamba Bay property, one of two held by Universal Power in Tanzania, is near Lake Nyasa in the southern part of the country. Both Mbamba Bay and the smaller Mbinga property are part of the East African Karoo super group, equivalent to the Canadian Shield in containing rich mineral discoveries.
The regional geology of the area is characterized by Proterozoic, metamorphic crystalline basement rocks that are overlain by younger Karoo sedimentary rocks. The area is prospective for both sandstone hosted and igneous-types of uranium deposits.
The sandstone of the Karoo resembles the sandstone in South Africa and in Colorado which hosts uranium deposits.
Airborne radiometric data, collected in the early 1980s, indicates the granites and gneisses are anomalous in uranium, and represent source rocks for redox-style uranium deposits. The southern margin of the depositional basin, including paleo-channels that cut into the basement rocks, are prospective areas for uranium.
In 1979 and 1980, countrywide airborne radiometric surveys, by Geosurvey International, identified radiometric anomalies in the Mbama Bay area. The highest total counts ranged between 2,000 counts per second to 10,000 cps, and were recorded over a granitic area in the southern part of the project.
Detailed geological mapping, trenching and ground radiometric surveys conducted in early 1980, in the Mbamba Bay area, identified 20 metres of upper sandstone and 40 metres of transitional zone, through total thickness of about 100 metres statigraphical column. This is a geological environment considered highly favourable for roll-front-type uranium deposits.
Roll-fronts are named for the crescent shape the uranium (in solution) makes at the interface between oxidizing and reduction conditions within the permeable sandstone or conglomerate host rock.
Universal Power has carried out an extensive literature review, a reconnaissance ground radiometric survey and preliminary logistical planning. The literature review established a geologic framework, as well as an interpretation of the radiometric anomalies originating from the Geosurvey International airborne survey.
The property examination confirmed the location and the validity of the landholdings. During the field visit, several radiometric readings were taken at the anomaly locations identified by the Geosurvey International survey.
Readings ranged up to 3,100 cps.
The company has identified structural trends which appear to extend into the Mbamba Bay project area from nearby Paladin Resources’ Kayelekera uranium deposit in Malawi. The Kayelekera deposit has a proven resource of over 25 million pounds of uranium.
Paladin recently approved a Bankable Feasibility Study that indicated a mine life of seven years, and a processing life of 11 years from the existing resource.
Work by Australia’s Mantra Resources, near the Mbamba Bay property’s western boundary, has returned values of up to 0.68% U3O8, in limited trench and rock chip sampling.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Goldcliff Adds Targets, Mineralization and Uranium
By Anne Fletcher
The first results from this year’s exploration are telling Goldcliff Resource Corporation (TSX.V: GCN) that the historical Hedley gold district still has plenty of life left in it.
And while ongoing exploration has helped the company expand the potential resource in Hedley, news from the company elsewhere promises further shareholder growth. At it’s Ainsworth silver and molybdenum property BC’s Kootenay region, several new exploration targets have been identified.
And in early December, the announcement that the company had diversified with a uranium project in southeastern BC.
The uranium announcement comes on the heels of a report from Salman Partners’ predicting that uranium prices may reach $200/lb within the next three to five years due to lack of new supply coming on stream.
Salman Partners' Senior Mining Analyst Ray Goldie and Research Associate Patrick Donnelly have predicted that uranium prices could reach $200/lb in the next three to five years due to a lack of new mine supply.
Salman Partners' Senior Mining Analyst Ray Goldie and Research Associate Patrick Donnelly stated that the spot price of uranium will average $102/lb this year, $162.50 in 2008, $186.85 in 2009, and $191.87 in 2010. Goldie predicted that the world's top uranium producer, Canada's Cameco, will realize average prices of $38.69/lb this year, $71.92 in 2008, $88.94 in 2009, and $106.25 in 2010.
The new uranium properties consist of four separate claim blocks – Duhamel Creek, Wilson Creek, Mount McGregor and Willow Point – and have uranium values as high as 430 parts per million – 0.043%. These anomalous uranium values are from 6 to 27 times higher than the average uranium value of 16 ppm uranium in the region.
These uranium values are also higher than those found to date at Goldcliff’s other uranium project in the area, the Big Sheep Creek property, where an airborne geophysical survey was recently completed.
High uranium values were first discovered here by the British Columbia Geological Survey during a regional stream sediment sampling program in the 1970s, which returned a number of anomalous uranium values, including two samples exceeding 300 parts per million or 0.03 % uranium.
Adding value at Panorama Ridge
The surface gold trenching results of the 2007 trenching program at Goldcliff's 100%-owned Panorama Ridge property near Hedley, BC, to date, indicate the two most significantly developed zones – the York-Viking and the Nordic – remain open for expansion.
The trenching program consisted of 29 trenches totaling 1,008 meters of surface sampling, eight of which have so far been reported. Highlights included 19 meters grading 2.15 g/t gold (Au). The gold results expand the mineralization in the northeast towards the Nordic zone.
Of the three zones, the Nordic trenches returned the highest gold values and extended the gold mineralization by 17 meters in a northerly direction, exposing new gold mineralization beyond the known surface showings.
After five seasons of exploration, Goldcliff is expecting this year’s data to define a significant gold resource.
The 10,528-hectare Panorama Ridge property is six kilometers northeast of Hedley and four kilometers east of the past gold-producing Nickel Plate-Mascot mine. The area produced gold continuously from 1904 to 1996, with more than 97% of the 2.5 million ounces coming from the Nickel Plate deposit.
The Panorama Ridge property contains a large surface area of gold mineralization related to silica-iron alteration (skarn) in sedimentary rocks from the Hedley Formation of the Triassic Nicola Group. The gold mineralization occurs over an area of approximately two square kilometers, only 0.72 square kilometers of which (or 36 per cent) consist of the York-Viking gold zone. Thus, the new higher grade results from the Nordic zone represents a significant added value to the company’s investors.
Prior to the 2007 exploration program, the trenching and drilling in the York-Viking zone outlined an area of gold mineralization measuring 375 meters in a northeast-southwest direction and 193 meters.
New Targets at Ainsworth
The Ainsworth property covers 56,997 hectares in the Selkirk and Purcell Mountains of the Kootenay region. The property is located on both sides of Kootenay Lake and includes the historic Ainsworth silver district with 44 million ounces of historical silver production.
This season’s airborne survey covered 910 line kilometers over 16,000 hectares while the stream sediment sampling and prospecting program was a detailed follow-up to the British Columbia Geological Survey’s regional stream sediment sampling program. That program returned a number of anomalous precious and base metal values.
The majority of the targets so far identified from the airborne data occur in covered regions and were not discovered by previous exploration – the company is clearly looking to discover deposits and mineralization associated with areas of past production. The new targets occur both at depth below overburden and in surface outcrops containing favourable geology for silver deposits.
Goldcliff’s silver-deposit exploration model focuses on the younger intrusions as the source of the silver mineralization and the older intrusions/sediments as the receiver of the silver mineralization. The traditional silver mined in the district was high grade and came from shears and veins in intrusive and sedimentary rocks.
The silver deposits that were mined had grades of 1,000 to 2,000 grams per tonne silver. As such, Goldcliff’s silver model targets the lower-grade silver mineralization of 100 to 500 grams per tonne and has bulk-tonnage potential within these rocks.
Goldcliff’s silver-deposit exploration model (silver-dissemination model) consists of targeting the host rocks that are associated with breccias, structural breaks, stock-works and intrusive sedimentary contacts.
This silver-dissemination model is seen on the west side of Kootenay Lake, in the Ainsworth district, where high grade silver deposits occur along and within the geological rocks that exhibit these features.
On the east side of Kootenay Lake, Goldcliff is targeting molybdenum mineralization and is particularly interested in the Loki molybdenum occurrence that is located on its claims.
In 1980, Duval International Corp. discovered the Loki molybdenum showing after identifying a kilometre-long molybdenum soil geochemical anomaly in a porphyry geological setting. The Loki showing contains values as high as 1,180 parts per million, or 0.12 per cent molybdenum from outcrop.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Teryl Resources Begins Drilling at Lavender Pit
with Sample assays of 2.54% Cu
By Jabulani Leffall
In the late nineteenth century Judge DeWitt Bisbee put up funds for the Copper Queen mine in Arizona and eventually got a city named after him.
Today Teryl Resources Corporation (TSX.V: TRC) Chief Executive John Robertson believes his latest hunches may be just as good.
But instead of a municipality bearing his surname, Robertson – encouraged by positive results from soil samples on Teryl’s Gold Hill property in Bisbee, Arizona – hopes merely to increase revenue and market capitalization for Teryl through further exploration.
It helps that Teryl is now mining in a stretch of desert foothills that once yielded approximately $1 billion in copper.
After a copper boom in the last half of the 20th century, Phelps Dodge Corporation discontinued mining operations 32 years ago in the Warren, Arizona-suburb of Bisbee around the famous Lavender Pit, where the Copper Queen became a mining icon.
The Lavender Pit is now little more than a tourist attraction, but Robertson says existing infrastructure along with excellent geophysical anomalies and geochemical copper values in the zone will go a long way. Just four miles southwest of the original site, Robertson thinks there is reason enough to feel confident about future prospects as Teryl drills its first hole starting in December and continuing in 2008.
Assays up to 2.54% copper were located on the Gold Hill proposed drill locations.
“It’s still a very hot area,” said Robertson. “When you talk about an area that yielded one of the richest copper deposits in history, it’s an exciting proposition to see what we can make of it along with our other holdings in gold and other minerals.”
British Columbia-based Teryl Resources spreads its risk considerably well through a JV project in silver mining in northern British Columbia, a formidable gold joint venture with Kinross in Alaska and modest revenue from oil and gas businesses in Texas and Kentucky.
For the foreseeable future, however, Gold Hill is where the firm will focus a good deal of attention as well as raising capital of about $1 million to unearth what it believes to be a large disseminating deposit of both copper and gold.
The Gold Hill Mine, which got its name from a modicum of gold extracted from sediment scattered throughout the area, includes nearly 249 acres on which there are about14 patented mining claims. There are even physical indicators for where miners might want to look, or have a shot at continuing to excavate, in the form Old Shallow placer diggings throughout the property as well as small shafts, pits and cuts.
Further, Teryl’s geologist believes the geological characteristics of Gold Hill to be similar or at least comparable to the Carlin Trend, just outside of Elko, Nevada. That gold mining district, which is 5 miles in width and stretches for more than 40 miles long, has produced more gold than the any other mining district in the United States. It also resembles the Witwatersrand System, a formation of sedimentary hills in South Africa comprised of quartz, shales and other mineral conglomerates, according to Teryl.
Diversified Holdings
While visions of tons of copper and other minerals that could come out of Gold Hill makes Bisbee, the “it,” property for Teryl right now, the company also sees golden opportunities through its four-site portfolio of advanced gold properties in Alaska’s Fairbanks Mining District, where Teryl is one of the principle landowners.
Its Gil project, on the eastern-most edge of the district in Fairbanks, is a JV with Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE:KGC) where Teryl gets 20 percent to Kinross’ 80 percent. Just northwest of the Gil property are the Fish Creek Claims, where Teryl has optioned 50 percent optioned from Linux Gold Corp. (OTC BB:LNXGF). Rounding out the portfolio are Stepovich Claims, from which Teryl will get 10% in net profits from Kinross and the West Ridge property, which Teryl owns outright.
Between Gold Hill and the Alaska holdings, Robertson believes he has a good chance of a “pay-dirt” extraction from one of the many claims. With Gold poised to fetch as much as $1,000 per ounce and resource demands for copper and oil in India and China increasing, a good dig could pay dividends for Teryl.
Robertson and his management team believe that at the very least leveraging what it can from mining targets will garner attention from investors and at best will give Phillips Dodge or Kinross Gold the notion of either buying out claims or acquiring Teryl as a whole.
As junior resource concerns go, Teryl’s stock is in solid shape, seeing modest gains Since September and leveling off as the year comes to a close – now pushing a new price ceiling of twenty-five cents per share.
Shares of Teryl as of December 6 were trading at 21 cents per share, seven cents off a 52-week high of 18 cents but up by more than 30 percent from a 52-week low of 13 cents.
With about 40 million shares outstanding (fully diluted), Robertson says he would definitely like to see more liquidity pumped into the stock, with the price ideally getting up above a dollar.
“I’ll definitely be happy when I see a dollar-plus,” he said. “The thing about this business that you have to remember is that when you drill a hole and come up solid assays, your fortunes can change in a New York minute.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Yale Confirms High-Grade Copper at La Verde Grande Mine
By Leonard M. Melman
Few nations can match Mexico when it comes to combining an array of immense geologic assets with a positive attitude toward the mining industry and one Canadian junior mining corporation, Vancouver-based Yale Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: YLL), has positioned itself to take advantage of this favourable situation.
Yale has assembled an interest in four Mexican projects including La Verde Project and Carol Property in Sonora State; Urique Property in Chihuahua State and Zacatecas Venture in Zacatecas State. They have also assembled a management team fully able to work with the Mexican government as the company President, Ian Foreman, P. Geo, has worked on several projects in Spanish-speaking nations and is fluent in that language while the corporate manager of Mexican operations is a Mexican national located in Vancouver.
The company’s primary focus at this time is the development of resources at the 100% owned La Verde Property. Two crews remain at work in the field at La Verde until Christmas 2007 and the company has established aggressive geophysical and geochemical programs for the coming year in order to identify targets for future drill programs.
La Verde Project, located some 45 km northwest of the city of Hermosillo (population est. 550,000), lies within 2 km of both paved roads and the electrical grid. A good network of access roads can be found throughout the property and adequate supplies, labor and expertise are available in Hermosillo and nearby communities.
The Project area has had a lengthy history of mining activity, dating back into the early 1900s when Hermosillo Copper Company began exploration and production activities and those activities left behind a substantial array of drifts and adits throughout the property which now provide access for current exploration. Some limited mining activity took place at the La Verde Grande Mine in the 1960s with ore shipped for custom milling in Hermosillo. This was followed by exploration efforts by both Exall Mining and Scorpio Mining from 1990 to 2002.
As a result of these activities, a historic resource estimate (non-compliant with present NI 43-101 requirements) was developed which showed 459,551 tonnes grading 2.29% copper (Cu), 98.54 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 0.38 g/t gold (Au). This estimate was based on a limited area covering 18 meters width, 34 meters depth and a strike length of only 110 meters.
Mineralization at La Verde Grande consists of a series of structurally controlled skarn bodies and veins and host rocks are a thick sequence of metamorphosed limestones that are locally intruded by granite and monzonite porphyries, dykes and mineralized aplite dykes. It is also important to note that the La Verde Grande area is located near the southern end of a newly recognized copper-molybdenum porphyry district.
La Verde contains several prospects within the Property, but Yale’s focus is in the area of the La Verde Grande Mine and the El Picacho prospect some 900 meters to the northeast. Historic reports at El Picacho indicate 4.5 meters width over 15 meters averaging 3% copper. El Picacho is also on strike with the La Verde Grande Mine ore bodies.
Recent press releases based on the 2007 sampling program indicated that “…the extent of the La Verde Grande deposit is significantly greater than previously understood. Company geologists have identified additional skarn mineralization.” President Foreman added, “The discovery of this mineralization is significant as it demonstrates that the La Verde Grande deposit is potentially much larger than previously thought.”
According to the most recent release, the company has taken 181 samples from approximately 500 meters of old workings to date and the weighted average of those samples is 1.54% Cu. That grade represents approximately 30 pounds of Cu per tonne which would be valued at just under US$100 per tonne at current prices, with significant additional credits for silver, zinc and gold.
Yale’s program for 2007 has now defined skarn mineralization over a strike length of 250 meters - more than doubling the length upon which previous ore estimates were based - and their work has shown that mineralization is open in all directions.
In addition to La Verde, development is also proceeding at the Urique Project, located in the prolific Sierra Madre Gold Belt of northern Mexico, a region in which numerous gold deposits exceeding one million ounces have been discovered. Urique covers or surrounds ten separate mineralized areas with a history of past mining activity and Yale intends to advance the Urique Project in parallel with La Verde.
The remaining projects, Carol and Zacatecas, offer significant future potential, but the ability to quickly expand reserves and resources - and shareholder value - appears highest at La Verde and Urique for the present.
According to President Foreman, the most exciting development is that the company knows that a genuine potential exists to expand reserves and resources at a time when metals prices are at historic high levels. He also noted that the company has sufficient cash reserves to complete the first phase of exploration at La Verde and plans to raise additional funding to finance future drill programs.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Golden Reign Explores Russia’s Wild, Wild Far East
By Andrew K. Burger
With commodity prices soaring, the Russian Far East is rapidly becoming acknowledged as a massive opportunity for mining companies. The Magadan Oblast, for instance, is considered one of the world’s richest regions in terms of large-scale, high-grade prospects spanning a range of precious, base and industrial metals - gold prominent among them.
Several Canadian companies are prospecting and working deposits in the region. One of them, Vancouver’s Golden Reign Resources Ltd. (TSX.V:GRR) is looking to develop Magadan’s Butarni and Dorozhni gold properties in partnership with Status LLC, the mining arm of Moscow’s CentroCredit Joint Stock Commercial Bank.
Golden Reign on Nov. 13 announced encouraging assay results for an exploratory sampling program carried out at Dorozhni. The 14 representative samples indicate that gold mineralization is not limited to high-grade quartz veins but is also present in intrusive granodiorite bedrock, leading management to believe that the potential exists to develop a bulk open pit mining operation on the property and surrounding area.
A Changed Picture
The 14 Dorozhni samples were collected during Golden Reign’s vice-president of exploration Zoran Pudar’s recent visit to the property to supervise and further direct exploratory channeling, trenching and sampling of mineralized quartz veins.
Most of the samples came from two trenches that extend 1.5 kilometers along the north-northeast slope of Dorozhni mountain. The samples, along with six control specimens, were sent for assaying to Alex Stewart Analytical Ltd. in Moscow, a division of Alex Stewart (Assayers) Ltd. of England. One chip sample, DR-17, from a highly mineralized quartz vein with visible gold assayed 18.69 g/t.
2007 trenching exposed high-quality gold mineralization and visible gold in quartz veins – including some of “museum quality”. More interesting, were samples from a sheeted vein system within an igneous intrusive granodiorite that returned assay results of 2.7, 4.8 and 1.6 grams/tonne, Pudar related. The exposed portion of this vein, ranging between 0.4 and 1.1 meters in width, has been traced over a length of 150 meters, is open in both directions and is yet to be tested by drilling to depth, according to Golden Reign’s Nov. 13 media release.
“The results prove that mineralization is not just limited to quartz veins but extends into the granodiorite intrusive host and opens up the possibility of a bulk tonnage, open pittable deposit…reinforcing our conceptual model for the property. We will wait to receive all assay results from the exploration program, but is certainly a positive indication,” Pudar told ResourceWorld.
Return Trip to Russia
The Dorozhni and Butarni properties are located in Russia’s far eastern Magadan Oblast, located across the Bering Strait from North America, which according to Russian mining authorities holds some 2,000 placer gold deposits, 100 gold ore deposits and 48 silver deposits. Total probable gold reserves in the region have been estimated at 4,000 tons (128 million ounces).
Having an experienced, well-capitalized business partner with connections in Moscow is crucial for foreign companies looking to explore for and develop mineral resource projects in Russia, and Golden Reign has that in Status LLC, the mining division of Moscow-based CentroCredit Joint Stock Commercial Bank. Gold Mining Company LLC (GMC), a newly created vehicle, holds the comprehensive 20-year exploration-mining permit for both the Dorozhni and Butarni properties.
According to the terms of their agreement, Golden Reign has the right to earn a 50% interest in and to GMC by contributing US$ 6 million to assess and develop the projects over the next three years. In addition to providing the properties, Status will incur exploration expenditures of US$2 million over the same period for its 50% interest. Golden Reign raised C$4 million in its IPO last year.
With initial results supporting management’s hypothesis that the potential exists for a low-grade bulk tonnage mining operation to be developed at Dorozhni, Pudar is busy planning his next visit to Moscow to meet with Golden Reign’s partners. Tentative plans for next season include sending earth moving equipment and a drilling rig to the two properties to carry out further exploration and resource definition work.
Golden Reign is working up plans for a 3000 meter drilling program at Butarni - the primary prospect - that Pudar hopes will commence in April 2008 and a 2000-meter program at Dorozhni,. for later in the season.
Andrew Burger is a senior contributor to ResourcexInvestor.com, an internationally distributed newsletter about emerging junior resource companies. For more information write to info@resourcex.com.
6550 ft Wilcox Formation Oil Test May Spell Success
for KFG Resources
By Leia Michelle Toovey
KFG Resources (TSX.V: KFG) announced on Oct 26th that its subsidiary KFG Petroleum will participate in the drilling of 6,550 ft oil test in the Wilcox Formation in Adams County, Mississippi. If this well is successful, the company will retain a 15.375% working interest and an 11.5% net revenue interest in the well and surrounding acreage.
The Wilcox Formation is a known reservoir rock throughout much of the Gulf Coastal Plain, extending parallel to the coastline into southern Texas. The Formation is comprised of sandstone, which was deposited in the ancestral Gulf of Mexico during the Eocene when the shoreline was much further inland.
KFG has remapped all nine zones of the Fayette field. Remapping work revealed several zones with development potential in the shallow Wilcox gas formations. This survey also brought to attention the fact that the west side of the salt dome is virtually untouched.
In 2006, KFG Resources increased its interest in the Fayette field to 49.2%, (42% net) in three leases covering 3,200 acres of the field.
The Fayette field is located on a salt dome. Simply put, a salt dome oil reserve is formed when a cylindrical shape of salt intrudes through the lithosphere distorting and buckling the earth’s crust in its path.
KFG CEO Bob Kadane likened salt dome formations to throwing a rock onto a pane of safety glass, such as a windshield. Concentric rings form around the point of impact. This is exactly the stress response from an intruding salt dome. Concentric rings form as layers of rock buckle and bend due to the forces caused by the up-thrusting salt. When permeable rock becomes capped by impermeable rock, an ideal oil and gas reservoir is formed. And due to the symmetrical nature of the feature, if one side of the dome contains oil, there is a high probability of striking oil on the other side.
“The Fayette field has produced 7 million barrels of oil to date, primarily from the east side,” according to Kadane. “The remaining potential of the field is huge.”
With sub-surface mapping information in hand, KFG resources entered into an agreement with Union Securities LTD of Toronto, Ontario, to act as an agent for a private placement. The initial announcement of an offering was on March 26, 2007. Shortly after the announcement, Kadane decided to delay the offering based on unfavorable market conditions.
Union Securities went forward in September with an offer to sell 20 million units at $0.10 per offering. On October 12, with the completion of the first tranche, 18,055,000 units were sold. On October 22, the second tranche was completed. KFG had achieved its goal of raising CDN$2.5 million.
The capital raised was for the company to have a 3-D seismic survey completed in the Fayette field. This survey was started at the end of October 2007, and will be completed in February 2008. The results of the survey will determine the ideal location for drilling the oil test. The secondary goal of the survey is to determine which wells in the Lower Tuscaloosa would benefit from CO2 injection secondary reclamation.
The Lower Tuscaloosa has produced 2,200,000 barrels of oil. Production history indicates that CO2 injection will recover 80% of primary production volume. Injection, therefore, should recover an additional 1,700,000 barrels of oil; this is in addition to new production that will come from the west flank.
In 2007, KFG Resources’ annual revenue from the sale of oil and gas was $550,328, compared to $760,229 in 2006. The slow down is due to a decrease in the average price of natural gas and oil, as well as the decline in oil production.
At the end of the 2007 fiscal year, the company’s primary producing wells
were located on: the Dale Lease, Concordia; Parish, Louisiana; the Board of Education Wells, Franklin Country Mississippi; and the Weyerhauser Wells, Forrest County, Mississippi. The five wells in these regions comprised the bulk of the company’s proven oil reserves. In addition, the company had three wells in the Fayette Field, Jefferson County, Mississippi.
Kadane and his team have been steadily working toward improving their odds. With an eye toward growth and increased shareholder value, the company is poised for success. The company has acquired a major interest in an untapped resource that appears to have excellent potential. The reclamation project in an area of proven production has a high likelihood of near term payoff, too. The recent attraction of CDN $2.5 million in a private placement will power the team at least to the completion of a thorough technical survey. Add to this oil prices at record highs and KFG Resources is certainly one to watch this month.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Bayfield Strikes Deal with Rainy River
Next to Discovery Zone
By Mel Pistilli
Earlier this week, Bayfield Ventures [TSXV:BYV] and Rainy River Resources [TSXV: RR] announced that they have entered into an option agreement on Bayfield’s Burns Block property, which easterly adjoins Rainy River’s 17/ODM gold zones. Bayfield could not be more fortuitously placed in the gold hosting Rainy River District of northwestern Ontario. It seems the newly formed alliance between Bayfield and its ore-finding neighbour is a clear indication of the promising potential of Bayfield’s Rainy River Gold Properties.
A relatively new acquisition for Bayfield, the Burns Block is ideally located on the eastern boundary of what Rainy River calls the 17 Zone, which the company is now drilling to delineate an ore body and prove tonnage. The Burns Block lies 120 metres east-northeast of a drill hole (NR0&-189) with intersects of 9.0m grading 6.64 g/t Au between a depth of 439.50 and 448.50m.
“There’s three rules in my business,” says Bayfield President, Donald Huston, “Location, Location, Location.” One need only look at the aerial photo of the region on the company’s website to understand the importance of the Burns Block’s location: its proximity to the noteworthy discovery on the 17/ODM gold zone makes it an undeniably attractive target to Rainy River.
Last month, River Rainy announced that drilling on 17/ODM zones intersected strong gold intervals of 11.5 m grading 5.37 g/t Au (ODM Zone) and 8.0m grading 5.50 g/t Au (17 Zone).
Early in 2006, Rainy River’s exciting drill results on the 17, 433, and ODM gold zones –with intercepts of 23.5 meters of 10.6 g/t Au and 22.6 meters of 17.0 g/t Au – proved promising and helpful for Bayfield’s other three properties in the Rainy River District, Claim Blocks A, B, and C. The results, says Huston, provided them with evidence of the potential of their own properties, and saved the company time and money by helping Bayfield interpret exploration data and determine new drill targets.
The company believes the geophysical properties associated with the mafic/ultramafic rock sequences* identified on the Claim Blocks are similar to those discovered in Rainy River’s adjoining zones.
Bayfield first entered into an agreement to acquire the three blocks in November of 2006 and since then has carried out substantial exploration work. During that winter, the company embarked on an early exploration program that consisted of establishing line-cut grids, overburden drilling, till sampling, and conducting very detailed geophysical studies including electromagnetic and magnetometer surveys.
This summer, the company completed a 3,000 metre drill program with five holes on Claim Block A and 8 holes on Claim Block B. Bayfield is awaiting assay results, which are still pending, according to Huston, and will be released when all assays have been received from the lab. Drill work was not conducted on Claim Block C because a good portion of the property is swampland. The company is waiting for the winter freeze, which will enable drilling. For winter 2008, Bayfield is planning an additional 3,000 metres of drilling on the Claim Blocks.
The recently announced three-year term agreement gives Rainy River Resources the option to obtain a 60% interest in the Burns Block after the completion of a $3 million work program, $200,000 in cash payments, and issuance of 60,000 Rainy River shares.
The crucial aspect of the agreement is neither the cash nor the shares – it’s the $3 million in exploration expenditures that has really got Bayfield’s management excited.
“The alliance we’re forming with Rainy River is very important,” says Huston, “and bodes well for Bayfield Ventures in the Rainy River District.”
The deal should have investors excited as well. Not only will Bayfield not be out of pocket for exploration expenses on the property, but the very fact Rainy River is willing to spend $3 million aggressively exploring a mere 80 acres to gain only a 60% interest hints at the tremendous potential of the property. It leads one to believe that the overriding assumption is that the same gold vein that flows the 17 Zone must continue on through the Burns Block.
If this current agreement between the company and Rainy River Resources proves its potential, it is foreseeable that future partnerships may be put into play in regards to Bayfield’s three other properties. Clearly, there is a great potential for lucrative takeover proceedings, too.
But for now, the focus is on the Burns Block. Rainy River Resources has recently drafted a linecut grid with plans to initiate a diamond drill program on the property. A detailed ground magnetic survey is also currently being conducted and it’s anticipated that Rainy River will start the first drill hole before Christmas.
*Ultramafic and Mafic: A term used to describe igneous rocks or magmas that are rich in iron and magnesium and poor in silica. These rocks are associated with numerous metals worldwide, including platinum-group elements, nickel, cobalt, and gold, among others.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
They Call it Mellow Yellow: Atomic Starts Drilling
for Uranium in the Colorado Plateau
By Hsiao Lin
These days, investors are just mad about saffron– to take a page from Donovan’s hit song. What with U3O8 trading at around $90/lb, yellow is definitely the color of money. Atomic Minerals’ (TSX.V: ATL) management has taken it upon itself to test this novel colour theory by kicking off the drill program at its Summit Point and Box Canyon uranium projects along the Dolores Anticline in Colorado. The first hole, SP9, completed upon reaching the Chinle formation at 2100 ft. Hole SP1, on the opposite flank of the Anticline, the Chinle formation at 1560 ft. Currently, the drill contractor has been working its way back across the Anticline, with completion of the 1st phase of drilling program slated for December 21, 2007. The company expects results to follow in early 2008.
As per the company’s November 15th news release, Atomic’s vice-president of exploration, Richard Dorman, says, “Our initial drill hole at Summit Point will be looking for the mineralized zone of the Moss Back member of the Chinle Formation. Upon completion of this hole, we will be working along the flank of the Anticline with the next eight holes.”
This first phase of the drill program involves several stages: crews are preparing and clearing roads, building thirteen 100’ x 100’ drill pads, drilling up to thirteen 2,500-foot drill holes, then doing reclamation work that includes filling in the drill holes. The company has planned a 30,000 foot drilling program based on recommendations contained within the property’s 43-101 report.
The property consists of 932 claims over 24,280 acres, located in both Dolores and San Miguel counties in southwestern Colorado, approximately 30 miles from Denison Mine Corp’s White Mesa Mill. The 43-101 report describes the property as being “associated with the Dolores Anticline, a salt-cored fold structure within the Paradox Basin Province of Colorado and Utah. The Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation (Late Triassic) and Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic) are present within the stratigraphic section of the Dolores Anticline; these are the most favorable host rocks for uranium mineralization in the Paradox Basin region.”
According to Atomic’s website, “the Dolores Anticline is one of the last salt anticlines in the Paradox Basin which has not been extensively drilled to explore for mineralization in the Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation.”
The Dolores Anticline is located only 30 miles from Lisbon Valley and lies within the Uravan Mineral Belt. Lisbon Valley is the home of the legendary Mi Vida uranium mine near Moab, Utah, discovered by Charlie Steen in 1952. The entire Lisbon Valley produced 49 million lbs of U3O8 from 1948 through 1965.
The Uravan mineral belt is the oldest uranium mining area in the US, and is historically the most productive uranium and vanadium region in Colorado. A 2007 circular released by the Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety for the State of Colorado documents 1,200 historic mines that produced over 63 million lbs of uranium and 330 million lbs of vanadium from 1948 to 1978.
This district contains the only currently producing uranium mine in Colorado – the Sunday Mine (owned by Denison Mines), near what is now the ghost town of Uravan, Colorado. Today the Uravan belt is experiencing a renaissance, as there are 35 permitted projects for uranium mining in Colorado, and 28 uranium prospecting permits have been granted. Infrastructure in the region is also getting a boost, as Energy Fuels has announced plans to build (pending regulatory approval) what would be the first new uranium-vanadium mill built in the United States in 25 years west of Naturita, some 15 miles southeast of Uravan.
The Colorado Plateau is known for hosting roll-front deposits, which are considered the richest kind of uranium deposits. Roll-fronts are named for the crescent shape the uranium (in solution) makes at the interface between oxidizing and reduction conditions within the permeable sandstone or conglomerate host rock.
The 43-101 report draws a parallel between the regional geology and that of the property: “[based] on the literature review, geologic evaluation of the Dolores Anticline, and a radon survey, it is clear that there is good potential for undiscovered uranium deposits to exist beneath the properties considered here.”
Currently, the world‘s 435 nuclear reactors produce 18% of the world’s power– requiring 180 million lbs of uranium per year. However, only 110 million lbs are being produced annually worldwide. This shortage is highlighted by the fact that some of the world’s emerging economies have shifted their focus from coal to nuclear energy– with China and India being prime examples. China is currently building 40 new nuclear reactors and India is building 31. Add to that increased pressure on the supply from developed countries, and it’s easy to see why uranium is trading in the $90 range.
Despite having it made in the Colorado Plateau, management is nonetheless taking a global view with its exploration approach. Atomic also has a letter of intent with Geo Can Resources to enter into an option agreement to earn up to a 100% interest in a land package totalling approximately 3,600 km2 in southwestern Tanzania. This ground is considered to be part of the Malawi Extension – a location favourable for uranium enrichment, as it lies within the Karoo Supergroup formation. Other mining companies active in the region include Paladin Resources, Mantra and Western Metals.
Given the lag between world supply and demand, Atomic is well-positioned to step into the vacuum for several reasons: management is focused on uranium in areas well-known for rich mineralization; the company holds a balanced property portfolio in mining-friendly areas; and Atomic’s flagship property, the Dolores Anticline project, has been given the green light in its 43-101 report. These factors all add up to offer investors the chance to participate in the revival of one of the world’s great uranium regions – via a play that could well (as the song goes) “be a sudden craze” in the coming months.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
KFG Resources Prepares Seismic in the Hunt for 4 Million Barrels of Oil and Gas Equivalents
By Katherine Young
After more than two years of painstakingly raising funds for a crucial seismic survey, KFG Resources’ (TSX.V:KFG) story is about to heat up. With a $2.5 million financing in place, and permitting currently underway, KFG has contracted to begin a 3-D seismic survey on its Fayette Oil Field in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin in February 2008.
Financing will cover the seismic survey on the Fayette Oil Field, located in Jefferson County Mississippi, as well as the planned next stage—a 10,000-foot test well to be drilled in late spring of 2008. Production and cash flow could follow as soon as ten months from now.
The objective of the 3-D survey is to survey the Lower Tuscaloosan reservoir at approximately 9,500 to 10,000 feet deep where 37 deep wells have been drilled so far, 29 of which are on the east side and only eight on the west side of the salt dome. Current production from the dome – which totaled 31 barrels of oil per day and $290,085 cash flow for KFG at year end in April 2007 – has all been from the southeast side of the dome. Of secondary importance, the survey will cover several areas KFG has identified with development potential in the Wilcox shallow gas targets.
Salt domes form in marine basins like the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin when salt intrudes into the surrounding rock strata following repeated flooding and draining of the basin. Sediment forms over the salt, burying it. Then, because the salt is less dense than the sediment, it pushes up toward the surface forming a dome. As the salt forces its way to the surface, the surrounding rock bends, forming pockets, or ‘traps’ where oil and gas collects.
The trap around the salt dome is circular, much like when a drop of water falls into a pool and ripples travel outwards in concentric circles. When there is known oil on the east side of the dome, as in this case, there should be oil on the west as well, where KFG expects to find reserves comparable to those already discovered on the east.
The seismic survey will pinpoint exactly where the narrow traps lay, drastically improving accuracy of drilling over previous geology-only technology.
Robert Kadane, President of KFG, says, “These are very narrow channels – 1,000, maybe 1,500 feet wide – and could be about 100 feet thick. It’s very easy to miss, so that’s the reason for the survey. What we’ll do is see where we have half a dozen of these signatures line up on top of each other and that’s where we’ll drill. It’s that simple.”
KFG’s target is 2 million barrels of Lower Tuscaloosa oil, 10 billion cubic feet of shallow gas reserves, and approximately 8 to10 billion cubic feet of deep gas reserves. In addition, secondary reserves, which can be recovered through CO2 injection, account for an additional 80%. Numbers like these inspire Kadane to comment, “If it works, the shareholder value will be increased somewhere in the magnitude of 10 to 20 times.”
With KFG carrying up to 80% of a potential 4 million barrels of oil at today’s price of nearly $90/barrel, the Fayette Oil Field holds a promising risk-reward ratio.
Adding further value to the project is the 50 years of experience Bob Kadane has put in – much of it here in the Mississippi-Louisiana Salt Basin. Since he was digging ditches at 16 years old has worked in virtually every aspect of oil exploration—from finding and developing reserves to selling oil and gas.
Words of wisdom gained from a lifetime as an oilman: “Dance with the girl you brought to the party,” Kadane chuckles. “Stay with what you’ve been successful at. The easiest way to fail is to get involved in a new area you don’t know anything about. I’ve had consistent success throughout the years here so that’s where I’m staying.”
And with pipeline infrastructure in place, low Mississippi taxes and 2.2 million barrels of oil produced so far from the southeast side of the salt dome, Kadane’s focus on the Fayette Field seems well-placed.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
EcuaGold Looks to Future Success
with Positive Sampling Results on Historic Producer
By Leia Michele Toovey
Historians, paleontologists, and geologists are fond of saying, “The past is the key to the present”. In the case of EcuaGold Resources’ (TSX.V: EGR) San Bartolomé mining concession, the proof of this axiom is quickly becoming evident.
The San Bartolomé concession is located in Ecuador, about 20 km southeast of Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city. Historically, it is Ecuador’s largest silver producer; between 1991 and 1994, mining interests extracted over one million ounces of silver.
Through grab sampling of tailings and waste dumps from past mining activity, EcuaGold has confirmed the remaining value of past production. Assays ranged from 1,159.5 g/t to 2,032.7 g/t Ag and 2.87 g/t to 5.15 g/t Au, averaging approximately $1087.56 per tonne.
EcuaGold is now poised to take advantage of continued resource extraction from this proven producer. Well-funded for exploration by a recent $6.9 million dollar IPO, a follow up of the assay results is in the works. Topographic surveying and detailed geological and structural mapping are just a few of the activities that will take place to guide future drilling efforts.
EcuaGold focuses its exploration efforts in Ecuador, in regions of proven production. Some of the benefits of operating in this mineral rich country are little known. Today, Ecuador has adapted mining laws that provide foreign investors with the ability to own a 100% interest on concessions over a 30-year, easily renewable period. Six years ago, the government eliminated royalties on mining, to further strengthen the country as a top location for junior exploration companies.
Investors seeking a grassroots deal with plenty of upside will find EcuaGold refreshing. Companies like this bridge the gap between gambling and putting our money into lesser risk ventures with potential for very high returns. Due diligence tells us EcuaGold has a high stake in a land area of proven mineralization, is well-funded, and works in a “mining friendly” region.
Presently, EcuaGold controls a 100-percent interest in 13 concessions in Ecuador, comprising nine distinct projects. In addition, the company has pending applications for 21 more concessions that are associated with three existing projects and two new projects.
Besides the San Bartolomé project, the other two notable projects are the Molleturo, a high-grade polymetallic vein system, and the Curiplaya, a gold-copper porphyry system. Both the Molleturo and Curiplaya Projects have positive NI 43 101 technical reports.
Molleturo has seen substantial exploration that potentially places it on par and certainly within shared geological structures as some other local producers. Historic work here identified two polymetallic veins – the Roman and Isabel Veins – which once again have shown excellent sample grades, including 1,235 g/t and 1,120 g/t silver and 2.78 g/t and 5.05 g/t gold.
Within 50 km is the Rio Blanco Gold-Silver deposit, with indicated reserves of 2,042,000 tonnes at 8.6 g. /t Au and 67.0 g/t Ag, valued at an estimated $250.79 per tonne, for a total reserve value of $512,113,180 at current market prices.
The Curiplaya project is located in southwestern Ecuador near the village of Bramaderos. Like EcuaGold’s other projects it is well-supported by infrastructure. A known porphyry deposit, however, sampling has returned relatively low resource values. In the NI 43 101 report, AC HOWE stated that it was their opinion that “the geology and hydrothermal alteration exposed at Curiplaya may represent the outer and/or upper levels of a porphyry copper-gold system, or possibly a more distal phase of a porphyry epithermal system.” As such, exploration at Curiplaya has the potential to find larger reserves at depth, or in proximity to where historic sampling has taken place.
On September 18, EcuaGold reported initial drilling results from the Curiplaya Project. These confirmed the theory of a large, porphyry-style alteration, and returned excellent grades all around. These included 34 meters grading 1.2 g/t Au and 16 meters grading 2.05 g/t Au. These grades were bolstered by numerous assays suggesting widely disseminated copper with consistent silver credits, too.
To date, 15 drill holes have been completed, and assays have been received for the first 11 drill holes of this 5,000 meter drill program. Drill holes 3-14 tested principally the cores of the Porotillos and Bramaderos intrusive. "The drilling has confirmed a large area of strong, porphyry-style alteration carrying widespread anomalous copper, gold and silver values," stated Anthony Ciali, President and CEO of EcuaGold.
Mr. Ciali is a mining executive with over 25 years of experience – to his credit he has raised more than $200 million to finance several mines in South America. He is living proof of the truism that a financing leader should be at the helm of every exploration company. On the other hand, he also holds a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering, so he talks the talk and walks the walk.
EcuaGold is a junior resource company looking in the right place at the right time, with a tight share structure and the right people on the job. If it’s true that the past is the key to the present, EcuaGold appears to have the acumen to unlock it.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
ValGold Resources has all Pistons Firing in South America, Canada
By Paul Wallis
The word for ValGold (TSX.V: VAL) is “busy”. In conversation, they’re upbeat and enthusiastic about their new Venezuelan and Guyanan acquisitions, “Literally just waiting for the equipment to arrive”, according to Investor Relations Officer Jeff Stuart. In the meantime they’re drilling, compiling data from past drill programs and building a vast knowledge base – from scratch in some cases.
In late November, the company announced high-grade assays from the Tower Mountain Gold Property, located in the Matawin Gold Belt, 40 km southwest of Thunder Bay, in Ontario. Intersections of high-grade gold occurred in TM-07-56, where 1.5m graded 58.20 g/Tonne Au (1.697 oz/t gold) and in TM-07-58 where 1.5m averaged 18.70 g/Tonne Au (0.545 oz/t gold).
The drill program was a short run – eight holes – but added a wealth of knowledge to the existing data from seven drill programs comprising 67 drill holes, totaling 16,618 metres, completed between 2002 and 2005.
The news from Tower Mountain is good: mineralization in all eight holes. The data has painted an increasingly attractive picture of the mineralized systems here. To wit: The main vein appears to range from 0.6 to 20 meters in true width, with a narrow high-grade core (up to 160 g/t Au over 1.5 m) and a more moderately mineralized periphery. Even low-grade data here should prick up the ears of savvy investors: 0.94g/t over 106.5 m, for example.
Meanwhile, back in South America, a growing pool of data, including assay results from a 2007 drill program at the Los Patos occurrence in Venezuela, indicates the presence of significant gold mineralization, including substantial near-surface mineralization. The data is also considered “highly prospective” for other minerals, including alluvial diamonds, and preliminary radiometric indications of uranium, copper-nickel and/or platinum group metals.
This is the point where listed miners have to prove their mettle – excuse the pun – and ValGold has adopted a no guesswork approach, utilizing the whole spectrum of survey. Some areas are almost entirely lacking, in terms of market-standard information.
ValGold’s South American concessions total approximately 3,570 square kilometres, and relate to a geological formation known as the Guiana Shield, which underlies northeastern South America. It is comprised of ancient Archaen and Paleoproterozoic blocks. Geologists are faced with some of the most demanding and potentially rewarding work their field has to offer in these very old structures, where mineralization is complex and highly evolved.
ValGold CEO Stephen Wilkinson, who has three decades of mining experience, provided some useful insight in a recent interview on Smartsox.com regarding the geological and gold mining history of the region. Venezuela’s gold potential was first recognized in the 1890s, when the British military discovered and mined considerable amounts of gold from surface deposits – 13 tonnes of it, according to Mr. Wilkinson, a huge amount for the time.
The Venezuelan holdings comprise three concessions in Bolivar State, acquired from Honnold Coporation in October for $8 million in cash and shares, of which $2 million has already been paid. The company has benefited from a positive exchange rate, where appreciation of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar resulted in a saving of 25% – $2 million – on net outlay.
ValGold has been conducting systematic drills across its concessions, notably the Los Patos Gold Occurrence, where a 7,971 metre, 28-hole program was completed in the summer this year. The company found visible gold in a drill core from this region, reflecting the high-grade nature of mineralization here – just 4.5 km northeast of Crystallex's La Tomi gold mine.
The Los Patos gold occurrence is actually located within ValGold’s Lo Increible 3 concession and is one of several gold occurrences found along the east-west striking, 6.8 km long, Los Chivos Shear Zone.
The other two Venezuelan concessions are collectively called the Chicanan Concessions: The Carolina and Mochila Occurrences, which comprise a variable geology. The Carolina Occurrence has had some prior exploration, but the primary geological feature, the Mochila Lineament, containing two large gold occurrences, has had no previous drilling. ValGold is currently conducting a diamond drill program of 20 holes in the Mochila Occurrence, expected to be completed soon.
ValGold’s due diligence report for October 9, 2007 contains important preliminary data, and helpful technical information regarding associated geological features and prospects. This was the basis of the ground work for the current Fall Winter 2007 program of ongoing exploration.
The report on the Los Patos drills refers to mineralization as “open in all directions”. ValGold drilled 35 holes at the “Lo Increible” site, which returned findings across a total accumulated length of 9318 metres. The report states, “Mineralized zones averaging as high as 7.25 g/t gold over a true width of 19.0 metres (0.21 opt over 62.3 ft) have been intersected. The final hole of the first round of drilling returned an intercept of 3.0 m in width grading 13.67 / tonne.”
The Chichanan East and Chichanan West concessions relate to the gold-bearing Chicanan-Carolina Shear Zone, which transects the region and is comprised of a saprolitized greenstone belt that ranges from 5 to 20 km wide. The Chichanan East region (meaning east of the Chichanan River) has been systematically evaluated before, but the Western side, which is part of the Mochila Complex, has had little work. Three areas of gold mineralization have been outlined, and the company notes that “In the Serucha area, drill holes have returned gold grades of up to 1.05 g/t over 71.2 m and in the central Carolina area 4.05 g/t gold over 10.24 m. Practically all of this mineralization is saprolitic in nature and could be readily extracted from shallow, long, linear pits.”
The four properties comprising the Guyana concessions were acquired from Newmont Overseas Exploration, a subsidiary of Australian gold miner Newmont Mining Corp. The mutually pragmatic deal reserves some back-in rights for Newmont, in return for a 100% interest acquisition by ValGold.
ValGold is now organizing its holdings and acquiring relevant licenses for each of its properties. The company has identified a large band of deposits worthy of exploration, and is obviously keeping its rights clearly defined so it can explore thoroughly. That looks like the best, most cohesive, way to approach ongoing exploration, manage interests economically, and avoid any complications with rights issues and third parties.
ValGold have been making friends in the region. They’ve acquired the valuable local knowledge and expertise of new director on its board, Pedro Tinoco, one of Venezuela’s veteran senior mining experts. Mr. Tinoco is the former President of the Latin American Mining Organization from 1996 to 2006, where he’s still an active member.
Also making friends are the locals around ValGold’s various works, who’ve suffered from illegal mining operations in the region conducted by foreign miners who’ve been “cutting a swathe” through the areas they mine, according to Mr. Stuart. This mining equates to nothing less than taking the food out of the mouths of the inhabitants, so ValGold is bringing some equity and prosperity into the region with its operations, too.
One thing for certain: ValGold won’t get dull.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Ascendant Copper Gains US Edge in Undervalued Copper Market
By Katherine Young
Long focused on copper in Ecuador, Ascendant Copper (TSX: ACX), announced on October 21 that it had signed a letter of intent to acquire all outstanding common shares in St. Genevieve Resources (CNQ: SGVL), another copper company with properties in Arizona.
The main attraction at St. Genevieve is its two near-term copper properties, the Zonia and Emerald Isle. Sixty percent of US copper production comes from Arizona; the US is the world’s second largest producer of the key metal.
What will most excite Ascendant’s shareholders about this transaction is the predicted lead time to bring the Emerald Isle property back into production – within 12 months of its initial acquisition, or by late 2008.
If you’ve been watching the newswires, then you’ll know that the direction of the price of copper has been forecast again and again to climb. Some say that by the time Ascendant is producing at Emerald Isle, the price of copper will have reached US $4.08/pound.
At Mining Journal’s 20:20 Copper Day in London, Bloomsbury Metals Exchange expert Chris Welch outlined a prediction that the price of copper would hit $9,000/tonne or $4.08/pound by 2009. Welch’s prediction is founded on the opinion that production estimates are too high because they haven’t accounted for closures and halted projects.
A second presenter at the event, Justin Longley of International Copper Resources, agreed and added that supply “figures also do not take into account the amount of copper or concentrate which is, at any given time, tied up in working stocks, in transit, and being processed.”
Building the case for a new copper high of US $9,000/tonne in 2009, Longley also sounded on demand estimates. StockHouse.com commentator Lawrence Williams explained the dynamic like this: Copper demand is growing rapidly in developing countries like South Korea and Taiwan that are building copper-intensive infrastructures. Williams writes, “In the real growth economies like China and India, this growth pattern has hardly started yet, and should this rise to Korean or Taiwanese levels, then the effect on the supply/demand pattern could be enormous with price development which could make $9,000 copper itself a huge underestimate!”
The primary St. Genevieve asset, the Zonia property, is a past producing mine. Between 1966 and 1975, Zonia produced 33 million pounds of copper. A NI 43-101 report on the property completed in October 2006 estimates an inferred resource of 460 million pounds of copper from 63 million tonnes of ore grading 0.37% copper on average. This estimate did not include certain information from those drill holes where the assay data was not deemed to be 43-101 compliant due to possible difficulties with quality assurance and control.
Numerous pulps from these earlier assays have been found and should allow confirmation of assays for inclusion of this data in an updated 43-101 without the need for significant re-drilling. The company anticipates that these re-assays will both shorten the time and lower the expense of upgrading the classification of the Zonia copper resource. Analysis of these pulps is ongoing.
A project review performed by Gustavson Associates of Boulder, Colorado in August of 2007 indicated that the project would be both economic and expandable. According to Gustavson, the apparent potential to expand upon these inferred resources at depth and along strike and within presently viable stripping limits represents an additional 40 to 50% over the presently defined resource. Gustavson analyzed the permitting, land rights, water availability, infrastructure, drill logs, cores, previous technical reports and resource estimates among other items, and indicated that the Zonia mine and property is economic.
Based on the results from previous metallurgical studies, the resource is responsive to recovery of copper via heap leaching. The Gustavson study supported the conclusion of an existing feasibility study which, although not fully compliant with today's 43-101 requirements, suggests starting with a SX/EW plant to produce 60,000 pounds of copper a day, over a life of 17 years, with the possibility of increasing either future plant capacity or overall project life.
Gustavson is also confident that final permits, plant construction and mine preparations for production will be achieved in less time than the current projection of 3 years. Therefore, sometime in 2010 Ascendant Copper could be on its way to producing 20 million pounds plus per year of cathode grade copper.
The advanced-stage Emerald Isle property also hosts a past producing mine, at which Ascendant expects to produce 5 million pounds of copper annually. A March 2006 NI 43-101 technical report verifies an indicated resource of 27.5 million pounds of copper from 2.2 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.62% copper. The study also outlined a final estimate of 22 million pounds of copper to be produced over four years and an estimated total net income over the life of the mine of US $22.7 million. One of the real benefits of this acquisition is that Emerald Isle will begin generating cash flow for Ascendant Copper toward the end of 2008.
The takeover agreement between Ascendant and St. Genevieve stipulates that Ascendant will pay St. Genevieve up to 30 million ACX shares for all of the outstanding shares of SGVL. Additionally, Ascendant will extend credit to St. Genevieve and said Ascendant, “intends to extend two secured credit facilities of a combined aggregate amount of up to C$400,000 to SGV in order to provide SGV with the funds required to consummate the Transaction.” These funds will be deducted against the shares issued to SGV and are secured with an option that allows Ascendant to acquire St. Genevieve’s Emerald Isle property for US $1,250,000 cash should the acquisition not be finalized.
Ascendant is adding the Arizona assets to a pair of properties located in Ecuador. Leading the Ecuadorian portfolio is the 3,000 hectare, flagship Chaucha copper-molybdenum property in southern Ecuador. Ascendant is nearing completion of exploration drilling on Chaucha and hopes to move to pre-feasibility in early 2008. There is a non-43-101 compliant, historical resource estimate on the property of a huge 2.2 billion pounds of copper and 122 million pounds of molybdenum from 216 million tonnes of ore. An NI 43-101 complaint resource calculation should be released in early 2008 increasing the historical estimates.
Also, Ascendant’s second Ecuadorian property, the 23,475 acre Junin property, has an NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource estimate of 982 million tonnes of ore for 9.2 billion pounds of copper and 864 million pounds of molybdenum at an average grade of 0.4% copper, for another enormous resource in Ecuador.
Unique to Ascendant’s position in Ecuador is an affiliation with Rio Tinto and its expertise in Ecuador. In October of 2006, Ascendant Copper purchased from Rio Tinto exclusive use, for five years, of a document that could potentially unlock mineral exploration in Ecuador. Before 1997, when Rio Tinto withdrew from Ecuador, the company had completed extensive and detailed exploration of the South American country. Qualified person John King described the geological work detailed in the package as, “analyses of nearly 16,000 stream sediment samples, over 5,000 rock chip samples, numerous detailed topographic and geologic maps, hundreds of both internal and external reports, miles of site-specific geophysics (IP), and assays and logs of over 10,000 meters of drilling on very site-specific properties.”
As Ascendant President Gary Davis stated, “no other company, large or small, has committed anywhere near the time and effort to exploration in Ecuador as has Rio Tinto.”
So with the advantage of Rio Tinto’s data and two properties with potentially enormous copper and copper-molybdenum resources in Ecuador, Ascendant’s new acquisition of St. Genevieve could prove up the cash flow necessary for its South American projects – and substantial shareholder growth. Regardless of what transpires, it’s clear that Ascendant is on the rise.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Astral Mining Expands Limits of Jumping Josephine Discovery with new Assays
By John Hurst
After a summer of quiet trading and a gentle easing of its market capitalization, Astral Mining Corporation (TSX.V: AST) has had a jump-start in both its valuation and volume. The jump, not surprisingly was the result of strong results from Jumping Josephine.
Astral and it’s joint venture partner, Kootenay Gold (TSX.V: KTN), have now completed the Phase II drilling program at the discovery. The drill program consisted of 38 holes totaling 5,100 metres.
The second set of assays, reported on November 29, appeared to improve upon solid results from earlier in November that returned 4 metres averaging 15.18 g/t gold and included 1 m at 56.4 g/t gold. New assays tested to a greater depth than the first results, and included 12.44 g/t gold over 8m, 7.74 g/t over 5m, and 8.28 g/t over 6m.
CEO Manfred Kurschner is effusive about the ongoing success at JJ, noting that the grades exceeded expectations.
“We’ve only drilled perhaps 60 holes of which we have only reported less than 30, so we have another 32 holes to report,” said Kurschner. “This is a brand-new gold discovery, not a re-worked discovery or an old mine or an old deposit that we’ve revisited. In fact, it’s a brand-new, done-the-math achievement. Then through systematic exploration, we’ve moved it from having the discovery, to trenching, to doing the second phase of drilling, in about a year and a half.”
Jumping Josephine is located in the west Kootenay region of southeastern B.C., in a mining district that has had historical production of more than nine million ounces of high-grade gold, yet has remained under-explored since prior to World War II.
Gold showings were initially exposed on the property during road building for logging activity. After further prospecting in 2003, nine gold showings were discovered on the property. Kootenay subsequently assembled a claim position in the area surrounding and including several small past-producers in the Granville Mountain (Bonanza Pass) area.
Now Astral is earning a 60-percent interest in the 11,785-hectare Jumping Josephine project. The property comprises 24 contiguous mineral claims and seven crown-granted mineral claims optioned to Kootenay by Ralph Englund.
Kurschner says Astral has enough cash to get the company through all of the 2008 work programs at Jumping Josephine. He recently raised over $1 million in flow-through dollars to be spent on its British Columbia properties.
With continued good assay results and a strong resource market, Astral could raise enough money through the exercise of warrants and options to minimize dilution and fund several years of exploration.
In the mining exploration business, a key feature of success is telling the story. Kurschner, an entrepreneur who understands the market, has the ability to tell a story, to raise the money and to assemble a team of people who are able to deliver results.
“People need to keep in mind,” he said, “that with these discoveries, to go from the initial event, which in our case was high-grade trenching results that were put out last December, where we trenched seven metres just over an ounce – 31 grams – that’s the initial event that showed potential. Now, to carry it forward is going to take a lot of drill holes.
“What people need to remember is that 60 holes do not make a deposit,” Kurschner advised. “Some of the greatest discoveries in the world have taken hundreds of holes.”
“We now know that there’s going to be size and dimension to JJ – and it is open – it hasn’t been shut off by drill holes that came up dead. So now, we are able to visualize in a three-dimensional view what is going on underground. It is quite an achievement to do this within one year.”
Astral will benefit, too, from the exceptional infrastructure the area offers. The property is bisected by Highway 3, which links Grand Forks, BC, to the west with Castlegar to the east. The eastern edge of the property is adjacent to the intersection of Highways 3 and 3B, which provide access to the historic mining communities of Rossland and Trail, BC, to the southeast.
The infrastructure includes an extensive network of good-quality gravel logging tracks with vehicular access to all claims. Logging remains active in this area.
Astral Mining offers investors the potential upside of a high-grade gold project that has advanced quickly under the direction of an industry veteran. In addition, Director and vice-president of exploration is David Terry, PhD, has extensive experience in international project management and management of exploration programs for both major and junior mining companies. He was formerly a regional geologist with the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, and has worked for many mining companies.
With Phase II drilling complete and having shown consistent high-grade mineralization, the company is now ready to move on to further advancing its drilling and testing the Jumping Josephine property’s mineralized limits. For a company with only 25 million shares out, fully diluted and trading at approximately $0.60 per share (November 30, 2007), there are few better looking gold exploration deals to jump for than Jumping Josephine.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
PMI Gold Sees Shareholder Growth in Micro-mining
By Gregory Gethard
PMI Gold Corporation (TSX.V: PMV) is betting that micro-mining, the practice of operating smaller, high margin gold mines, will help it grow over time into a significant producer.
Case in point: the firm’s activity on Kubi, a property located in Ghana’s Golden Triangle. PMI Gold CEO and President Douglas MacQuarrie believes Kubi could yield significant amounts of gold without using an enormous amount of resources to do so.
PMI Gold finalized its purchase of the Kubi site from Nevsun Resources (TSX: NSU) in October. PMI Gold, in conjunction with engineering firm Golder Associates, is currently conducting initial studies into Kubi. Analysts covering the company project Kubi to start producing gold in 2009.
MacQuarrie says that Kubi, “subject to final engineering studies should be a low-tonnage, high-grade underground operation” and estimates the site could yield ore grading 12 to 15 g/t Au at 500 tons per day. MacQuarrie said that typical large scale open cut mining operations produce 1.5 g/t Au ore at 5000 tons per day.
“They both produce the same amount of gold,” MacQuarrie said.
The principal benefit of this type of mining operation is seen in increased margins. And smaller operations have more flexibility as the price of gold continuously changes.
Larger operations also have a lot more to worry about from major cost increases in items like fuel, steel and transportation costs, because they use proportionally so much more of them. In addition, financing a smaller mining operation is simply easier, according to MacQuarrie.
While Ghana is both a well-developed country and a safe investment bet for West Africa – a nation with a stable, democratic government and an English-speaking populace – PMI Gold must remain sensitive to potential political situations arising from its operations. As a proactive measure, the company has two well-connected Ghanaians on its management team.
PMI Gold also owns other sites in Ghana, controlling 698-square kilometers of land.
“Underground mining means lower environmental impact. Reclamation costs are smaller,” MacQuarrie said. “Plus, the political costs will be small because there are no villages to move.”
MacQuarrie also said more jobs could be developed in areas where micro-mining exists. He said that a large pit operation typically has a life span of seven to ten years. Once the pit reaches the design limit, production stops, and there are no more jobs associated with the site. Small-scale underground mining operations take longer to mine, providing jobs for a longer stretch of time.
“At 500 tpd, Kubi could produce for at least ten years, and odds are good that once we go underground we will find more gold, possibly enough to extend our operations for another ten or twenty years,” MacQuarrie said.
The big AngloGold Ashanti underground mine at Obuasi – just a 20 minute drive north of Kubi – has been in continuous operation for 110 years and is now mining from depths of 2 km, but originally started out as a small high grade operation – like Kubi.
Experts on micro-mining say that the concept hasn’t taken hold yet due to the traditional economics of the industry. Most firms use big pit mining techniques because they are the only way to mine low grade material; others do so to make their assets more lucrative to bigger companies which, one day, may want to make a purchase.
PMI Gold differs from its competitors in other ways as well: MacQuarrie said that his firm plans to issue annual dividends to its investors once any debt incurred for production, was paid back.
“The standard North American junior only talks about ‘growth.’ They want to keep all the earnings for additional acquisitions so that the share price will go up as high as possible. And then all the insiders can exercise their options and sell,” MacQuarrie said. “This logic is flawed, in my opinion, because once the share price stalls for reasons beyond the company’s control, and without paying a strong dividend, then the investor just sells, which attracts more selling. Instead, why not pay your long term shareholders for their continued support?”
The company’s stock trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and ranged from $0.21 to $0.47 per share over the past 52 weeks on the Venture. The biggest shareholder in PMI Gold is Nevsun Resources, which was granted over 11 percent of PMI Gold’s common stock in exchange for the rights to the Kubi site.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Bard Ventures Awaits Assay Results
Perchance to Dream: Bard Ventures Awaits Assay Results at its Lone Pine Molybdenum Property, BC
By Hsiao Lin
Shakespeare said that “every man has business and desire, such as it is.” For Bard Ventures (TSX.V: CBS), that business and desire is to find BC’s next molybdenum mine as it completes the latest phase of a 10,000 meter diamond drill program on its Lone Pine Property in the northern part of the province. As per the company’s most recent press release, drilling is underway with four holes already drilled. So far, all holes have encountered visual molybdenum mineralization.
The Lone Pine Property consists of seven mineral claims over a 1,051-hectare area in the Omineca Mining Division, approximately 15 km north-northwest of Houston, BC, (700 km north of Vancouver). The area is extremely well-serviced in terms of infrastructure. A power transmission line and a gas pipeline both run through the property, with a BC Hydro substation on its western edge. Highway 16 (the Yellowhead) runs through the western corner of the property.
According to the company’s website, the Lone Pine area “extends over several molybdenum showings (Quartz Breccia, Alaskite Zone, Mineral Hill, and Granby, etc.), that have been previously documented in various assessment and government reports (Minfile Nos. 093L 027, and 093L 028).”
There has been a great deal of interest around the Lone Pine area since the early 20th century. As well, much geological, geophysical, and geochemical work has been done on the property in the last 30 years. Previous explorers at Lone Pine include Canex, Molymines, Cominco, Granby, and Noranda. The property has been the subject of several drill programs since the 1970s, and in 1978, a hole drilled in the Quartz Breccia Zone returned 356.3 m of 0.068% MoS2, which includes 154 m of 0.088% MoS2. A second deeper drill hole, drilled approximately one km apart from the Quartz Breccia Zone hole, was drilled in the Alaskite Zone and returned 343.7 m of 0.06% MoS2, including 101.4 m of 0.078% MoS2. It is important to note that past programs were limited to probing shallowly beneath known surface mineralization, and that the extent of the mineralization has not yet been fully delineated.
The last few years have underscored a trend in British Columbia of revisiting and reevaluating old molybdenum showings. Despite the historic interest in Lone Pine, previous explorers were discouraged from pursuing such projects due to low molybdenum prices. However, with molybdenum currently trading at around US $34 per lb., many of these old showings are now economically viable.
“The lithology, alteration and style of mineralization in the suite of samples from the Lone Pine Mo-Cu porphyry prospect are comparable to porphyry-type Mo-Cu deposits on the global scale, “said consulting geologist Dr. Eva Schandl, in summarizing her detailed petrographic report on 18 drill core samples taken from the property.
The company is taking a two-pronged exploration approach. The first phase involved data compilation, line cutting, mapping, and a 3D IP geophysical survey. Interpretation and integration of all data has been completed, resulting in diamond drill targets being selected. The second phase– now underway– is an ambitious drilling program, with four holes completed to date.
The USGS’ 2007 molybdenum fact sheet states that “molybdenum occurs as the principal metal sulfide in large low-grade porphyry molybdenum deposits and as an associated metal sulfide in low-grade porphyry copper deposits.” It is most often found as a byproduct of porphyry copper mining.
Molybdenum has the sixth highest melting point of any element; hence it is often used in making high-strength steel. It is extremely versatile, non-toxic, and is highly resistant to corrosion. Its ability to withstand extreme temperatures without significantly expanding or softening make it useful in applications that involve intense heat, for example– electrical filaments, aircraft parts, industrial motors, and electrical contacts.
Bard has several distinct advantages as a junior moly play. The company’s management are all veterans of the business; its president, Eugene Beukman, is a South African with over twenty years’ experience in the mining business, having gleaned some of that experience as a legal advisor to the predecessor of BHP Billiton. The company focuses its efforts in British Columbia – one of the world’s major molybdenum producers. Another advantage is that it is possible to drill year-round at Lone Pine, compared to other parts of the province that may be subject to major snowfall. The area is also unusual in B.C. in that it has absolutely everything in terms of infrastructure, which does a great deal to defray operating costs. .
The Lone Pine project has enjoyed a great deal of historic interest and has progressed to the advanced drill stage, making this is a particularly opportune time for investors as the company awaits assay results to confirm encouraging historic findings. A few good holes could easily pave the way for Bard’s investors to realize some near-term gains.
The company is at a pivotal stage in terms of development, and its investors could well be quoting the Bard himself in the coming weeks: “Fortune now /To my heart's hope!/ Gold; silver; and base lead.” (Merchant of Venice, Act II, Scene 9)
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Kootenay Gold A-Team Confirms Mineralization at Promontorio
By Jon Shanahan,
Resourcex Investor
Kootenay Gold’s (TSX.V:KTN) lynchpin philosophy is that great mining companies are built around a core of solid, talented people, a “human infrastructure” with stellar track records in the industry and innovative prospecting approaches. It seems to be working. The company has been vigorously and systematically amassing highly prospective projects on an enviable scale, and is currently awaiting drill results on two properties with good potential for huge deposits – one in northwest Mexico, the other in BC, Canada.
Kootenay’s focus, for now, is the Promontorio Silver Project in the Sierra Madre. . The project is a 37,000 hectare property, situated 75 km northeast of Ciudad Obregon, and is easily accessible by road.
Calculations from a 1973 feasibility report (non 43-101* compliant) describe an ore body estimated at 384,000 tonnes grading 367 g/t Ag, 1.5 g/t Au, 0.12% Cu, 2.80% Pb, and 1.74% Zinc. Chip samples assayed in the summer of this year returned values of 480 g/t silver and 2.51 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 19 meters. As such, the extent and grade of alteration at the surface is suggestive of a substantial underlying deposit.
The results of a Phase I drill program, which tested four different areas of the Promontorio structure, are now being processed with assays pending. Ken Berry, Kootenay’s President told me, “If this drilling that we’re doing right now confirms historic results, we expect to see a tremendous amount of interest. This could be a real company maker.”
Meanwhile, the Kootenay Gold team has a joint venture agreement, whereby Klondike Silver has funded a Generative Exploration Program to secure additional properties for development, primarily in the Sierra Madre of Mexico (see Kootenay April 19, 2007 news release). The parcel of land totals in excess of 500,000 ha and encompasses 30 major targets.
Mining activity in Mexico’s Sierra Madre region is burgeoning. Six years ago, there was no major activity in the area. Today, there are five producing mines in the mineralized belt, with two more coming on stream over the next 18 months. The area has been compared to Nevada in the early 80’s – well known as one of the world’s top gold regions. Mexico is currently ranked second in the world for silver production, and will likely become first again before long, considering the explosion of exploration in the region.
VP of Exploration Dr. Tom Richards heads Kootenay’s team of Mexican, Argentine, and Canadian geologists working in the Sierra Madre. “We’ve got a team of top-quality prospectors,” McDonald says, “but their skills are really brought alive by Tom’s efforts.”
In Canada, the Kennedy family – one of the last families in Canada who all earn an income from prospecting – leads the Kootenay effort to locate new discoveries. “They form the backbone of our B.C. operation,” says McDonald.
Kootenay has seven Canadian properties slated for exploration. The most advanced is the Jumping Josephine Project in the Rossland region of B.C. Kootenay has teamed up with a junior partner, Astral Mining on the 11,800 ha property (see April 12, 2006 news release). By incurring expenditures of $2.1 million and issuing Kootenay 400,000 shares of Astral, Astral has the right to earn a 60% interest in the project.
To date, over 3,000 m has been drilled in the main quartz stock work zone on the property, with a very notable intersection of 7.01 g/t gold over 19 m. Mapping and geochemical data has suggested a strike length of up to 3km. A Phase II drill program, which drilled 50 holes in the main discovery area, is wrapping up now. The first six holes were reported on November 14, including 4 m grading 15.18 g/t Au at the JJ main zone.
“This could develop into another lead project for us,” Berry emphasized.
The Connor Creek project, another big B.C. focus for Kootenay, is an area 16km southeast of Nelson, also highly accessible. Geochemical and geophysical testing in the area revealed a broad area anomalous for gold, copper, lead, zinc, and silver, over a 1.2km by 3.2 km grid.
Kootenay took on another junior partner for its Connor Creek Project, Amador Gold. Amador will earn a 50% interest in the Connor Creek property, provided $1 million in exploration is expended, and 400,000 Amador shares are issued to Kootenay Gold over the next four years.
Ken Berry says, “We’re on the verge of events that could change the whole outlook for the company.”
Joint venture partnerships like those engaged for Jumping Josephine (Astral – “TSX.V: AST”), Connor Creek (Amador – “TSX.V: AGX”), and the Mexican Generative Program (Klondike Silver – “TSX.V: KS”) reflect Kootenay’s overriding strategy.
“The purpose of Kootenay’s exploration strategy is to get exposure to as many mineral systems as possible, while at the same time minimizing company dilution to our shareholders,” said McDonald. Last year, junior partners spent $2.2 million on exploration and development, and in 2008, they are projected to spend as much is $4 million on development of Kootenay projects.
When structuring these joint venture arangements Kootenay generally looks to leverage stock payments and exploration expenditures from its partners. This allows Kootenay to maximize money put into the ground while minimizing risk to its shareholders. At the same time the company benefits from accumulating a portfolio of prospective junior exploration stocks, which, in a bull market, is an appreciating asset.
Overall, Kootenay’s management team has an exemplary record in the industry. James McDonald co-founded Black Bull Resources, National Gold, and White Knight Resources. He was instrumental in bringing mines for Genco and Alamos Gold into production. Ken Berry, Kootenay’s President, has extensive experience as an investment adviser for public companies and has raised in excess of $250 million. Richard Hughes, a director with the company needs little introduction: He was imtimately involved in the discovery of some of Canada’s largest mines, including the Golden Giant/Hemlo mine, the Sleeping Giant Mines and the former Balmoral Mines, which produced an aggregate of 450,000 oz of gold annually. Joseph Church and Robert Gardner, both directors, have illustrious careers behind them as well. The addition of Tom Richards in Mexico, and Raj Khang in the head office (who handles bookkeeping and fundraising) round out the team.
Both MacDonald and Berry agree that the team is central to the success of the company. “We’ve come a long way this year in getting the right people in place in the company,” says McDonald. “Our belief is that it starts with good qualified people. With that you’ll get the good projects - and you’ll make discoveries.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Mineral Exploration Companies take the Road of Bones to new Resources
By Andrew K. Burger
Across the North Pacific from western Canada, prospects of mineral wealth are drawing North American miners to Russia’s Far East, one of a number of natural resources-rich areas of the world where climate, as well as political and economic change, is opening up new opportunities.
The region’s mineral riches have attracted the interest of domestic and foreign miners for centuries. Their efforts have been plagued not only by the size and remoteness of this vast region and the severity of its winters, but by a legacy of poorly, even tragically, mounted efforts to exploit its stunning wealth of natural resources, its mineral resources in particular.
That’s not stopping the march of time or progress, however. A new generation of miners is making inroads in Russia’s Far East, including ambitious Canadian juniors such as Vancouver’s Golden Reign Resources Ltd. (TSX.V:GRR), which, through a joint venture with Status LLC, is now developing two gold properties in Magadan Oblast, and may acquire additional mining concessions in other provinces.
Gold mining in Russia’s Far East got its start in the 1820s with the Crown issuance of the first exploration and mining permits. These entrepreneurs, who relied primarily on their natural skills and wits, trudged into the mountains of southern part of the region and prospected mainly by digging test pits, according to Vladimir Kroupnik’s editing of the 1994 book Russian Gold.
Some of these early prospectors, or staratels, such as Masharov - the Napolean of the Taiga - went down in mining legend for their abilities and successes. Their efforts resulted in the Gold Rush of the late 1820s and 1830s as hundreds deposits of alluvial gold were found and thousands of Russians, many of whom were serfs fleeing their masters in search of freedom as well as wealth, flocked to the region. By 1855, gold output in western and central Far Eastern Russia reached 17.4 tonnes.
The Russian government registered 2,955 mining claims and 790 alluvial mines between 1870 and 1899, vaulting the country into the ranks of the world’s largest gold producers, according to Kroupnik. Gold was first discovered farther east in the Amur River basin in 1850-51 by an expedition led by a mining engineer named Metlitsky and again in the Maya River several years later by an expedition led by Anosov, another mining engineer. The first hard rock gold deposit was discovered at Gold Hill, Zolotaya Gora, in 1891, which has been mined intermittently up until recently. The Zeyski, the Amur region’s major gold district, yielded some 66.8 tonnes of gold between 1876 and 1900.
Road of Bones
The lure of vast riches and greed for wealth and power also led to tragedies, exemplified by the Kolyma Highway, or Road of Bones, that traverses the vast region. Built by laborers imprisoned during the Stalin Era, the road is considered a memorial to those who died building it and whose bones were incorporated into the roadbed.
Development of gold, uranium and other mineral resources have taken a heavy toll on communities and the environment. Towns such as Balei and Krasnokamensk are considered environmental and economic disaster zones due to mining projects that took little if any responsibility for the environmental and health effects their operations would have in the region. Residents can only trust that with gold and uranium prices reaching record levels, the Russian and foreign mining companies once again looking to develop Far Eastern Russia’s mineral resources will take better care of the resources they are granted rights to develop.
Gold Mining in Russia’s Far East
Golden Reign is one of a number of Canadian miners looking to develop gold properties in Russia’s Far East today. The company is half-partner with Status LLC, the mining division of Moscow-based CentroCredit Joint Stock Commercial Bank, in the Gold Mining Corp. joint venture, which has been granted comprehensive 20-year mining permits for the Butarni and Durozhni properties in far eastern Magadan province.
The Magadan Region is considered one of the world's richest mining areas, with gold being the main resource of the region, according to the company. “There are approximately 2,000 placer gold deposits, 100 gold ore deposits and 48 silver deposits. Total probable gold reserves in the Magadan Oblast are estimated at 4,000 tons (128,000,000 ounces),” according to Golden Reign, citing resource estimates published by Kommersant.
“We signed our agreement with Status in June when they received the regional license and then registered a brand new joint venture company called Gold Mining Corp. and transferred the licenses to that company. We have rights to earn 50% of the company and for this year the Russian partner and we each put in US$1 million so we are happy with them and the conditions,” Zoran Pudar, Vice President of Exploration recounted.
Extensive trenching and geochemical sampling was undertaken on one southeastern section of the Butarni property - the JV’s primary prospect - this summer season. Samples were taken from an exposed sulfide zone that included high-grade quartz veins embedded in a granodiorite host, according to Pudar. Two eight-kilogram samples set one meter apart had been taken from the area and assayed at 8.6 and 16.1 grams/tonne, which led Golden Reign to expand trenching and sampling of this area this season, he elaborated.
“We’re looking for low-grade, bulk tonnage and higher grade zones within those intrusive deposits, similar to Fort Knox in Alaska but much higher grades. The beauty is that within this area we see the possibility of 1-3 grams/tonne bulk tonnage and high-grade intervals where selective mining can be done, which can help to cut operating costs significantly,” Pudar told Resourcex.
Recent Results
Results from Golden Reign’s initial Burtarni and Dorozhni sampling programs were reported in November. The results support management’s hypothesis that gold mineralization on both properties is not limited to quartz veins but is more widely disseminated through host rock.
On Nov. 14, management announced assay results from 14 samples collected at the Dorozhni property said to be representative of all mineralized areas and differing rock formations, from highly mineralized quartz veins to altered granodiorite. Results of four selected samples ranged from 1.65 to 18.65 grams/tonne gold.
Assay results from Butarni followed on Nov. 19. Two one-meter continuous channel samples and two grab samples were taken from the southwestern portion of the 9.3 square kilometer property’s Zone 1, where a weathered area of a granitic intrusive containing highly mineralized quartz veins was exposed measuring 1,000 meters long by 600 meters wide and 25 meters deep. Assays performed by Alex Stewart Geo. Analytical Ltd. in Moscow returned 8.63 and 16.11 grams/tonne gold.
In contrast to Zone 1, where private companies and the government had previously identified gold mineralization, Golden Reign also trenched, sampled and had assayed samples from host rock and narrow veins. “Two grab samples, B-1/07 and B-5/07, collected from granite and metamorphosed sediments returned 0.39 g/t and 0.27 g/t gold, respectively. The presence of gold mineralization within the sediments demonstrates that gold mineralization is not restricted to the granite stock as previously assumed,” management reported.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Universal Power Revs into Exploration in Tanzania
By Jon Shanahan, Resourcex Investor
November 16, 2007
With the spot price of uranium climbing through $93/lb (again), and a shortage of sulphuric acid in Kazakhstan – the chemical necessary for the leaching process that isolates U3O8 from ore – likely to compound demand, there is every indicator that uranium prices will climb sharply (again) in the coming months. And despite recent seismic shifts for gold and precious metals, most analysts project the bull markets for precious and base metals will continue to snowball.
Universal Power Corp (TSX.V:UNX, FSE: 3U2A) aims to harness a number of promising projects to the current charging-bull resource market.
“I believe - and the company believes - that we’re in the second inning of a global supercycle for uranium, fossil fuels, base metals and gold – and maybe silver as well,” says Barry Swanson, Director and CEO of Universal. “We want to make sure we’re diversified enough to touch all of those classes.”
Universal has three prime targets: In Tanzania, the Northwest Territories (in Canada), and Ontario – that aim to grow shareholder value. The Tanzanian Mbamba Bay project recently announced some forward momentum.
Tanzanian Mbamba Bay Property to Move Ahead with Exploration
Tanzania has become increasingly attractive for mineral exploration in recent years. An exemplary political climate – replete with mining-friendly policies – has aided an annual economic growth of 5% since 2000, and mining accounts for more than half of Tanzania’s foreign exchange. The mining industry has ballooned in the country, and more and more highly promising structures are being explored there.
Universal Power’s Mbamba Bay project, near Lake Nyasa, is a perfect example. The 960 square km property is highly prospective for both sandstone hosted and igneous uranium deposits. Airborne radiometric surveys in the early 1980s suggested that the granites and gneisses in the target zone are anomalous for uranium, and are source rocks for a substantial redox-style uranium deposit. Detailed mapping and ground radiometry from the same period outlined a 20m depth of upper sandstone and a 40m depth of transitional stone. These are conditions associated with roll-front type uranium deposits.
Exploration results on neighboring, geologically contiguous properties indicate that the area is richly anomalous. The property is on the same structural trend as the Paladin Resources-owned Kayelekera uranium deposit in Malawi, which bears a proven resource of over 25 million pounds uranium. Work done by Mantra Resources near the Mbamba western boundary assayed up to 0.68% U in trench and chip samples. Drilling in the area performed by Geosurvey International returned intersections of 0.04% uranium oxide over 11.7m, with the richest intersections weighing in at 0.122% uranium oxide over 1.6m.
Universal Power has completed a review of the existing data on the area, as well as a ground radiometric survey that returned readings of up to 3100 cps (counts per second).
Barry Swanson, President of Universal Power Corp said, “We have a technical report back from our ground crew over there, and I’ve reviewed the information with our QP [Qualified Person, under the regulations of Canada’s NI43-101] here. We’ve made the decision to go ahead and do some further work, so obviously things look promising to us in that area right now”.
An initial exploration budget of $250,000 has been slated for the next phase of detailed geological mapping and sampling, further ground radiometric surveying, shallow trenching, and RAB (reconnaissance air blast) drilling on 100 holes. Depending on the results, Universal has outlined a second phase of exploration comprised of an additional 50 (deeper) reverse circulation drill holes.
Another project in Tanzania, the Mbinga occurrence, is a mainly sandstone-hosted series of 10 anomalies for uranium and thorium, part of the Karoo trough of SE Tanzania. According to Swanson, “The anomalies that we’re seeing there are just as exciting, and in due course we’ll be doing some exploration work there as well on a Phase I program. I would expect that to be happening over the next 3-4 months.”
Universal Power Corp. has a 90% interest in both of its Tanzanian projects.
Canada
The company holds interests closer to home as well. The 100%-owned Great Bear Lake project, an area of over 45,000 acres, is shows occurrences of both uranium and IOCG (iron oxide copper gold) deposits.
The main exploration focus for the Great Bear Project is an area of the Great Bear magmatic zone that has numerous striking parallels to the Olympic Dam structure at Roxby Downs in southwest Australia. Both structures display technothermal evolution, host sequence composition, co-existing magnetite and hematite that result from two contrasting hydrothermal fluids, and are set in a deep crustal scale fault. The Olympic Dam structure has a reported resource of 2.32 billion tons of high-grade copper, gold, silver, and uranium oxide (1.6% Cu, 0.5 g/t Au, 3.5 g/t Ag, and 0.4 kg/t uranium oxide). Recent production hikes at the mine indicate that the mine has a life of at least 50 to 100 years.
The Great Bear area has been historically productive as well. There are three geologically connected historic mining camps on the property – the Port Radium, Contact Lake, and Terra mines – which have collectively yielded a total 48 million ounces of silver, 15 million pounds uranium oxide, and 7,000 pounds of copper in the period from 1930-85.
The region is attracting attention from a number of big players. Alberta Star Development Corp. has performed major exploration on their Contact Lake Project adjacent to the Universal Power’s Great Bear property, including extensive drilling. The 2007 exploration season will have seen spending in the area, by Alberta Star and other companies, in excess of $25 million.
“Today there was announcement by Cooper, who is a neighbor of ours, that they just acquired some more land right next to us,” says Swanson of the accelerating interest in the area. “I expect that that project will heat up in the spring as that area becomes a lot more active.”
Universal is outlining an aggressive exploration of the Great Bear property, and believes that there is excellent potential for a high-grade polymetallic mineralization on the project. 400 km north of Yellowknife, NWT, the area is easily accessible.
In Ontario, Universal Power’s focus on the Havoc Project in the Sibley Basin is also based on similarities to a world-class analogue – the area has striking parallels to Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin, the world’s largest unconformity uranium deposit.
Universal has an option to earn a 60% interest in the property, which consists of 217 claim units. The presence of high-grade uranium was confirmed in the area in 2005 by Rampart Ventures, whose drilling program returned best-values of 2.99% U3O8 over 1.5m. The Sibley Basin, like the Athabasca, is a mid Proterozoic-age sedimentary basin. It is the least-explored of all the Helikian-age sedimentary basins in Canada, and is highly accessible through an extensive network of logging roads.
Management
A team with focused expertise and experience leads Universal’s efforts. Barry Swanson, Director and CEO, has over 15 years of investment and financial industry experience. The recent addition of Duane Parnham, in a Directorial-consulting role, strengthens the Universal technical aspect. Mr. Parnham is also CEO and director with Forsys Metals Corp, and has a long record of success in geological and environmental consultation – he has raised over $100 million CDN for over the last three years. John Poloni has a long career in diverse mining projects, with 35 years of industry experience. Finally, Mike Magrum is Universal’s qualified person for their uranium efforts; he has experience in most of the uranium-bearing Proterozoic basins across Canada.
Outlook
There are other projects on the horizon for the Universal Power Corp. as well. “We are actively looking at other, larger opportunities - we’re sourcing some very good projects,” Says Swanson. “I’m looking to add another project closer to the end of the year or early into next year.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
As Bayfield Waits for Results, the Rainy River Analogy Improves
By R. Sato
When it comes to value-priced juniors, Bayfield Ventures Corp. (TSX.V:BYV) is increasingly approaching the top of the list. Bayfield is trading at around $0.50 per share with several well-situated properties. The company is currently pursuing some promising new opportunities with strong indications of future gains in the highly stable political/geographical area of Northwestern Ontario known as Rainy River. Three of Bayfield’s properties are located within Ontario’s Rainy River greenstone belt, which is known to be rich in valuable minerals. The Rainy River Resources (TSX.V:RR) project was initiated with the acquisition of 100% interest of the Nuinsco Resources Ltd Richardson Township properties. Prior to the acquisition, a Nuinsco Resources exploration program identified two "Blind" gold deposits near the edge of the largest gold in bedrock anomaly ever recorded in Canada's Superior Province. (This oldest of crusts on the North American continent is composed of small terranes, or belts of rock that came together during the archean eon from 2.5 to 4.0 billion years ago.) Recent discoveries in the area are reinforcing the impressive magnitude of possibility in the region.
President of Bayfield Ventures, Don Huston, has recently stated that, “The Rainy River area has the potential of being a major source of untapped major resources. There is solid reason to believe that this area will be the next major gold discovery, perhaps even the largest discovery in all of Canada.”
Such confidence is likely due to the fact that another company Bayfield Ventures has a close working relationship with, Rainy River Resources (TSX.V:PR), recently announced some exciting drill hole results with very strong gold and silver values. These promising drill holes are immediately adjacent to Bayfield Ventures’ property holdings, which are less than 200 meters to the west, known as “B” block and Burns block. Rainy River Resources has indicated that it will announce a much-anticipated NI 43-101 resource estimate by the end of the year.
Bayfield has been drilling in the area for two months, a task made more difficult by the nature of the land it holds, much of which is overlain by swampy terrain, more easily accessible in the winter months. To date, Bayfield has completed approximately 3,500 meters with 14 holes on three properties in the Rainy Rivers area. Management expects to drill an additional 3,000 to 4,000 meters this winter. Bayfield recently announced a 2 million unit financing at 50 cents a share to raise one million dollars, indicating a serious commitment to following up successes that its counterpart, Rainy River Resources, has had next door.
With results still pending from drilling, one can look to Rainy River Resources for an analogy of the mineralization Bayfield’s properties may hold. For example, on November 5, Rainy River Resources announced it had intersected a 4.0-metre wide semi-massive sulphide horizon grading 25.67 g/t Au and 184.14 g/t Ag in a step out hole south of the ODM Zone. On November 13, Rainy River Resources announced that drilling on ODM/#17 Zone continued to intersect strong gold intervals of 11.5 meters grading 5.37 grams per ton gold (ODM Zone) and 8.0 Meters grading 5.50 grams per tonne Gold (#17 Zone East).
Bayfield properties are immediately adjacent and less than 200 meters away from the #17 Gold Zone, close to the #433 Gold Zone, and the new ODM Gold Zone discoveries which, as reported by Rainy River Resources, have demonstrated intercepts of 23.5 meters of 10.6 g/t Gold and 22.6 meters of 17.0 g/t Gold.
With the price of gold still in bull mode, many investors are seeking further protection from the tumbling US dollar in various gold investments. Amid volatility in the financial markets, gold has been gaining popularity among investors, not least of all because of its status as a safe haven. Over the last 12 months the price of gold has increased from around $600 per ounce to $820 per ounce. Many expect a shift to over $1000 per ounce in the coming year.
“Continued dollar weakness, strengthening oil prices and safe haven buying triggered by broader credit market concerns should buoy (metal) prices higher in the forthcoming sessions,” Barclays Capital analysts noted recently.
The deposits currently outlined by Rainy River Resources confirm the area as a major gold camp still in the infancy of exploration, which is well poised to mature into one of the great global gold finds. This new gold camp, with a well-developed infrastructure, accessibility and abundant mineral resources could create substantial shareholder growth for Bayfield investors. Considering that Bayfield shares are currently10 times less expensive than Rainy River Resources’ and with only 21.5 million shares outstanding, in spite of being situated next door to virtually the same mineral-rich geology—it’s hard not to look at Bayfield as a case of Rainy River déjà vu.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
PMI Gold Sees Shareholder Growth in Micro-mining
By Gregory Gethard
PMI Gold Corporation (TSX.V: PMV) is betting that micro-mining, the practice of operating smaller, high margin gold mines, will help it grow over time into a significant producer.
Case in point: the firm’s activity on Kubi, a property located in Ghana’s Golden Triangle. PMI Gold CEO and President Douglas MacQuarrie believes Kubi could yield significant amounts of gold without using an enormous amount of resources to do so.
PMI Gold finalized its purchase of the Kubi site from Nevsun Resources (TSX: NSU) in October. PMI Gold, in conjunction with engineering firm Golder Associates, is currently conducting initial studies into Kubi. Analysts covering the company project Kubi to start producing gold in 2009.
MacQuarrie says that Kubi, “subject to final engineering studies should be a low-tonnage, high-grade underground operation” and estimates the site could yield ore grading 12 to 15 g/t Au at 500 tons per day. MacQuarrie said that typical large scale open cut mining operations produce 1.5 g/t Au ore at 5000 tons per day.
“They both produce the same amount of gold,” MacQuarrie said.
The principal benefit of this type of mining operation is seen in increased margins. And smaller operations have more flexibility as the price of gold continuously changes.
Larger operations also have a lot more to worry about from major cost increases in items like fuel, steel and transportation costs, because they use proportionally so much more of them. In addition, financing a smaller mining operation is simply easier, according to MacQuarrie.
While Ghana is both a well-developed country and a safe investment bet for West Africa – a nation with a stable, democratic government and an English-speaking populace – PMI Gold must remain sensitive to potential political situations arising from its operations. As a proactive measure, the company has two well-connected Ghanaians on its management team.
PMI Gold also owns other sites in Ghana, controlling 698-square kilometers of land.
“Underground mining means lower environmental impact. Reclamation costs are smaller,” MacQuarrie said. “Plus, the political costs will be small because there are no villages to move.”
MacQuarrie also said more jobs could be developed in areas where micro-mining exists. He said that a large pit operation typically has a life span of seven to ten years. Once the pit reaches the design limit, production stops, and there are no more jobs associated with the site. Small-scale underground mining operations take longer to mine, providing jobs for a longer stretch of time.
“At 500 tpd, Kubi could produce for at least ten years, and odds are good that once we go underground we will find more gold, possibly enough to extend our operations for another ten or twenty years,” MacQuarrie said.
The big AngloGold Ashanti underground mine at Obuasi – just a 20 minute drive north of Kubi – has been in continuous operation for 110 years and is now mining from depths of 2 km, but originally started out as a small high grade operation – like Kubi.
Experts on micro-mining say that the concept hasn’t taken hold yet due to the traditional economics of the industry. Most firms use big pit mining techniques because they are the only way to mine low grade material; others do so to make their assets more lucrative to bigger companies which, one day, may want to make a purchase.
PMI Gold differs from its competitors in other ways as well: MacQuarrie said that his firm plans to issue annual dividends to its investors once any debt incurred for production, was paid back.
“The standard North American junior only talks about ‘growth.’ They want to keep all the earnings for additional acquisitions so that the share price will go up as high as possible. And then all the insiders can exercise their options and sell,” MacQuarrie said. “This logic is flawed, in my opinion, because once the share price stalls for reasons beyond the company’s control, and without paying a strong dividend, then the investor just sells, which attracts more selling. Instead, why not pay your long term shareholders for their continued support?”
The company’s stock trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and ranged from $0.21 to $0.47 per share over the past 52 weeks on the Venture. The biggest shareholder in PMI Gold is Nevsun Resources, which was granted over 11 percent of PMI Gold’s common stock in exchange for the rights to the Kubi site.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Atomic Minerals Drills for Uranium in Colorado, Looks to Acquire in Tanzania
By Andrew K. Burger
It stands to reason that governments around the world are looking to expand their use of nuclear energy in coming years given the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change and the current international focus on reducing carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. More than 130 new nuclear power plants are under construction worldwide and the World Nuclear Association forecasts that demand for uranium will grow between 25% and 50% per annum over the next 13 years.
Uranium ore prices have begun rising again this past month, breaching US$90/lb., after having fallen back and settled around the US$80/lb. level after skyrocketing up to US$138/lb. in June this year from lows around US$7/lb. that lasted decades and prompted mine closings and the curtailment of exploration programs. Lately it’s been sharp run-ups and volatility in oil and gold prices that have attracted the focus of energy and mineral resources investors and the media.
Energy and uranium market fundamentals haven’t changed, however. The base case reference scenario for the US Energy Information Association’s International Energy Outlook 2007 is based on worldwide electricity demand increasing 2.4% per year, from 16,424 billion kilowatt-hours in 2004 to 303,364 in 2030, most of it non-OECD nations. Coupled with ever greater resources being devoted to mitigating climate change and significantly cutting back global greenhouse emissions, junior uranium explorers such as Vancouver’s Atomic Minerals Ltd. (TSX.V:ATL) are raising capital and gearing up to follow through on ambitious acquisition and development plans.
From Southwestern Colorado…
Listing on the Toronto Venture Exchange in June, Atomic Minerals owns 932 claims covering 19,250 acres and has signed a Letter of Intent to purchase an additional 1,585 acres on what it considers to be a prime, untapped area for uranium ore prospects: the Dolores Anticline, a large, asymmetrical northwest-trending fold in southwestern Colorado’s Dolores and San Miguel counties.
Located within the Paradox Basin and Uravan Mineral Belt some 30 miles from southeastern Utah’s Lisbon Valley, this area in the Four Corners region was the scene of a uranium boom in the 1950’s after an initial discovery by “Uranium King” Charles A. Steen led to the development of a number of mines. In total, these have produced more than 80% of the uranium mined in Utah—in excess of 103 million pounds.
Atomic management considers Dolores to be the last saltwater anticline in the southwestern US with excellent uranium ore prospects. A recently completed NI 43-101 report confirmed that the claim area, which is approximately 30 miles away from Denison Corp.’s White Mesa Mill, has the potential to host a uranium deposit and Atomic has put together exploration plans for a US$2 million Phase Two drilling program to further explore and define the potential resource.
The Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation of Late Jurassic Age and the Moss Back Member of the Late Triassic Chinle Formation in and near the Uravan Mineral Belt in San Miguel, Montrose and Dolores Counties, Colorado have produced economically significant amounts of uranium ore. Drilling programs on the Dolores Anticline conducted by Hunt Oil and Newmont in the 1970s indicated that the uranium ore-bearing Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation is present in the area.
Atomic on November 15 announced that it had begun drilling on a first transect of a planned 30,000 feet for the Summit Point and Box Canyon Exploration Projects in San Miguel County.
“Our initial drill hole at Summit Point will be looking for the mineralized zone of the Moss Back member of the Chinle Formation. Upon completion of this hole, we will be working along the flank of the Anticline with the next eight holes. Our rotary drill rig is running 24 hours a day, and this first hole of up to 2100 feet should be completed by Friday morning.”
Additionally, the Dolores Anticline was drilled by both Hunt Oil and Newmont in the 1970s. Drill logs from this wide spaced drilling indicate that the favorable Moss Back Member of the Chinle Formation is present in the area.
Atomic also owns 119 claims spanning 2,460 acres known as the Troublesome Creek property where a potential resource estimated as high as 6-7 million tons U308 grading between 0.08 to 1.14% holds out the possibility of in situ leach processing of uranium channels. Similar potential, as well as mining an unconformity type uranium deposit, exists at the Little Wolford property, where Atomic has filed for a state lease covering 640 acres. Rounding out Atomic’s Colorado holdings, the Beaver Creek property consists of 27 claims spanning 540 acres adjacent to a Newmont exploration project that has reported grades of 0.35-1.33% U308.
…to Southwestern Tanzania
Atomic has also cast its net farther afield. It has signed a Letter of Intent with Tanzania’s Geo Can Resources for an option to acquire up to a 100% interest in a land package totaling approximately 1.3 million acres located in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The LOI for the option covers ten licenses and seven parcels of land with known occurrences of uranium in southwestern Tanzania, as well as three “key” parcels in the Ruhuhu Basin, part of the Malawi Extension where 60 kilometers away in Malawi Perth-based Paladin Resources Ltd. (TSX:PDN) is developing its Kayelekera uranium ore project.
Atomic’s agreement with Geo Can Resources on the shores of Lake Nyasa, also known as Lake Malawi, extends into southern Africa’s Karoo Basin system, a deposition region known to contain significant sandstone-hosted roll front uranium deposits of the same type found on the Colorado Plateau and the world-class Mi Vida Mine near Moab, Utah that are mined by in situ leaching methods.
Current estimates for Paladin’s Kayelekera project in neighboring northern Malawi holds measured and indicated resources of 14,000 tonnes U308 and an additional 2,000 tonnes inferred. Paladin completed a Bankable Feasibility Study for Kayelekra early this year, has met environmental regulations and is investing US$185 million to develop a mine site. Production is expected to commence late in 2008 and expand up to 1270 tonnes per year.
Australia’s Western Metals (ASX:WMT) on Oct. 22 reported that ongoing drilling and trenching at its Mtonya project continues to discover high-grade uranium mineralisation over a 7 kilometre trend including 1.2 meters at 7,723 ppm U308 and 0.8 m at 1,035 ppm at the Grandfather prospect. Western Metals plans to spend A$3.5 million on exploration in Tanzania over the next 15 months.
Uranium Mining, Business & the Environment
Tanzania has set a goal for the mining sector to grow from a current 2% to 10% of GDP by 2025, deputy minister of mining and minerals William Gereja has been reported as saying. Uranium ore may join gold and diamonds as one of the country’s top mineral exports if additional exploration and resource definition work pans out as well as is anticipated. Tanzania is Africa’s third-largest gold producer, ranking behind South Africa and Ghana.
"This is good news," Gereja told a reporter from Voice of America’s Kenya bureau at the end of July. "Uranium is used for many industrial uses in the world and we expect that uranium in our country, Tanzania, would make us benefit a lot. We expect to raise revenues from this uranium mineral."
Security and environmental health and safety are always issues when it comes to uranium.
“We have passed all environmental and Arc studies needed as per the BLM in Colorado. In Tanzania, we are in the midst of doing the equivalent for the same requirements. The main thing to look at in Tanzania is not only the land but also the many jobs this will create,” Atomic Minerals’ Chris Brown told Resourcex Investor.
Tanzania, as well as other African countries, has been a favored transit point for smugglers. In 2005 Tanzanian customs officials discovered a large shipment of uranium from Kinshasha bound for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Four Tanzanians, including a government economist, were arrested in Tanzania in 2002 after 110 kilograms of uranium in plastic containers were found and seized.
The Tanzanian government is working to clamp down on both smuggling and corruption. The deputy minister of mining and minerals has said that laws and safeguards will be enacted if and when uranium is mined and produced to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
In terms of foreign miners doing business in Tanzania, “The Mining Act of 1998 legislated a clear exploration and mining regime that guarantees against nationalization and expropriation with a fair, predictable tax regime. A Chubb Group World Risk Survey in 2006 had Tanzania in the 10 lowest investment risk countries,” according to Western Metals.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Linux Bats in the Major Leagues in Alaska’s Historic Gold Camps
By Hsiao Lin
Linux Gold Corp. (OTCBB:LNXGF) has stepped up to the plate as it further expands its presence in Alaska’s historic gold camps. The company has recently acquired an option to purchase a 100% interest in 26 mining claims close to the historic Ester Dome mining camp near Fairbanks, Alaska for US$10.3 million in cash and shares over a two-year period. As per its October 18th press release, “on September 9, 2007, a major gold/silver discovery was located on the claims, with a potential strike length of 6,500’, width of 100’ and minimum depth of 100’ of high grade gold and silver values based on the sampling and trenching program completed this year. The area has been re-sampled and results are pending.” Placer gold has been mined around Ester Creek and its drainage for decades.
This latest acquisition adds considerable lustre to Linux’s position in Alaska, as it also owns the Granite Mountain gold-polymetallic-platinum Project– located approximately 80 miles east of Nome, on the eastern part of Alaska's Seward Peninsula. The company staked a 37 square mile area at the ‘epicentre’ of some of the world’s greatest deposits– surrounded by Teck Cominco’s Red Dog, (the world's largest zinc deposit) located 180 miles north, Nova Gold’s Rock Creek and Big Hurrah gold mines 75 miles west, their Khotol Silver project 60 miles east, and finally, Northern Dynasty’s massive gold-copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit (the Pebble Project) to the southeast. Red Dog is has over US$20 billion worth of zinc reserves and is producing 500,000 tons of ore annually. Indicated deposits for Rock Creek and Big Hurrah total 670,000 ounces of gold with an estimated Inferred Resource of 100,000 ounces of gold. Northern Dynasty has an inferred mineral resource of approximately 28 million ounces gold and 16.4 billion pounds of copper – certainly one of the world’s finest mineral deposits.
In early 2005, Linux acquired a 100% interest in the property by staking 148 State of Alaska 160-acre mining claims at several locations near Granite Mountain. Work done in the 1960s suggests that the property deserves additional exploration. To date, mapping and geochemical sampling has enabled the company to outline a two-mile mineralized zone with favorable discovery potential. The company’s consulting geologist for the project, Robert B. Murray, is currently completing a NI 43-101 report on the property. In September 2006, a drilling program on the property was completed, testing four separate mineralized zones. Further exploration work to confirm gold and silver values on the property is planned pending additional financing.
The USGS’ fact sheet entitled Regional Geologic, Geochemical, Geophysical, and Mineral Deposit Data for Economic Development in Alaska in the 21st Century confirms the immense base-metal resources of the Seward Peninsula: “Since the gold rush of the late 19th century, it has been recognized that the mineral endowment of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, is considerable. The well-known placer gold operations have had significant historic production and continue operating to this day. Lode gold production has also occurred. The potential for base-metal deposits (Pb, Zn, Cu) has attracted exploration to the peninsula for decades, but the extent of that resource is unknown. Scattered across the Seward Peninsula, in an area 150 x 200 km, are numerous prospects and occurrences of stratiform massive sulfides.”
Linux also owns a 50% interest in 30 mineral claims known as the Fish Creek Prospect, located in the Fairbanks Mining Division in Alaska. The claims are located only six miles from Kinross’ Fort Knox mill. Linux has a 50/50 joint-venture with Teryl Resources Corp. (TSX.V:TRC) in the Fish Creek claims, in which Linux will spend US$500,000 on the project over three years. Linux Gold Corp. retains a 5% net smelter return or may convert into a 25% working interest. The Fish Creek claims are part of Teryl’s Alaskan holdings, which also include the Gil Project, the Stepovich claims, and the West Ridge property – all in the Fairbanks Mining District. Teryl is one of the main landowners in the district, with holdings contiguous to Kinross’ Fort Knox Project. According to Kinross’ Fort Knox Mine technical report, “the Fairbanks mining district is a celebrated placer gold camp with production in excess of 8.0 million ounces of gold since 1902. Although a significant mining district in terms of total production, it had only limited lode production until the discovery and development of the Fort Knox deposit in the late 1990s.” Fort Knox is the largest producing gold mine in Alaska, with a 4,000,000 oz Au ore reserve.
Linux and Teryl share something else – their president, CEO and chairman of the board, John Robertson, who brings an extensive business, mining and marketing background to both companies.
Management has diligently set about acquiring strategic properties near some of the world’s major producers in an area known for its world-class reserves and its mining-friendly political environment. This approach has yielded some great results so far, given the fact that it has been able to forge close ties with Kinross at Fish Creek.
The company is remarkably well-diversified in terms of its property portfolio, with projects near major former and current producers in Alaska, Arizona, China and Canada. Its accessible price point and Bulletin Board status make it especially attractive to American investors who wish to position themselves early on in the drilling stage in order to maximize their chances of seeing major-league near- and mid-term appreciation. With some good drill results we could well see Linux hit a grand slam.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Blue Sky Uranium Ahead of the Pack in Argentina
By Anne Fletcher
Vancouver-based Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSX.V: BSK), barely out of the starting gate, makes no bones about its international ambitions.
“We would like to end 2008 as the largest uranium land holder in Argentina and the dominant uranium explorer,” says Blue Sky president Sean Hurd.
So far, 18-month-old Blue Sky is more than 4,000 km2 along that road, with its Santa Barbara property in Rio Negro province of northern Patagonia staked by the man who may be Argentina’s leading uranium exploration geologist.
As Hurd tells it, Dr. Jorge Berrizzo, after 14 years at the Argentinean National Atomic Energy Commission, is finding new freedom in the private sector, just as the Argentinean uranium market is starting to buzz.
While Berrizzo played a large role in the discovery of the Cerro Solo uranium deposit in Chubut province, to the south of Rio Negro, “the problem with working for the government is that your focus is narrow and your funding is limited,” Hurd said in an interview.
So Berrizzo has teamed up with a number of private businessmen in the Argentina Uranium Corp. to explore interesting, but untouched, regions. And Blue Sky, bringing to the table its ability as a public company to raise capital, now has a deal with Argentina Uranium to earn a 75% interest in the Santa Barbara property.
Surface sampling has turned up grades of up to 1.5% U3O8, along an 11-kilometre trend. That compares to 0.3-0.5% U3O8 at the Cerro Solo deposit.
“There is obvious uranium mineralization at the surface, which is rare and exciting,” Hurd said. “And we’ve completed an airborne radiometric and magnetic survey over 3,000 square kilometers. It’s the first survey of its kind conducted in that province.”
“At Santa Barbara, our objective is to follow up the air survey with detailed sampling, leading to a drill program.”
Hurd expects Santa Barbara to be just the beginning. “The geological environment in the western United States where the bulk of the U.S. uranium production comes from (also) exists in Argentina,” he said.
While the Argentinean government focused on exploring in Chubut, regions to both the north and the south look geologically promising, he said.
And, after years of slumber, the uranium rush appears to be underway. Argentina has seen uranium exploration since the 1950s, but the country only opened to foreign mineral exploration in 1993 and to uranium exploration, in particular, in 2000.
Meanwhile, the country’s mines all closed and exploration tapered off to nothing as the price of uranium bottomed out at US$7/lb, thanks to the recycling of military stockpiles.
But those stockpiles are petering out, the demand for energy keep growing, the price of oil keeps going up, new nuclear reactors are on the drawing boards, and the spot price of uranium has approached US$100/lb.
Argentina, with two Canadian-built nuclear reactors in operation, is now building a third, hoping to supply 20% of the country’s energy demand from that source by 2025, up from seven per cent today.
That means annual domestic demand for uranium will nearly double, from a current 110 tonnes, to 210 tonnes.
Blue Sky found its Argentinean niche in the first place through its stake in Grosso Group Management Ltd. - headed by Argentina native Joe Grosso - which has been exploring for minerals and for oil and gas in South America since 1990.
Blue Sky director Hernan Celorrio is on the ground in Argentina, dealing with the daily red tape of both federal and provincial governments. “It’s very difficult to do that from Canada,” Hurd said. The Buenos Aires professor of law was president of Barrick Explorations Argentina from 1999 to 2006.
And Dr. Clifton Farrell, with 25 years in the uranium and alternate energy fields, has just joined Blue Sky as chief operating officer. Along with a PhD in geochemistry from Harvard University, Farrell comes fresh from 12 years at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, where he looked after licensing and regulatory affairs.
Argentina may be looking fairly stable politically these days, but Blue Sky also has a couple of small properties in Columbia. Hurd admits that, even five years ago, any foray into that country would have all but unthinkable.
However, “there’s been a vast improvement in Columbia in the climate for exploration,” he insisted. “We have option agreements on two uranium properties and we’re not operating in the country on our own. We’re going through the Grosso Group.”
“It’s a chance to get in before other companies recognize the opportunity.”
Blue Sky doesn’t have all its eggs in a South American basket, though. A joint venture with Eagle Plains Resources at Eagle Lake, on the outside edge of Canada’s Athabasca Basin, was Blue Sky’s first property.
“It’s had good historical sampling,” Hurd said. “We’ve completed several surface programs and we are waiting to drill the property as soon as the winter freeze-up comes.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Linux Bats in the Major Leagues in Alaska’s Historic Gold Camps
By Hsiao Lin
November 19, 2007
Linux Gold Corp. (OTCBB:LNXGF) has stepped up to the plate as it further expands its presence in Alaska’s historic gold camps. The company has recently acquired an option to purchase a 100% interest in 26 mining claims close to the historic Ester Dome mining camp near Fairbanks, Alaska for US$10.3 million in cash and shares over a two-year period. As per its October 18th press release, “on September 9, 2007, a major gold/silver discovery was located on the claims, with a potential strike length of 6,500’, width of 100’ and minimum depth of 100’ of high grade gold and silver values based on the sampling and trenching program completed this year. The area has been re-sampled and results are pending.” Placer gold has been mined around Ester Creek and its drainage for decades.
This latest acquisition adds considerable lustre to Linux’s position in Alaska, as it also owns the Granite Mountain gold-polymetallic-platinum Project– located approximately 80 miles east of Nome, on the eastern part of Alaska's Seward Peninsula. The company staked a 37 square mile area at the ‘epicentre’ of some of the world’s greatest deposits– surrounded by Teck Cominco’s Red Dog, (the world's largest zinc deposit) located 180 miles north, Nova Gold’s Rock Creek and Big Hurrah gold mines 75 miles west, their Khotol Silver project 60 miles east, and finally, Northern Dynasty’s massive gold-copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit (the Pebble Project) to the southeast. Red Dog is has over US$20 billion worth of zinc reserves and is producing 500,000 tons of ore annually. Indicated deposits for Rock Creek and Big Hurrah total 670,000 ounces of gold with an estimated Inferred Resource of 100,000 ounces of gold. Northern Dynasty has an inferred mineral resource of approximately 28 million ounces gold and 16.4 billion pounds of copper – certainly one of the world’s finest mineral deposits.
In early 2005, Linux acquired a 100% interest in the property by staking 148 State of Alaska 160-acre mining claims at several locations near Granite Mountain. Work done in the 1960s suggests that the property deserves additional exploration. To date, mapping and geochemical sampling has enabled the company to outline a two-mile mineralized zone with favorable discovery potential. The company’s consulting geologist for the project, Robert B. Murray, is currently completing a NI 43-101 report on the property. In September 2006, a drilling program on the property was completed, testing four separate mineralized zones. Further exploration work to confirm gold and silver values on the property is planned pending additional financing.
The USGS’ fact sheet entitled Regional Geologic, Geochemical, Geophysical, and Mineral Deposit Data for Economic Development in Alaska in the 21st Century confirms the immense base-metal resources of the Seward Peninsula: “Since the gold rush of the late 19th century, it has been recognized that the mineral endowment of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, is considerable. The well-known placer gold operations have had significant historic production and continue operating to this day. Lode gold production has also occurred. The potential for base-metal deposits (Pb, Zn, Cu) has attracted exploration to the peninsula for decades, but the extent of that resource is unknown. Scattered across the Seward Peninsula, in an area 150 x 200 km, are numerous prospects and occurrences of stratiform massive sulfides.”
Linux also owns a 50% interest in 30 mineral claims known as the Fish Creek Prospect, located in the Fairbanks Mining Division in Alaska. The claims are located only six miles from Kinross’ Fort Knox mill. Linux has a 50/50 joint-venture with Teryl Resources Corp. (TSX.V:TRC) in the Fish Creek claims, in which Linux will spend US$500,000 on the project over three years. Linux Gold Corp. retains a 5% net smelter return or may convert into a 25% working interest. The Fish Creek claims are part of Teryl’s Alaskan holdings, which also include the Gil Project, the Stepovich claims, and the West Ridge property – all in the Fairbanks Mining District. Teryl is one of the main landowners in the district, with holdings contiguous to Kinross’ Fort Knox Project. According to Kinross’ Fort Knox Mine technical report, “the Fairbanks mining district is a celebrated placer gold camp with production in excess of 8.0 million ounces of gold since 1902. Although a significant mining district in terms of total production, it had only limited lode production until the discovery and development of the Fort Knox deposit in the late 1990s.” Fort Knox is the largest producing gold mine in Alaska, with a 4,000,000 oz Au ore reserve.
Linux and Teryl share something else – their president, CEO and chairman of the board, John Robertson, who brings an extensive business, mining and marketing background to both companies.
Management has diligently set about acquiring strategic properties near some of the world’s major producers in an area known for its world-class reserves and its mining-friendly political environment. This approach has yielded some great results so far, given the fact that it has been able to forge close ties with Kinross at Fish Creek.
The company is remarkably well-diversified in terms of its property portfolio, with projects near major former and current producers in Alaska, Arizona, China and Canada. Its accessible price point and Bulletin Board status make it especially attractive to American investors who wish to position themselves early on in the drilling stage in order to maximize their chances of seeing major-league near- and mid-term appreciation. With some good drill results we could well see Linux hit a grand slam.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
KFG Resources Expands its Oil Horizons in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin
By Christina de Wit
November 19, 2007
Voltaire, the great French Rationalist philosopher, described business as “the salt of life”. Perhaps he may have got it backwards – as far as KFG Resources’ (TSX.V:KFG) management is concerned, “salt is the life of business”. It intends to test this theory as the company prepares to launch a 3-D seismic survey in its quest for oil on its Fayette Field property in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin.
The Fayette Field is located in Jefferson County, just north of Natchez, Mississippi, and is presently producing 20 barrels of oil and 250 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of gas per day. There are currently ten producing horizons in the field, and management believes that there are between five and ten more viable horizons. It’s worth noting that the company’s property, which consists of a 49.2% (42% net) interest in three leases covering 3200 acres on the largest salt feature left to be redeveloped in the region.
Permitting for the survey has already started and the 3D seismic survey will be conducted in February 2008. A 10,000 ft test well will likely follow in the second quarter of 2008. Drilling in this relatively under-explored area has two major possibilities: one, the highly productive Eocene Wilcox Formation, and the much deeper Lower Cretaceous Lower Tuscaloosa – also a famous oil reservoir. Within the Wilcox Formation, recovery rates are as high as 40% in this water drive reservoir. Secondary recovery using CO2 in the deeper Lower Tuscaloosa have yield an additional 80% of primary production.
The advantage of 3D seismic surveying is that it’s a two-pronged strategy: The survey will delineate both shallow and deep reserves. It will also paint a picture of the secondary aspect of the reserves, which are important in determining added value in terms of what can be extracted via CO2 injection methods once the primary reserves have been tapped.
Salt domes are often the site of salt mines and oil wells. They can range from 1 to 10 km across and have been known to reach depths of up to 6.5 km. They are formed when large plugs of salt from deep in the earth are forced up, pushing up layers as they rise. As the density of salt is generally less than that of its surrounding material, it has a tendency to move upward toward the surface, forming large mushroom-shaped domes. As the salt moves up, it can penetrate and/or bend strata of existing rock with it, causing them to bend slightly upwards at the point of contact with the dome. This process often forms pockets where petroleum and natural gas can collect between impermeable strata of rock and salt. These formations are a major source of the petroleum produced along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The economic potential of salt domes has been known about for some time, however, recent drilling (encouraged by both high oil prices and technological advances) of salt dome flanks in the Mississippi salt basin has resulted in important new discoveries.
37 deep wells of 10,000 feet or less have been drilled in the field– 29 of them on the east side of the dome. The east side of the dome has produced 2.2 million barrels of oil so far. This certainly gives cause for some optimism– since salt domes are usually symmetrical in nature, oil and gas deposits on one side tend to be mirrored on the other. The company’s 3D survey will focus on the west side of the dome. “I’m hoping to develop new production on the west side [of the dome], and to enhance the overall value of the project,” said the company’s CEO, Robert Kadane.
Investors would be hard-pressed to find a total package like this one, especially given recent record oil prices. Several factors highlight KFG’s potential for major appreciation: management is well prepared– all titles have been cleared, and the company is completely debt-free. Mississippi is an excellent place to work in– as costs and taxes are very low. Fayette Field, being inland, is sheltered from the notorious hurricanes that affect the Gulf Coat. Required infrastructure, such as salt water waste removal equipment and gas pipelines, is in place to support increased production. On the finance side, the company has recently closed the second tranche of its brokered private placement through Union Securities. The company is building on its existing success within the Fayette Field and within it other properties in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kansas.
An oil play of this size offers investors maximum flexibility, mitigated risk, and the potential for handsome returns in a very short turnaround period– serious production and cash flow could take as little as ten months.
Mr. Kadane is a third-generation Texas oilman with over 40 years’ experience in the business. When asked why he has spent much of his life exploring in the Mississippi-Louisiana Salt Basin, his words of wisdom to investors were short – and sweet: “I’ve been here because it’s been successful for me in the past.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Tribune Follows the Yellow Brick Road as it Drills for Uranium in the Athabasca
By Sylvia Young
November 15, 2007
No, we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto, but we are at the scene of a whirlwind of activity along the southern margin of the Athabasca Basin, where Tribune Uranium Corp (TSX.V:TCB) has just begun drilling for uranium at its Botham Lake property. The company is working right next door to Cameco's recent Centennial Zone discovery, which reports 18.3% U3O8 over 5.3 meters. The property is just south of Tommy Davis Bay (Cree Lake), approximately 254 km north-northwest of La Ronge and 53 km west of the Key Lake Uranium Mine.
The company has five projects altogether– three of which are strategically located within the Athabasca Basin: Botham Lake (19,099 ha), Dufferin Lake East (18,790 ha), and North Shore (117,853 ha). Rounding out a well-diversified portfolio are its recently-acquired Quartz and Green claims, in the Reed Lake Mining District of Manitoba, and its Potonico gold/silver project in El Salvador.
So far, nine anomalies at Botham Lake have been identified from the results of an 826 line-km MEGATEM airborne survey conducted in 2006. The work program for the summer and fall of this year involved additional ground prospecting and analysis to identify potential drill targets. So far, 20 high-priority drill targets have been identified on the anomalies. Plans are for a total of 4000m of drilling over four of the nine anomalies (B1, B2, B4, and B9). The company is following the recommendations laid out in its 43-101 report, which states that “additional work is recommended for the Properties, but the work should be focused on drill testing the areas containing the four strongest conductor anomalies, B1, B2, B4, and B9, detected during the airborne GEOTEM survey and the anomalies detected during the ground magnetics and HLEM surveys on the Botham Lake claim block. Secondary (and tertiary, on B1) conductive trends were identified using ground magnetics and HLEM surveys along grids B1, B45, and B79, which were not apparent from the airborne geophysics surveys. Eight to nine diamond drill holes to depths of 600 meters would be recommended to drill test the identified conductor anomalies.”
Saskatchewan is the world leader in uranium production– home to the biggest uranium mines in the world, with resources sufficient for over 40 years at current rates of production. There are three uranium mines currently in production in the Athabasca– Eagle Point, McArthur River and McClean Lake. In 2005, these mines produced 28% of the world’s uranium. As of December 31st 2006, the province’s uranium reserves stood at 673.6 million lbs. of U3O8, with new deposits being continually discovered– with an energy potential estimated at 5.7 billion tonnes of coal or 20 billion barrels of oil.
According to the most recent Uranium in Saskatchewan, a fact sheet produced annually by Saskatchewan’s uranium mining industry, “uranium production from the high grade deposits of the Athabasca Basin began in 1975 at Rabbit Lake. The richest uranium deposits in the world occur at or near the base of the Athabasca Basin sandstone sequence, near the erosional unconformity with the underlying crystalline rocks”. Today, all of Canada's uranium production is from basement- and unconformity-related deposits such as Key Lake, Cluff Lake, Rabbit Lake (all now depleted), and the McClean Lake and McArthur River deposits. Other large, exceptionally high-grade, unconformity-related deposits currently being developed include Cameco’s Cigar Lake (averaging almost 20% U3O8 with some zones running over 50% U3O8). Interestingly enough, due to flooding, production has been delayed at Cigar Lake until 2010– with some analysts suggesting that this setback is an important factor in keeping uranium prices high.
This decade has seen the price of uranium skyrocket from around $15/lb. at the beginning of 2001 to a high of $135/lb. in July of this year before settling back to its current plateau of around $90/lb. This phenomenal rise is a reflection of mounting concerns about pending supply shortages. Already, eighteen nuclear power plants provide about 15% of Canada’s electricity. By 2030, world electricity demand is expected to double– making nuclear an increasingly attractive option to help meet the growing demand for clean, affordable power.
Tribune stands a particularly good chance of achieving success in the Athabasca for several reasons. Management has built a solid property portfolio in the area– with key claims right next door or close to Cameco’s proven deposits. It has successfully negotiated agreements with joint venture partners who are experienced in the Athabasca; namely, Fission Energy on its North Shore property. Mining-friendly governments, a much wider public acceptance of nuclear power than in previous years, and voracious global uranium demand do much to pave the company’s way to production.
The next few weeks will be exciting ones for the company’s investors, and some positive assay results should have them saying– in a twist on the old classic– lions and tigers and bulls– oh my!
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Commerce Resources on track to become largest North American tantalum supplier
By Anne Fletcher, ResourcexInvestor.com
November 15, 2007
Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV: CCE; FSE: D7H), bolstered by its latest drill results, is on track to break ground on North America’s first stand alone tantalum/niobium mine within two years.
However, that’s not going to happen fast enough to help The Boeing Company meet a 2008 year-end delivery deadline for its new 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft.
Chicago-based Boeing, in a move that points to a global shortage of tantalum, has recently pushed its Dreamliner schedule back by six months. The first 30 to 35 of the new passenger aircraft won’t be delivered until 2009, because of both software integration problems and a shortage of corrosion-resistant tantalum fasteners.
Commerce is still in the midst of a two-year-long provincial environmental assessment on its Upper Fir property, 300 kilometers north of Kamloops, in central British Columbia, which should be done by May or June 2008.
With that certificate in hand, the Vancouver-based company will then turn to the British Columbia Ministry of Mines for a permit to work its Blue River property in the interior of the province.
If all goes well, the permit will come through in time for a 2009 spring start.
Tantalum has the highest capacitance of any metal known, meaning the ability to hold and release electrical charge instantaneously. That makes it essential to most electronic devices as the material used for the capacitors found in most consumer goods such as mobile phones, computers and digital cameras as well as in automotive applications (anti-locking brakes, airbag-firing mechanisms) and medical technologies such as hearing aids and pacemakers.
The world’s largest tantalum producer, Sons of Gwalia Ltd., now known as Talison Minerals, has, historically, supplied up to 55% of the world market from its Greenbushes and Wodgina mines in Western Australia. In the West, that market percentage could run as high as 85%.
However, SOG disclosed in July, 2004 that it may have run out of its surface high grade (300 g/t with a 55% recovery rate), forcing capital spending on underground mining of lower grade deposits.
Shortly afterwards, the public company went into receivership, and was purchased and renamed by private American interests only this year.
Drill results since Commerce started staking its Blue River property in 2000 have established Upper Fir as a viable mine site with a 6-10-year life.
The prospective mine life may double or even triple with the results from 18 more holes drilled this past summer. Those results not only confirmed that the Upper Fir carbonatite is sub-horizontal, allowing for open-pit mining, but also enlarged the strike area to more than a kilometer north-south and more than half a kilometer east-west.
(Carbonatites are rare rock types containing equally rare minerals, including niobium and tantalum.)
As well, this past summer’s exploration turned up two new carbonatites - Lower Gum Creek and Lower Switch Creek - about two kilometers east of the Upper Fir deposit. Currently, the company is expecting the results back from the drilling of the Switch Creek site, spurred by one anomalous sample from the late 1980s containing 2,900 grams per tonne (g/t) tantalum. That compares to an average of 200 g/t in the Upper Fir deposit.
While work is now concentrated on the Upper Fir, Commerce had staked an area covering about 500 square kilometers, including the Fir and the Verity properties. Last month, the company doubled its property by staking another 95 claims covering more than 100,000 acres to the south of the Bone Creek watershed.
The new claims cover a large ultramafic area about 12 km southeast of the Upper Fir deposit, and give Commerce ownership of mineral tenures in areas where mine infrastructure may be built.
The Upper Fir property has an indicated resource of 8.6 million tonnes, grading 208.9 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,372 g/t Nb2O5, and an inferred resource of 5.5 million tonnes, grading 208.2 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,349g/t Nb2O5.
The Fir deposit has an indicated resource of 5.65 million tonnes grading 203.1 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5, with an inferred resource of 6.74 million tonnes, grading 203.1 g/t Ta205 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5.
The Verity property has an inferred resource of 3.06 million tonnes, grading 196 g/t Ta2O5 and 646 g/t Nb205.
The metal niobium has a wide range of properties - heat resistance, high thermal conductivity, elasticity, corrosion resistance, and the ability to form a stable and adhesive layer of oxide.
But it is most prized for its use in steel alloys used in pipelines, cars and structural steels. A 2% alloy of niobium can triple the tensile strength of steel from a PSI (pounds per square inch) of 40,000 to a PSI of 120,000, making it a reasonable alternative to vanadium.
Niobium’s price has also skyrocketed this year, from US$7 per pound in January to its current level of around US$28/lb. Encouraged by the healthy market, Commerce last spring staked 88 claims in Quebec’s Labrador Trough, surrounding eight claims held by Virginia Mines Inc. (TSX: VGQ).
Those eight claims cover most of the Eldor Carbonatite Complex, an elliptically-shaped area approximately 7.75 km by 2.5 km with known, localized high concentrations of niobium and tantalum. Grab and channel samples have ranged from 1.15% to 11.4% Nb205 and 0.046%-0.21% Ta205.
In May, for the price of 710,000 shares and 290,000 share purchase warrants, Commerce took over those claims from Virginia Mines and embarked on a summer of soil sampling and line cutting. The results of those assays should be available by November.
The Eldor Carbonatite compares in size to the Araxa Carbonatite Complex in Brazil, which measures about 4.5 km in diameter. It contains the world’s largest known deposit of pyrochlore, from which niobium is obtained, and is mined by the Brazilian company, Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao (CBMM).
CBMM, currently supplying up to 70% of the world market, says it has enough reserves to meet the global need for niobium for the next 500 years. But the private company may not be meeting the same disclosure standards as Canadian public companies. As well, buyers looking at the quality of CBMM’s product are known to be checking around for other suppliers.
While Commerce has had a standing invitation for partnership proposals, a recent private placement of $32.746 million, added to the $7.5 million already in hand, means the company can now manage on its own.
Another $45 million could be raised through the exercise of warrants bringing total financing to just over $80 million, enough to get Blue River into production.
With the Yellowhead Highway and the Canadian National Railway both crossing Commerce’s property, the company will have an easy choice of sending its tantalum concentrate, processed at the mine site, to either Vancouver or Edmonton.
The next step would be to turn the concentrate into tantalum oxide, but Commerce hasn’t yet considered whether it would build its own processing plant, partner with another company or hand off the product at that point.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Ascendant Copper Acquires St. Genevieve in its Bid for Diversification and Near-term Production in the Americas
By Christina de Wit
November 15, 2007
John Whittier Greenleaf, the American Quaker poet and abolitionist, was noted for saying, “I’ll lift you and you lift me, and we’ll both ascend together.” It looks as if Ascendant Copper (TSX:ACX) has taken some of his sage relationship advice as it ushers in a new phase of its ascendancy with its friendly takeover of St. Geneviève Resources (CNQ:SGVL) of Montréal. The Boards of Directors of both ACX and SGVL have unanimously approved a letter of intent in which ACX acquires all of the outstanding shares of SGVL in exchange for up to 30,000,000 ACX common shares, as per its October 31st press release. Completion of the transaction is subject to final due diligence by ACX and SGVL.
This latest news represents a new chapter for Ascendant as it diversifies its asset base and gathers momentum in its push to achieve mid-tier production status. Of particular interest are SGVL’s two past-producing copper properties in Arizona.
Emerald Isle is a formerly producing open-pit copper mine located 24 km northwest of Kingman. Infrastructure in the area is excellent on all counts, with water coming from nearby wells. Mine infrastructure also includes a SX/EW (solvent-leach/electrowinning*) plant, some buildings and equipment.
Emerald Isle contains a 43-101-compliant** recoverable mineral resource of 27.5 million lbs Cu. The property has a history of work dating back to 1917, with open-pit production starting in 1943. A final pre-feasibility study conducted by Behre Dolbear reports an expected mine life of 4 years, which is a conservative estimate. The company plans to put the property into production within 12 months in order to produce about 5 million lbs of copper annually. The company estimates costs of around $4 to 5 million in order to put the property back into production.
It is particularly important to note the economic advantage that a SX/EW processing scenario lends to this project. It requires a low capital investment requirement relative to the smelting process, and can be viable even on a small scale. The process has very little environmental impact, as its liquid streams are easily contained, and acids used in the process are eventually neutralized by the host rock itself. Most importantly, SX/EW also allows for the processing of copper oxides, which are very difficult and expensive to smelt. These include mined copper minerals that are in oxidized form, such as azurite, brochantite, chrysocolla and cuprite, as well as residual copper in old mine waste dumps that has been oxidized through exposure to air.
The Zonia property, located south of Prescott, consists of 3,300 acres that produced 33 million lbs Cu from 1966 to 1975 by heap leaching. In 2006, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates (RPA) prepared a NI 43-101 technical report on the property. It outlined an inferred resource of 63 million tons copper averaging 0.37% Cu at a cutoff grade of 0.25% containing an estimated 460 million lbs Cu.
Zonia is also considered a near-term producer. Ascendant plans to update the feasibility study and expand resources through additional drilling while preparing the site for production over the next 24 to 30 months.
The acquisition of SGVL enables Ascendant to build upon its comprehensive copper-moly portfolio. The company is also able to build on a great deal of copper exploration experience, gleaned while working in Ecuador, where it owns two properties: the Chaucha copper-molybdenum in the southwest, and the Junin copper-molybdenum porphyry project in the northwest.
Chaucha has an historic geological resource estimate of 216 million tons, with 2.2 billion lbs Cu and 122 million lbs Mo. Phase III of the drilling program – which involved testing for higher grade, +1% Cu – has recently been completed. Assay results are expected shortly. At the same time, according to the company’s website, Junin has a 43-101 compliant inferred resource estimate of 982 million tonnes, with 19.2 billion lbs copper and 864 lbs molybdenum.
This latest move serves as a bridge to create increased value and cash flow for Ascendant’s shareholders in the near and mid-term future. It also serves to support the advancement of Chaucha and Junin. Recently, Ecuador's President has come out in support of responsible mining, and the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum is laboring to determine how to best advance mineral projects within Ecuador. These new political developments should bode well for the people of Ecuador, for the mining community in general, and for Ascendant in particular.
In the meanwhile, the company will continue to build on its ongoing strategic exploration alliance in Ecuador with Rio Tinto, which gives it access to Rio Tinto’s US$14 million database.
In terms of investor awareness, the agreement with SGVL signals a key entry point for Ascendant’s potential investors in the sense that all the building blocks are now in place to ensure a balanced approach in terms of growth – and profit – at all stages of its development.
*Solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) is a two-stage process that first extracts and upgrades copper ions from low-grade leach solutions into a concentrated electrolyte, and then deposits pure copper onto cathodes using an electrolytic procedure.
**National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and administered by the provincial securities commissions that govern how issuers disclose scientific and technical information about their mineral projects to the public. It covers oral statements as well as written documents and websites. It requires that all disclosure be based on advice by a "qualified person" and in some circumstances that the person be independent of the issuer and the property.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Ascendant Copper Acquires St. Genevieve in its Bid for Diversification and Near-term Production in the Americas
By Christina de Wit
November 15, 2007
John Whittier Greenleaf, the American Quaker poet and abolitionist, was noted for saying, “I’ll lift you and you lift me, and we’ll both ascend together.” It looks as if Ascendant Copper (TSX:ACX) has taken some of his sage relationship advice as it ushers in a new phase of its ascendancy with its friendly takeover of St. Geneviève Resources (CNQ:SGVL) of Montréal. The Boards of Directors of both ACX and SGVL have unanimously approved a letter of intent in which ACX acquires all of the outstanding shares of SGVL in exchange for up to 30,000,000 ACX common shares, as per its October 31st press release. Completion of the transaction is subject to final due diligence by ACX and SGVL.
This latest news represents a new chapter for Ascendant as it diversifies its asset base and gathers momentum in its push to achieve mid-tier production status. Of particular interest are SGVL’s two past-producing copper properties in Arizona.
Emerald Isle is a formerly producing open-pit copper mine located 24 km northwest of Kingman. Infrastructure in the area is excellent on all counts, with water coming from nearby wells. Mine infrastructure also includes a SX/EW (solvent-leach/electrowinning*) plant, some buildings and equipment.
Emerald Isle contains a 43-101-compliant** recoverable mineral resource of 27.5 million lbs Cu. The property has a history of work dating back to 1917, with open-pit production starting in 1943. A final pre-feasibility study conducted by Behre Dolbear reports an expected mine life of 4 years, which is a conservative estimate. The company plans to put the property into production within 12 months in order to produce about 5 million lbs of copper annually. The company estimates costs of around $4 to 5 million in order to put the property back into production.
It is particularly important to note the economic advantage that a SX/EW processing scenario lends to this project. It requires a low capital investment requirement relative to the smelting process, and can be viable even on a small scale. The process has very little environmental impact, as its liquid streams are easily contained, and acids used in the process are eventually neutralized by the host rock itself. Most importantly, SX/EW also allows for the processing of copper oxides, which are very difficult and expensive to smelt. These include mined copper minerals that are in oxidized form, such as azurite, brochantite, chrysocolla and cuprite, as well as residual copper in old mine waste dumps that has been oxidized through exposure to air.
The Zonia property, located south of Prescott, consists of 3,300 acres that produced 33 million lbs Cu from 1966 to 1975 by heap leaching. In 2006, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates (RPA) prepared a NI 43-101 technical report on the property. It outlined an inferred resource of 63 million tons copper averaging 0.37% Cu at a cutoff grade of 0.25% containing an estimated 460 million lbs Cu.
Zonia is also considered a near-term producer. Ascendant plans to update the feasibility study and expand resources through additional drilling while preparing the site for production over the next 24 to 30 months.
The acquisition of SGVL enables Ascendant to build upon its comprehensive copper-moly portfolio. The company is also able to build on a great deal of copper exploration experience, gleaned while working in Ecuador, where it owns two properties: the Chaucha copper-molybdenum in the southwest, and the Junin copper-molybdenum porphyry project in the northwest.
Chaucha has an historic geological resource estimate of 216 million tons, with 2.2 billion lbs Cu and 122 million lbs Mo. Phase III of the drilling program – which involved testing for higher grade, +1% Cu – has recently been completed. Assay results are expected shortly. At the same time, according to the company’s website, Junin has a 43-101 compliant inferred resource estimate of 982 million tonnes, with 19.2 billion lbs copper and 864 lbs molybdenum.
This latest move serves as a bridge to create increased value and cash flow for Ascendant’s shareholders in the near and mid-term future. It also serves to support the advancement of Chaucha and Junin. Recently, Ecuador's President has come out in support of responsible mining, and the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum is laboring to determine how to best advance mineral projects within Ecuador. These new political developments should bode well for the people of Ecuador, for the mining community in general, and for Ascendant in particular.
In the meanwhile, the company will continue to build on its ongoing strategic exploration alliance in Ecuador with Rio Tinto, which gives it access to Rio Tinto’s US$14 million database.
In terms of investor awareness, the agreement with SGVL signals a key entry point for Ascendant’s potential investors in the sense that all the building blocks are now in place to ensure a balanced approach in terms of growth – and profit – at all stages of its development.
*Solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) is a two-stage process that first extracts and upgrades copper ions from low-grade leach solutions into a concentrated electrolyte, and then deposits pure copper onto cathodes using an electrolytic procedure.
**National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and administered by the provincial securities commissions that govern how issuers disclose scientific and technical information about their mineral projects to the public. It covers oral statements as well as written documents and websites. It requires that all disclosure be based on advice by a "qualified person" and in some circumstances that the person be independent of the issuer and the property.
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