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I lowered my average a little today. Best I could do was 12,000 at .0475. I was trying to get it for one cent lower, but no bites. Not sure if this is worth the trouble.
Alpha closed at $4.30 today.
I was told that Canyon Copper had some JV offers from some mid level companies. That should be the way they go, if they still have the offers. If you have assets in the ground, but no funds, look for a partner that has funds and mining experience to do the work, but no good prospects to look for minerals of value.
I think that CNYC has assets in the ground, but no funds to do the work necessary to explore their properties. They know a lot of copper and some gold and silver exist on the Nevada property from previous exploration of the Nevada property by CONOCO. One JV is now operating in California, but not on a large scale. I would think a fair offer to buy or joint venture their properties should have come in by now. JMHO
Looks like all of our management's attention is on Alpha. That's fine if you own a bundle of AMW shares. I asked about ESO Uranium last fall before they hit the jackpot, but was told that the the company's stock was a mess, and a reverse split was coming. The company's name was later changed to Alpha Minerals. So, I didn't get into the budding giant.
Now, CNYC is in the back of the Bus!
Alpha Minerals Hits 53.0m of Radioactivity With 13.89m of "Off-Scale" in a 15 Meter Step-Out Hole at Patterson Lake SouthAMW:
CA AMW 3/11/2013 12:06:24 PMAlpha Minerals Hits 53.0m of Radioactivity With 13.89m of "Off-Scale" in a 15 Meter Step-Out Hole at Patterson Lake South
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 11, 2013) - ALPHA MINERALS INC (TSX VENTURE:AMW) ("Alpha" or "the Company"), and its 50% joint venture partner, Fission Energy Corp are pleased to announce results from 5 additional drill holes, including 3 holes (PLS13-044, 046 and 051) from Zone R390E, located approximately 390m east of the PLS12-022 discovery hole referred to now as Zone R00E on the Patterson Lake (PLS) property. These results have extended the strike length of Zone R390E by 15 m. Additional drilling is ongoing.
Drill holes PLS13-044, 046, and 051 were drilled as offsets to the previously reported PLS13-038 hole (see new release dated Feb. 19th, 2013) in order to determine the orientation and strike of Zone R390E. Zone R390E remains open and additional step-out drilling is now underway along strike.
Zone naming by Alpha has been based on naming a significant line of the Drill Grid by its Easting or Westing along the base line, which intersects what may be a discrete mineralized body, so that the reader may have sense of the distance between zones. A Zone 60E would be 60m east of Zone R00E - A Zone 120W would be 120m west of Zone R00E.
Email I received from Bob Meister today. As usual, he said I could post anything he sends me. The article he mentions contains some information about Alpha Minerals:
Hello,
Back in the office after an incredibly busy couple of days in Toronto. GREAT conference!
Thank you for the email. I actually spoke with Rod Nickel (the journalist) last week and had him speak with Ben, so it's good to see that Ben was at least noted in his article.
The conference was great for us… But with that being said there was a definite cloud about resource stocks from a lot of the bigger players. What people have to realize is that the bad companies or companies that don’t or cant provide quality, proven assets in these markets will probably get pushed down for the near term. This weeding out of poor companies/assets will be a good thing. Capitalism at its best; the strong will survive. The best part is we have great assets for both companies and now a great following.
We will be completing some work on the Nevada property over the coming weeks (not exactly sure of timing because there are some weather factors that may alter the timing). I believe this work will be a great starting point to bring in some of these next potential "interested" parties.
As always, I'll keep you posted.
Talk soon,
Bob
Some information about Ben Ainsworth and Alpha Minerals and what they did in Toronto:
Tue Mar 5, 2013 1:10pm EST
* End of Russia weapons recycling program will cut supply
* New reactors seen boosting demand by 2022
* Some investors waiting to see uranium price recovery
By Rod Nickel
TORONTO, March 5 (Reuters) - After two years of mostly falling stock prices in the uranium sector, triggered by the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear meltdown in Japan, junior miners have become attractive acquisition targets as investors eye more bullish conditions ahead.
The tsunami-triggered meltdown led to reactors being shut in Japan and Germany, and uranium prices tumbled as demand shrank. Uranium is now around $42 a pound, well off the 2011 high of nearly $73, according to producer Cameco Corp.
Some of the uranium sector's dominant players, including Cameco and Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton PLC, added to the gloom by shelving projects.
Still, the uranium sector, well represented at this week's Prospectors & Developers Association Canadian mining convention in Toronto, has seen a dozen deals in the last two years, as depressed valuations create buying opportunities, said Rob Chang, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
That is more than double that in the previous three-year period.
Chang singled out several small companies as attractive investments, including Uranium Participation Corporation, Kivalliq Energy Corp, Energy Fuels Inc and Uranerz Energy Corp.
"Uranium is an area of focus as it is one of the few commodities with a price that is not above its long-term average," Chang wrote to clients recently. Uranium also has "an excellent supply and demand backdrop."
Positive factors for uranium prices and demand include the scheduled end, later this year, of a 20-year-old program that Cameco says converted an estimated 24 million pounds a year of highly enriched uranium from Russian warheads into fuel for reactors.
And at the same time, construction continues on 64 new reactors worldwide that will sharpen demand. Cameco expects a net 91 net new reactors by 2022, pushing consumption up nearly one third to 220 million pounds per year.
DEFT DEALMAKING
Among recent deals, Rio Tinto PLC's takeover of Hathor Exploration last year prompted rival Denison Mines Corp to buy up Fission Energy Corp to gain control of nearby projects, said Fission Chief Executive Dev Randhawa.
The uranium junior mining sector is unique for its steady M&A despite challenging conditions across the broader mining industry, Randhawa said.
A move in January by Russia's state uranium company ARMZ to take Uranium One Inc private is also a sign that the market has likely reached bottom, he said.
Investors have also shown they're still willing at times to plow money into exploration.
Shares of tiny Alpha Minerals Inc jumped sharply after it announced encouraging drill results in November and February at its Patterson Lake South property in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, one of the world's richest uranium areas.
The company, which partners with Fission Energy in the project, also says it's talking with many types of potential investors, including some uranium mining majors.
"We've definitely got their attention," said Chief Executive Officer Ben Ainsworth. "I can't say we've got any hot offers on the table at the moment. It would be a bit early."
Alpha's shares, now worth around C$3.08, are up seven-fold since the first set of drilling results in November.
Short email I received from Bob Meister a few days ago, linking CNYC with Alpha Minerals. It might help get CNYC some attention in Toronto next week at the PDAC. I have Bob's permission to post anything he sends me relating to CNYC:
From: rm@alphaminerals.ca
Sent: 2/26/2013 2:13:15 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: RE: Off Tom Toronto
Hello ,
We Canadians are everywhere! haha.
Wow, sounds like a warm (great) winter down there in Florida.
I'm off to Toronto at the end of the week to attend the big mining and resource convention (PDAC) which is THE mining conference where EVERYONE attends. It's a great event that allows you to speak and meet with everyone in the industry. With Alpha on its winning streak and Canyon Copper priming itself we are looking forward to this year's event.
Talk soon,
Bob
These same two people are also with CNYC. Ben Ainsworth is our CEO. This came out today. It might help CNYC in some way. It can't hurt us:
It's a chip off the old block
Father and son duo on the brink of major discovery in Saskatchewan
By Alan Ferguson, Financial Press February 20, 2013
Four years of painstaking detective work by a young Canadian geologist has helped propel his father's junior exploration company to the brink of a major discovery in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northwestern Saskatchewan.
Garrett Ainsworth, a graduate of London University's prestigious Birkbeck College and a professional geologist, is vice-president of exploration at Alpha Minerals Inc. He was nudged into uranium exploration by his father, Ben, a known name in Canadian mineral exploration.
As a vice-president at Hathor Exploration in 2005, the senior Ainsworth helped steer development of Hathor's massive Roughrider uranium deposit in the Athabasca until Rio Tinto bought the company in 2011 for $642 million.
Not one to stand idle, Ben turned his attention to a promising area around Patterson Lake South, about 70 kilometres from mining giant Areva Canada's former producing mine at Cluff Lake, from which more than 60 million pounds of uranium were extracted.
His son Garrett seized with enthusiasm the first major opportunity of his career and was made project manager.
From 2008 on, he immersed himself in the historical records of the Athabasca Basin and the Patterson Lake South area in particular, spending months poring over old reports and surveys, transcribing and digitizing data.
Garrett gleaned an important first clue from the pages of the Geological Atlas of Saskatchewan, which revealed "some good-looking conductors just to the south of the original joint venture properties."
He was intrigued, and a little puzzled, by a1977 report that he came across. Whoever prepared the report had apparently written off the radon anomalies as due to the presence of "exotic" boulders in the glacial till.
"To me the word 'exotic' meant they thought the boulders came from too far away to be of interest," Garrett says. "But they weren't paying attention to what happened at Cluff Lake. These boulders don't usually travel that far."
The Cluff Lake mine had about seven separate deposits, all of which were traced back from nearby boulder fields.
In 2009, Garrett was able to persuade his father to undertake a spectrometer survey to confirm his theories. If he found a boulder field, it might lead him directly to the uranium mother load.
"The survey showed those radioactive anomalies were uraniferous," Garrett recalls. "You had radon, you had an uraniferous signature, you had a spring nearby with radon and radium, and all of this down-ice from historical conductors. Everything was now fitting together."
Money was still tight, but, says Ben, "eventually we put together a $40,000 budget to get (Garrett) up there. He called me back after his first day out in the bush and he said - very softly because he was standing in a cook shack full of people he didn't want to hear him - 'We did it, dad.' I said, 'What did you do?' and he said, 'We found high-grade boulders.' "
It was a discovery Garrett will long remember.
"On the first day on the survey, we discovered high-grade uranium boulders.
"The first two boulders we found were nothing special. As I walked by a tree, I saw the scintillometer spike up and I did a double-take. I kicked some soil out of the way and put my scintillometer down and it went to 150 counts per second (cps). I dragged my shovel out of my backpack and started digging down. The scintillometer went up to 600 cps, then 1,200, then 5,000. I couldn't believe I was getting such high radioactivity. It went off-scale before I could even see what was causing it. I took the shovel, and with one cut a bunch of black (material) spilled out into the pit I had dug. My first reaction was that it was burnt log, like charcoal, and then I picked some up. I didn't have to look too closely before it registered that what I was holding in my hand was high-grade uranium.
"There was a lot of hooting and hollering. It was incredible. I'd always thought it would be so amazing, to be the first man on the ground finding those boulders."
After the euphoria of discovery, reality returned.
Garrett's boulder-field discovery is among the largest in the Athabasca Basin and the boulders are unusually large and high-grade for the region, with grades assayed up to 40 per cent.
The next question to be answered was: "Where the heck do the boulders come from?"
Early in 2012, the joint venture began a $2.76-million, 33-hole, winter-drill program roughly three kilometres up-ice from the boulder field. In April, the last month of the program, results suggested they were on the right track. One hole returned a bedrock intercept of 19.5 metres, averaging 935 cps, starting just 98 m from the surface, with seven metres averaging above 1,000 cps. Further holes continued to indicate elevated radioactivity.
The next milestone came in November 2012, when the project reported intersecting a six-metre-wide interval of high-grade mineralization at a shallow depth in basement rocks. Assay results included 12.5 m at 2.49-per-cent uranium.
Ben Ainsworth called it "the most significant discovery of new mineralization in the southwest Athabasca Basin area since Cluff Lake and Shea Creek."
This winter, a new drilling program is under way "focusing on the discovery area with a much more detailed drilling pattern," Ben says.
"Two elements are very important for the viability of a mining operation at Patterson Lake South: the shallow depth and the high grade. The infrastructure is good; we've got a highway through the property, electric power not too far away and a population of local people who could benefit."
And he's upbeat about the project: "I think we are close to the source of the boulder field."
And so is his son. "Absolutely, I'm convinced we will find it," Garrett says. "The detective work we've done has got us to where we are now. We have followed a methodical exploration approach and we are continuing to use every tool that we can - every analysis - that will point us in the right direction.
"It's the dream job of any geologist. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here."
Looks like this is CNYC's sister company's PR:
Alpha Minerals Inc. (AMW.V), (the "Company" or "Alpha"), and its Joint Venture partner Fission Energy Corp (FIS.V) are pleased to release additional results from the Patterson Lake, Saskatchewan, core drill program. Hole PLS 13-038, located along the same conductor as adjacent to the Discovery (see News Release Nov 5, 2012), but 385 meters to the East, intersected two high grade zones within an overall Upper Zone of 57.5 meters of strong mineralization and also a Lower Zone of 15.5 meters thickness of intermittent uranium mineralization. Due to the materiality of the most recent drilling of a target 385 meters east of the first discovery area, it was considered appropriate to release this information immediately. Results of delineation drilling west of the first discovery area and drilling in the area of targets on the lake on lines line 90E and 105E will be released shortly when data compiling is completed. An ongoing field program is in progress. Core drilling continues to delineate and define the mineralized region identified during the summer 2012 program. The drill hole location was selected from anomalous results in a recently completed radon survey of lake water. The survey results of note were as follows. RadonEx Exploration Management of Montreal were contracted to conduct a 191 station Lake Water and Sediment Radon survey over Patterson Lake, on strike to the east of the November 2012 discovery area. Station spacing was generally 20m on 60m lines. Of note, 3 broad anomalous area were identified, with values up to 11.4 pCi/L; A)90m x 70m (L165E - L255E) and B) 240m x 140m (L300E 0 L540E). Drill hole PLS13-038 was targeted to test anomaly B. The third anomaly is located approximately 2.2km east of discovery hole PLS13-022 and will be drilled during this program. The higher grade intervals in the drill hole are shown on the attached strip log showing the rock types on the left columns and the gamma counts per second in the solid red area of the strip log. The highest point reading of the high grade was 76,233 cps. The high grade section within the Upper Zone includes: 20 meters from 87 -107 meters down hole greater than 10,000 cps Including: 9 meters from 96 -105 meters down hole greater than 45,000 cps (see Gamma Log attached below) PLS13-038 intersected a thin cap of probable Devonian Sandstone that overlies the semi-pelite gneiss hanging wall constraining an intercalated package of pelite and graphitic pelite gneiss. Occasional pegmatite injections were observed throughout the pelite, graphitic pelite, and semi-pelite units. Strong visible mineralization occurs as flecks, blebs, clots, veins, and semi-massive intervals of pitchblende. Of note, wormhole style mineralization was observed for the first time. Moderate to strong clay, chlorite, and hematite alteration were observed throughout the mineralization. The reader is cautioned that the cps readings are not directly or uniformly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured, and should be used only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive materials. The degree of radioactivity within the mineralized intervals is normally variable and associated with visible pitchblende mineralization. All intersections are down-hole, core interval measurements and true thickness is yet to be determined. The Gamma Log attached below was the result of a radiometric surveyed with the Mount Sopris 2GHF-1000 Triple Gamma probe over the highly radioactive zones. This tool can return more accurate measurements in high grade mineralized zones and samples a larger volume of rock than the hand held scintillometer. Patterson Lake South Property The 31,039 hectare PLS project is a 50%/50% Joint Venture held by Alpha Minerals Inc. (AMW) and Fission Energy Corp. (FIS). Fission is the Operator. PLS is accessible by road via all-weather Highway 955, which runs north to the former Cluff Lake mine, (>60M lbs of U3O8 produced), and passes through the nearby UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 50km to the north, currently under active exploration and development. Updated maps highlighting the successful fall 2012 drill program at PLS can be found on the Company`s website: www.alphaminerals.ca. The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43- 101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Garrett Ainsworth, P.Geo BC, Vice President of Exploration for Alpha Minerals Inc., a qualified person for the Company. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alpha Minerals Inc. "Ben Ainsworth" President, CEO and Director For corporate communications please contact: Robert (Bob) Meister Alpha Minerals Inc.. Vancouver, BC Phone: (604) 629-0293 Toll Free: 1-866-629-U3O8 (8368) either the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Below is an Alpha Minerals message posted today on Stockhouse. The poster thinks that Alpha is being groomed to sell it. Read below:
"This is just my opinion but I believe that AMW which is an exploration company and a junior at that, will not be wanting to put the property into production. I feel that they will want to do the exploration part that is well underway and drill the property up as quickly as one can, building maximum pounds of metal as they can into a resource at PLS along with FIS however they see fit. At some point down the road they would then either do a sit down friendly sale of the assets, providing a hostile bid doesn't happen along the way. Long as the shareholders don't tender their shares prematurely should that occur, all should play out with a positive outcome.
Right now AMW/FIS have made a discovery. It will take time and drilling to prove up pounds inside a 43-101 report and turn them into a resource of size and value that would interest either one of the above scenarios.
Right now it is hang onto your shares time, and let things unfold as they progress.
1. We have a discovery.
2. Next we need pounds inside a 43-101report with reserves of inferred and indicated numbers.
3. Pre Economic Report (PEA)
4. Pre Feasibility study
5. Full bankable Feasibility study if things got that far.
6. Then sell whatever it turned into for maximum dollars.
AMW is in great shape, with a great management team, as well as a great management from their partner FIS as well. Fantastic location, and at a time when things look like the uranium market is about to turn upwards in the price of the metal (U308). Issued and outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis is low and not many warrants over-hanging the market. Good cash position with the ability to raise more when required with management that will do so, at higher and higher escalating prices as the drilling racks up the tonnage in the ore-body(s).
If you are in as a shareholder at this time, stay in, forget about trying to trade it, much too early. If one is not in, get in. This is just my humble opinion and it and a $1.50 or so, will buy you a cup of coffee...........................(I can buy a lot of coffee)
I've been in the uranium sector for a long time, and rode it up from $7.00 a pound shortly after the tech bubble burst. AMW/FIS is a beauty of a project, best of breed if you will in the Athabaska basin with a conductor kms in length, with many many many targets on it with wide-spread alteration, and the discovery is in the basement rocks at the unconformity, right where you want it to be!
If there was a better play taking place I'd be there. There is not imo.
Happy investing.
Cheers.."
Stock Markets are closed in Canada today for "Family Day".
I found this on the internet. It was prepared before Tony Harvey retired at CNYC and Ben Ainsworth became CEO of Canyon Copper. He now operates both Alpha Minerals and Canyon Copper from the same office in Vancouver. I didn't know that. I did know that there was a connection between the two companies. It should be easy for Ben to help his other company, CNYC, by using Alpha's status and connections. Plus some of the money he has made at Alpha. JMHO
Canyon Copper Corp.
Symbol: TSX Venture: CNC
Address: Suite 408, 1199 West Pender Street
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 2R1
Phone: (604) 331-9326
Fax: (604) 684-9365
Email: info@canyoncc.com
Contact: Anthony Harvey, Chairman and CEO
Business:
Canyon Copper Corp. is a resource company with an advanced mineral resource property in Nevada. Canyon's New York Canyon Property is located in the New York Canyon area of the Santa Fe Mining District, Mineral County, Nevada. The project hosts oxide and sulphide copper bearing mineralization outlined by historical operators. The most advanced of these zones is the Longshot Ridge copper oxide deposit.
Alpha Minerals Inc.
Symbol: TSX Venture: AMW
Address: Suite 408, 1199 West Pender Street
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 2R1
Phone: (604) 629-0293 / 1(866) 629-0293
Fax: (604) 684-9365
Email: info@esouranium.com
Contact: Ben Ainsworth, President
Business:
Alpha Minerals Inc. is a junior mineral exploration company with strategically selected gold, lithium, borax and uranium properties in North America. The Company's major proejects include: i) Athaabasca Basin Properties: Cluff, Patterson Lake, Hook, and Cree, that totals over 225,000 acres. The Athabasca Basin located in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada is the world’s most important uranium producing district, which accounts for approximately 20% of global primary uranium supply. ii) Mikwam Gold Property in North Eastern Ontario, Canada, totaling approximately 2,400 acres within the western extension of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone. iii) Donna Gold Property in British Columbia, Canada, totaling approximately 5,370 acres. The property is located in the Monashee Mountains. The property lies in the headwaters of the famous Kettle River Gold Placer Camp.
Don't forget that the new Chairman of the Board at Alpha Minerals has a copper property near our large Nevada properties. Ben Ainsworth is the Alpha CEO, plus CNYC's CEO. Expect some interaction between these two companies. These two fellows work together.
Alpha Minerals has shot up from 40 cents a share to over $3.00 a share in two months. Maybe more by now. Hitch your wagon to a star.
Interesting Story About Alpha Minerals:
Financial Press: Canadian Company Hits It Big: A New Beginning For Uranium
6:06AM ET on Thursday Feb 14, 2013 by Accesswire
Four years' of painstaking detective work by a young Canadian geologist has helped propel his father's junior exploration company to the brink of a major discovery in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northwestern Saskatchewan.
Garrett Ainsworth, a graduate of London University's prestigious Birkbeck College and a Professional Geologist, is currently Vice-President of Exploration at Alpha Minerals Inc.(TSX-V: AMW). He was nudged into uranium exploration by his father, Ben Ainsworth, a known name in Canadian mineral exploration.
As a Vice-President at Hathor Exploration in 2005, the senior Ainsworth helped steer development of Hathor's massive Roughrider uranium deposit in the Athabasca until Rio Tinto bought the company in 2011 for $642 million.
Not one to stand idle, Ben turned his attention to a promising area around Patterson Lake South, about 70 kms from mining giant Areva Canada's former producing mine at Cluff Lake, from which more than 60 million lbs. of uranium were extracted.
Ben Ainsworth's company, initially called ESO Uranium, negotiated a Joint Venture (JV) with Fission Energy in 2008 to explore their adjoining claims at Patterson Lake South, which shared a common geophysical anomaly.
"We both had done aerial surveys, and some ground work, and we thought it would be a good idea to put that into a 50-50 joint venture," says Ben.
His son Garrett seized with enthusiasm the first major opportunity of his career and was made Project Manager.
From 2008 on, he immersed himself in the historical records of the Athabasca Basin and the Patterson Lake South area in particular, spending months poring over old reports and surveys, transcribing and digitizing data.
Garrett gleaned an important first clue from the pages of the Geological Atlas of Saskatchewan, which revealed "some good-looking conductors just to the south of the original Joint Venture properties."
With a friend, Garrett staked claims on three blocks for the JV. As they cut the claim lines, they came upon a spring tainted with what looked like iron sludge. Analyses showed there was radon and radium in the red mud — uranium indicators.
Further historical research turned up a report done in 1977 that showed a radon anomaly on the JV property, 1.2 kms by 1.6 kms. "It stood out on the page," says Garrett. "It got me pretty excited when I saw that."
He was intrigued, and a little puzzled, that whoever prepared the report had apparently written off the radon anomalies as due to the presence of "exotic" boulders in the glacial till.
"To me the word 'exotic' meant they thought the boulders came from too far away to be of interest," says Garrett. "But they weren't paying attention to what happened at Cluff Lake. These boulders don't usually travel that far."
The Cluff Lake mine had about seven separate deposits, all of which were traced back from nearby boulder fields.
In 2009, Garrett was able to persuade his father to undertake a spectrometer survey to confirm his theories. If he found a boulder field, it might lead him directly to the uranium mother lode.
Ben Ainsworth recalls: "The survey resulted in a map showing some singular events that appeared to be due to uranium sources. This map sat on Garrett's wall for two years and he kept saying: "I've gotta get up there."
Adds his son: "The survey showed those radioactive anomalies were uraniferous. You had radon, you had an uraniferous signature, you had a spring nearby with radon and radium, and all of this down-ice from historical conductors. Everything was now fitting together."
Money was still tight, but, says Ben, "eventually we put together a $40,000 budget to get (Garrett) up there. He called me back after his first day out in the bush and he said — very softly because he was standing in a cook shack full of people he didn't want to hear him — 'We did it, dad.' I said, 'What did you do?' and he said, 'We found high-grade boulders."
It was a discovery Garrett will long remember.
"It was supposed to be my last field job, because times were pretty tough and I'd agreed to sign a contract to work with another company. Then, on the first day on the survey, we discovered high-grade uranium boulders.
"The first two boulders we found were nothing special. As I walked by a tree, I saw the scintillometer spike up and I did a double take. I kicked some soil out of the way and put my scintillometer down and it went to 150 counts per second (cps). I dragged my shovel out of my backpack and started digging down. The scintillometer went up to 600 cps, then 1,200, then 5,000. I couldn't believe I was getting such high radioactivity. It went off scale before I could even see what was causing it. I took the shovel, and with one cut a bunch of black (stuff) spilled out into the pit I had dug. My first reaction was that it was burnt log, like charcoal, and then I picked some up. I didn't have to look too closely before it registered that what I was holding in my hand was high-grade uranium.
"There was a lot of hooting and hollering. It was incredible. I'd always thought it would be so amazing, to be the first man on the ground finding those boulders."
After the euphoria, reality returned.
Garrett's boulder field discovery is among the largest in the Athabasca basin and the boulders are unusually large and high-grade for the region. Twenty-five boulders had grades of more than 10 percent uranium and the highest grade assayed at 39.6 percent. The largest boulder, more than 40 cm long, came in at 25.7 percent.
However, "One of the problems with these radioactive boulders is that they stand out like a bright light in the middle of a dark sky," says Ben Ainsworth, Alpha's President and CEO. "They get your attention very strongly, but in between the boulders you have nothing. If you average out all the material, it's more than likely you would find that there was not enough uranium to make it worth mining.
The next question to be answered was: "Where the heck do the boulders come from?"
For Garrett, finding the boulders meant he would now be more than ever committed to Patterson Lake South. "I went from being in the office maybe 80 percent of the time, to being in the field 80 percent of the time," he said.
Early in 2012, the JV began a $2.76-million, 33-hole winter drill program roughly 3 kms up-ice from the boulder field. In April, the last month of the program, results suggested they were on the right track. One hole returned a bedrock intercept of 19.5 metres, averaging 935 cps, starting just 98 metres from surface, with seven metres averaging above 1,000 cps. Further holes continued to indicate elevated radioactivity.
The next milestone came in November 2012, when the project reported intersecting a six-metre wide interval of high-grade mineralization at shallow depth in basement rocks. Assay results included 12.5 metres at 2.49 percent uranium.
Ben Ainsworth called it "the most significant discovery of new mineralization in the southwest Athabasca Basin area since Cluff Lake and Shea Creek" and he credited "good science and the hard work of an exploration team and its contractors who pushed their limits to get here."
This winter, a new drilling program is underway "focusing on the discovery area with a much more detailed drilling pattern." Results from the first two holes of the Winter 2013 program, released Feb. 7, revealed near-surface, high-grade uranium mineralization. One hole reported a 37-metre wide interval of well-developed mineralization; the second a similarly well-developed mineralization at a 21-metre interval.
Says Ainsworth Snr: "Two elements are very important for the viability of a mining operation at Patterson Lake South: the shallow depth and the high grade. The infrastructure is good; we've got a highway through the property, electric power not too far away and a population of local people who could benefit."
And he's upbeat about the project: "I think we are close to the source of the boulder field."
And so is his son.
"Absolutely, I'm convinced we will find it," says Garrett. "The detective work we've done has got us to where we are now. We have followed a methodical exploration approach and we are continuing to use every tool that we can — every analysis — that will point us in the right direction.
"It's the dream job of any geologist. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here."
.
The story below is about our CEO Ben Ainsworth and his son, Garrett Ainsworth's work on Ben's company, Alpha Minerals, the very hot new stock darling:
Financial Press: Canadian Company Hits It Big: A New Beginning For Uranium- 02/14/2013
14 hours ago by Accesswire
Four years' of painstaking detective work by a young Canadian geologist has helped propel his father's junior exploration company to the brink of a major discovery in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northwestern Saskatchewan.
Garrett Ainsworth, a graduate of London University's prestigious Birkbeck College and a Professional Geologist, is currently Vice-President of Exploration at Alpha Minerals Inc.(TSX-V: AMW). He was nudged into uranium exploration by his father, Ben Ainsworth, a known name in Canadian mineral exploration.
As a Vice-President at Hathor Exploration in 2005, the senior Ainsworth helped steer development of Hathor's massive Roughrider uranium deposit in the Athabasca until Rio Tinto bought the company in 2011 for $642 million.
Not one to stand idle, Ben turned his attention to a promising area around Patterson Lake South, about 70 kms from mining giant Areva Canada's former producing mine at Cluff Lake, from which more than 60 million lbs. of uranium were extracted.
Ben Ainsworth's company, initially called ESO Uranium, negotiated a Joint Venture (JV) with Fission Energy in 2008 to explore their adjoining claims at Patterson Lake South, which shared a common geophysical anomaly.
"We both had done aerial surveys, and some ground work, and we thought it would be a good idea to put that into a 50-50 joint venture," says Ben.
His son Garrett seized with enthusiasm the first major opportunity of his career and was made Project Manager.
From 2008 on, he immersed himself in the historical records of the Athabasca Basin and the Patterson Lake South area in particular, spending months poring over old reports and surveys, transcribing and digitizing data.
Garrett gleaned an important first clue from the pages of the Geological Atlas of Saskatchewan, which revealed "some good-looking conductors just to the south of the original Joint Venture properties."
For what it's worth, Alpha Minerals was up to $2.87 today. It is like a skyrocket. We need to keep as close to them as possible.
After talking to CNYC's IR man, Bob Meister, yesterday, I think CNYC is close to making a breakthrough. Their JV partner is working out well and they will soon have some good news to release. I don't know what it is, but Bob was very upbeat.
A big conference in Toronto is coming up over the weekend or next week, and CNYC expects to get some solid connections with other companies, to put the rest of their properties to work.
Looks like we both took care of our ignore problems.
I talked to my friend today and was going to send you his information, but my PM page said you either had me on ignore or I had you on ignore. I checked my ignore list, which has nobody on it, not you, not anyone. Check your ignore list so I can send you an important PM. I don't want it posted on the board. Just a PM. Thanks!
Notice that pmunch's posts #4254 and 4266 show that Sandfield Resources was formed in Las Vegas two years ago and doesn't appear to be active or trading. Their only real asset is their earlier JV with Goldrea Resources, dated 12/17/2010. Goldrea Resources is a pink sheet company trading at about 2 cents.
The strange thing about this JV with Goldrea, is that it is just about a copy of the JV recently announced with CNYC. Who is backing our CFO with the cash, if any is really involved, and what experience do they have with mining. I thought our JV offers were supposed to be from mid level companies. Not a pink sheet wanna be. Looks like a way to bleed the assets out of CNYC. JMHO
Where is Sandfield Resources, CNYC CFO's company, getting all the money to make these offers? With the JV with CNYC, this is a lot of money. Looks like the same kind of deal they made with CNYC. I notice that most of this information is already posted here, but nothing about where the funds come from.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 12/17/10) - Larry W. Reaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Goldrea Resources Corp. (TSX-V:GOR - News)(PINK SHEETS:GORAF - News)(Frankfurt:GOJ - News) ("Goldrea" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Company has entered into an Option Agreement dated December 9, 2010 with Sandfield Resources (USA) Inc and Sandfield Resources Ltd. ("Sandfield") whereby Sandfield can acquire 60% of the rights, title and interest of Goldrea in Gold Rush and contiguous Gold Chain claims located in Mohave County, Arizona by making cash payments, issuing shares and incurring exploration over a three year period.The Gold Rush property currently has a historical resource in excess of (i)40,000 ounces of gold, (1.3 million tons of 1.03 g/t Au) (0.032 oz/ton gold) which was delineated by Western States the previous operator. This gold resource occupies a prominent detachment fault within Precambrian rocks, which are overlain by silicified, brecciated, volcanic dome features of Tertiary Age.The Gold Rush Claims straddle the Roadside Detachment Fault and trend northward toward the Company's Gold Chain property, which is situated approximately one mile to the north, and which is also located upon the same "detachment structure". Anaconda postulated a historical resource of 3.2 million tons of 0.482 g/t Au (0.015 oz/ton Au) (i)(48,000 oz) may be present. The Gold Chain resource is open in all directions. The Gold Chain estimate was based upon surface and underground samples and intercepts from four drill holes. Intercepts range from 35 feet of 0.064 oz/ton gold to 195 feet of 0.010 oz/ton gold.(i) Where historical estimates are referred to, the Company has no classification of the resource or reserve, and the Company has not obtained enough of the original data and has not done the work necessary to verify the classification of a resource or reserve. The Company is not treating the estimates as a NI 43-101 defined resource or reserve verified by a Qualified Person and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.The transaction is subject to finders' fees which will be paid in accordance with the TSX Venture Exchange policies.About Sandfield Resources Ltd.:Sandfield Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company that is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in North America.About Goldrea Resources Corp.:Goldrea Resources Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company that is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in North American and China.Financing:Further to the Company's news release dated October 21, 2010, the Company expects to receive final documentation on the proposed $16.5 million financing before year end.GOLDREA RESOURCES CORP.Larry W. Reaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Probably selling their remaining property. Maybe we can get even.
We need to get tied to that Alpha skyrocket.
They need to do something like they are doing with Alpha. Try a small reverse split, like 1-4 or 1-5 and give us a warrant with a very good exchange rate.
And issue some very good news!
Our sister company, Alpha Minerals, closed at $2.80 today. It keeps on moving up! 475,000 shares of Alpha traded today. Only about 17 million shares outstanding. They had a reverse split in a few months ago.
I don't think a reverse split would hurt CNYC. We would still own the same percentage of the company that we now do. A better chance for the stock to take off then. I'm all for it.
With everything that CNYC has going for them now, I'm surprised that the price hasn't gone up some.
Their sister company, Alpha Minerals has the same CEO and CFO that we do. They have shot up from below 20 cents to about $2.00 in the past month and a half. CNYC should get going soon.
I would think they would just buy a shell and go from there. Don't want a lot of shares showing up later, however. Canada might operate shells in a different way than the US. I don't know.
I noticed 177,000+ shares have been traded this morning and early afternoon. I was surprised at the larger block trades made. Maybe the crew has arrived after a long winter nap. If the action stays heavy, it has to go up. Nobody was buying big blocks the last week or so, at the same price. Some of this group might be from the recent Investors Conference in Vancouver.
Trading is in such small dribbles that just a few bucks can raise the stock's price very fast. But, that's good!
The trade that raised the stock's price 50% was 500 shares at about 7 cents a share. Total investment was about $35.
I would think that all this good infornation would make a great Press Release for CNYC.
Not pumping the stock, just state the facts. We just need a little push to get rolling.
From Alpha Minerals web site. They are also into gold, as well as uranium. No reason a gold, copper JV wouldn't work with them:
Alpha Minerals Inc. has approximately 240,000 acres of prospective Uranium and Gold claims distributed throughout North America.
¦ATHABASCA BASIN PROPERTIES: Patterson Lake South, Cluff, Hook, and Cree, that totals over 225,000 acres.The Athabasca Basin located in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada is the world’s most important uranium producing district, which accounts for approximately 20% of global primary uranium supply.
¦MIKWAM GOLD PROPERTY in North Eastern Ontario, Canada, totaling approximately 2,400 acres within the western extension of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone.
¦DONNA GOLD PROPERTY in British Columbia, Canada, totaling approximately 5,370 acres. The property is located in the Monashee Mountains. The property lies in the headwaters of the famous Kettle River Gold Placer Camp. A very large clusters of anomalous Gold and pathfinder elements was identified draining the area in Government geochemical surveys..
ESO Uranium is Alpha Minerals. Kurt Bordian is CFO of CNYC and Alpha Minerals. Ben, our CEO is also CEO of Alpha Minerals. With all this connection between these companies, I'm sure it will help us in the long run. Perhaps some sort of JV's. When two of your top officials are also top officials at one of the fastest growing resource companies, Alpha Minerals, a uranium company, you should prosper, not wilt. They have therir nose into gold property, also. How could it not help CNYC with our top two officers having the same positions at Alpha. CEO and CFO. Some of those connections have to rub off.
Kurt Bordian is head of the company that just signed a JV with CNYC. Don't you believe more is coming, since we have vast resource property in the New York Canyon project? Our stock price today should be a lot higher if these two gentlemen do what they have done before. Make a company grow! JMHO
"ESO Uranium Corp. welcomes Kurt Bordian as Chief Financial Officer
VANCOUVER, Nov. 14 /CNW/ - ESO Uranium Corp. ("ESO" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Kurt Bordian to the position of Chief Financial Officer."
I hope that after two years sitting, the drills will still operate.
We might have to take a pick and shovel to Nevada ourselves, and help out. I wouldn't know gold in the rough if I hit the mother lode.
I always have a hard time finding any Canadian stock information. A lot of the US business reports don't include small Canadian companies or their Press Releases.
I had a hard time finding Alpha Minerials' web site.
For those who were not here last year or have forgotten the details, this was just called to my attention by "Sweetpepperjam". It's from a mid 2012 CNYC Press Release:
Canyon Copper Corp. ("Canyon" "Company") (TSX-V: CNC) (OTCBB: CNYC) has carried out a preliminary rock sampling program on copper skarn mineralization located on its New York Canyon Property, Mineral County Nevada (1293 claims with an area of approximately 66.000 hectares or 26,000 acres).
Significant gold and silver assays were returned from rock samples over 3 km belt of of skarn deposits.
Copper skarn belt includes Copper Queen-Ideal Mine, Champion Mines, Longshot Ridge Resource Area, and the New York Canyon Basin.
Gold grades up to 0.5 g/t and silver grades up to 74 g/t (approximately 2 oz/st).
One other thing that Bob told me about The New York Canyon Project was that some gold has been found there. He didn't say how much gold was found, and he had told me that I could post anything he told me. None of it was inside information.
All of this is very good information. Copper is the real mineral they are after unless they find more gold than expected. The last part is common sense, not Bob's comment.
Bob Meister told me that anything he tells me is not Inside Information. I had told him that I was afraid some of his information might be inside information. He said it never is and never will be inside information. A very nice fellow on our side. He is a very large stockholder, as most of us are!
He said that I could post it on IHUB if I wanted. Anything he tells any stockholder they can post as it's public information, as of the time he tells them.
Just talked to Bob Meister by phone. He was upbeat after the recent geology and investors' conferences in Vancouver. He said Ben was at a table with Rio Tinto.
He said they have been very busy recently, putting together deals for CNYC, JV and otherwise.
A very nice fellow to talk to. He said he would keep us up to date on expected dealings by CNYC.
Sounds very positive about CNYC's future!
They just got approval from the TSX, late today, for the recent JV deal and financial portions of that deal.
You got some interesting good news. Thanks!
Below is from Alpha Minerals web site. I didn't know Ben is now the President of Alpha and another person is now Chairman. Not sure if the Chairman means Chairman of the Board. Ben Ainsworth is still listed as CEO, Chief Exectutive Officer. Not the same position. Ben may be able to do more CNYC work now. The Alpha info is below:
Alpha Minerals Appoints Dr. Michael Gunning As Chairman
Vancouver, Canada, January 9th, 2013: Alpha Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: AMW), (the “Company” or “Alpha”), is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Gunning as chairman of the board of directors. Currently Dr. Gunning is serving as a director and lead technical adviser, in support of advancing the company's recent discovery at Patterson Lake, Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan. With the appointment, the company announces the granting of 50,000 incentive stock options under its incentive stock option plan to Dr. Gunning. The options are exercisable at $1.77 for a period of five years from the date of grant. All options are subject to a four-month hold period and are granted in accordance with the terms of the Company's stock option plan.
Ben Ainsworth, President, CEO comments: “We are extremely pleased to name Dr. Gunning as our Chairman. Michael’s proven and effective management has lead to numerous successes, last seen at Hathor Exploration.”
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alpha Minerals Inc.
“Ben Ainsworth”
President, CEO and Director
For corporate communications please contact:
Robert (Bob) Meister
Alpha Minerals Inc..
Vancouver, BC
Phone: (604) 629-0293
Toll Free: 1-866-629-0293
CNYC should be 40 cents right now. It's needs promotion by the company. They need to get Alpha Minerals, our sister company, involved.
They could work out a deal with Alpha offering CNYC a small bit of cash and warrants for CNYC shareholders to buy Alpha about 50 cents above its current price. One CNYC share for one Alpha warrant. I don't know what Alpha is selling for now, but a one year warrant to buy Alpha at $2.55, if Alpha is currently $2.05, would probably sell in the open market for 25 cents. Alpha is not risking anything, except dilution. After two years, the warrant price would go to $3.50 for another two years. They would get all of the remaining assets of CNYC for the small cash price and the warrants. Enough cash to keep CNYC going for about two years. Alpha could then later spin CNYC off, if they wanted to. Or, they could just sell the remaining assets of CNYC. Then buy back all the warrants for about $1.00. Or a reasonable price agreed to by both parties in advance. Just an idea to help CNYC move.
Remember both companies have the same Management, including the same CEO.