Mongolian Resource Play

[Tackler]

Int'l Uranium adds six new areas to Gurvan Saihan JV

2004-07-15 11:29 ET - News Release

Mr. Ron Hochstein reports

IUC ACQUIRES NEW URANIUM PROPERTIES IN MONGOLIA

International Uranium Corp. had added six new uranium exploration areas to the Gurvan Saihan joint venture in Mongolia. International Uranium is the managing director and operator, and holds a 70-per-cent interest in the Mongolia joint venture, with the Mongolian government and a Russian geological concern each holding a 15-per-cent interest.

With the rising uranium spot market, the company moved to capitalize on its local knowledge of prime uranium exploration areas in Mongolia by substantially adding to its property position. Seven new exploration licences, in six separate locales, were recently issued to the joint venture. These licences total approximately 540,000 hectares, which brings the Gurvan Saihan joint venture's total land position in Mongolia to 1.65 million hectares.

All of the new licence areas are located in the Central Gobi region and lie along the same regional belt of sedimentary basins that host significant uranium deposits at the joint venture's Hairhan and Haraat properties. The identified uranium deposits occur in Cretaceous age fluvial and lacustrine sediments derived from weathering of crystalline basement rocks, including granites and metamorphic rocks. Uranium mineralization occurs in sandstones, siltstones, clays and coaley sediments deposited in intermontane basins. The focus of past and planned uranium exploration is for sandstone-hosted deposits that can be mined using the in situ leach (ISL) method.

The joint venture's past work included nearly 150,000 metres of drilling and operation of two ISL pilot tests. The joint venture has identified inferred uranium resources totalling 21,672,000 at 0.052 per cent U3O8 for approximately 8,700 tonnes uranium (22.6 million pounds U3O8). These deposits occur at depths of less than 150 metres, and pilot testing has confirmed that ISL is applicable. The resource estimate was completed by the joint venture prior to the implementation of NI 43-101, however, the company considers this estimate to be relevant and the best existing estimate of the resources.

The areas recently licensed are known to have deposits of the Cretaceous Zuunbayan formation sediments that are the same as the host rocks for uranium deposits at Hairhan and Haraat. Based on past regional geologic work and prospecting work performed in 1998-1999, a number of radiometric anomalies and uranium occurrences have been identified in the new licence areas. The company is preparing plans to initiate exploration in 2004. Initial work will include geologic mapping and gamma spectrometric surveys to locate local anomalies in the host formation. Drilling is presently contemplated for the 2004 work also, and definitive targets and programs will be developed in the coming weeks.