In late January, the director of the company Cameco Corp. on advanced research challenged the audience at Vancouver & Mineral Exploration Roundup, discussing the geology and especially the size of its company’s uranium deposit. Drill-oriented resources are estimated at 449,000 tons with a uranium oxide content of 4.63%. Additional tonnage is less than 1.81%, but still deserves a respectable assessment for each (one percent of uranium oxide is reported to be comparable to about 50 g of gold). Due to the sharp rise in uranium prices, this amount of deposits may sometime, possibly exceed $ 2.4 billion. USA.
“The geological setting of the Kay Lake Road shift zone is very similar to the Millennium field,” said Dr. Bohan Tan in an interview with StockInterview. “The Kay Lake Road shift zone is located in the same north-northeast structural trend as the Millennium Field.” Cameco exploration promotion director (NYSE: CCJ) Charles Roy called the Millennium uranium deposit "the most significant new discovery of infrastructure in more than 30 years." The news reports say that the Millennium Discovery may contain a resource of 57 million pounds of uranium oxide. The Millennium deposit is located north of the former first-class Key Lake uranium mine and south of the two highest-level uranium deposits in the world, the MacArthur River and Cigar Lake.
So why does Dr. Tang evaluate the project for a relatively early stage of research against one of the most recent and highly profitable uranium deposits in the world? Most junior companies exploring the Athabasca Basin in Canada, or, for that matter, some junior mining company, are unwarrantedly optimistic about their property prospects for a large, often newly discovered, world-class mine. Too often, such “proximity” (“We are approaching a large deposit so that we can find an elephant too), comparisons are deceptive and misleading. Attention should be paid to a highly regarded geologist-geologist, such as Boen Tan.
Dr. Tang was a geologist at the Uranerz Uranium Prospecting Project at Klyuchevoy Lake in the early 1970s. His exploration work led to the discovery of the Gertner deposit (1975) and the Deilmann deposit (1976) in the area of Kluchevoe Lake. According to a recent article by the Northern Miner: “Only after the discovery of the Deilman and Gertner deposits in Kay Lake was the first time that the model of the uranium deposit of true disagreement was recognized.
Dr. Tang also led the definition of drilling these two fields until 1978. According to the Uranium Information Center, Key Lake produced about 15 percent of world uranium. Over the long career of Dr. Tan, he was also fortunate enough to evaluate some of the world's largest uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, formerly owned by Uranje. These include deposits of Klyuchevoy Lake, deposits of Lakes Rabbit (including Orel Point, A-, B- and C-Zone, and deposits of the McArthur River).
Comparison between the Lake Lake City project and
Cameco Corp. in the uranium hall
When asked about his opinion on the Key Lake Road Forum development project, in which Dr. Tan is the chief geologist: "We have the correct lithology, the right structure and, in addition, we have uranium mineralization." Dr. Tang was impressed with the amount of uranium mineralization scattered by graphitic metapelites. “Very rarely do you find there so much uranium mineralization,” he explained. Again, he compared this with exploration around the Lake Klyuchevoye deposit, where he noted: “Graphite metapelites on the wall of the limestone of the Lake Kluchevoye deposit had up to 4,000 ppm of uranium.” This is an optimistic sign in preparation for the summer drilling program.
Let's look at the geological comparisons of Dr. Tan with the help of the giant Cameco uranium deposit and research, which he surpasses for the Development Forum key lake development project.
1. The eastern Athabasca Basin consists of Archean granitoid gneisses and Paleoproterozoic metaseismic rocks. Dr. Tan wrote: "Both the lower Proterozoic rocks and Archean granitoid rocks occur in the KLR shift zone in a similar geological setting (along the north-south structural direction) as the Millennium field."
2. The main uranium zone of the Millennium is found in the pelitic semi-lititic stratigraphic assembly of gneisses and shale. Responding to a question about drilling targets at the Key Lake Road project, Dr. Tan answered: “The targets are in a pelitic stratigraphic assembly at a depth that includes the same graphite pelitic gneiss and calc-silicate, which contain uranium mineralization millennia. "
3. Geophysical studies of Cameco showed the presence of significant resistivity, weakly centered on the mineralization of uranium. Dr. Tan explained: “The forum conducted an onboard VTEM (electromagnetic survey) and several parallel EM-conductors over 40 kilometers long. Radiometric reconnaissance was carried out last year and several uranium artifacts (from 0.1 to more than 5 percent of uranium) were found in graphite metapelites, calc silicates and pegmatites along this 40-kilometer conducting trend. ”
4. The Millennium Deposit has extensive hydrothermal changes over lithology. Mineralization of uranium was associated with dark chlorite and illite and with a distal halo, which included sericite. Dr. Tang remarked: “In the Kaye Lake Road area, we observed a moderate change in clay in broken and brecciated calcium silicates and pelitic gneiss, which appear to be chlorite and sericite, meta-pelites were obtained from drilling cores . The project of the Forum is scheduled for drilling this winter, Dr. Tan said: “In the area of Lake Codigan, the change in clay in the pelitic gneiss was crossed into several holes. One borehole crossed the mineralization of uranium with 0.43% U3O8 in 0.36 m of clay, modified by graphite pelitic gneiss. "
5. Millennium Mineral Ore consists of a resin blende with less coffeate and uraninite. Dr. Tang discussed comparative mineralogy, saying: "We found uraninites in calcium silicates, which are found as fine-grained dissolved grains and as nuggets up to 2 centimeters in diameter (more than 5 percent of uranium)." Fine-grained uranium mineralization (up to 0.6 percent) U), found in broken graphite meta-pelite, appears to be the secondary mineral of uranium. “In the Molly Zone on Lake Lake Road, Dr. Tan noted:“ Uranium mineralization was found within calcium silicates and pegmatites along the shear zone. Calcium silicates contained up to 5 percent uranium with visible resin. He also noted that at the project of the Forum “Maurice Point”, which the company can conduct in 2007, “the search engine found a 100-by-10-meter mineralization zone with uranium mineralization from 1 to 7 percent of uranium in the outcrop.”
6. Finally, Dr. Tan explained: “Because all the inconsistencies in the Athabasca uranium deposits, such as the millennium, Lake Key and MacArthur, always contain a lot of boron. This indicates a process of hydrothermal diagenetic ore formation. Tan said: “The beach area in the Maurice Point project has high boron elements. In addition to good uranium classes, yes, this is a special thing. Because it is typical of the hydrothermal uranium deposit in Atabask, for example, at Klyuchevoy Lake. This is a good indication, such as tracking element. "
Evaluation of the prospects for the development of the Forum
As with any early exploration project, additional drilling helps determine the potential of the property. Many of Dr. Tang’s assessments, although valid, require the drilling of the most promising targets. To a question about which questions the drilling of the Key Lake Road project can answer, Dr. Tan replied: “If uranium is deposited under hot water, in a hydrothermal environment of about 300 degrees, if you don’t see uranium while drilling, you want see rock changes, tracker's geochemistry, boron, and elevated uranium. " He also pointed out the most obvious answer that you want to see during the workout program: "What you want to see while drilling is to see some uranium."
Some of them may doubtfully think about the method of a reliable approach to drilling in the framework of the Forum Development Corp. The company plans to drill holes from 150 to 200 meters deep, rather than 700 meters, usually drilled in the Athabasca basin. Forum Chief Executive Rick Mazur, who is also a geologist, saw the positive side of this philosophy, calling its research model “unique” (which it is). He added: “The Key Lake project was a concept in which we were looking for near or surface mineralization. We acquired land outside the erosive context of the Athabasca sandstone, where we believe that precipitation in the basements could be found on or near the surface. "
Expensive drilling in the Athabasca basin can break any bank of junior uranium exploration. Funding for these drilling programs may run into the millions. The study may take years. Investors should note that deep drilling on hundreds of meters of overburden can quickly deplete a company's budget. Mazur explained: “Fortunately, we are enough for the stone to be exposed on the surface and not to be covered from 400 to 800 meters of the Athabasca sandstone.” What is the advantage of the Forum for small-scale drilling? “We can go there and with a very cost-effective geological mapping and exploration program, assess areas of our property where uranium mineralization has already been discarded in detail,” concluded Mazur.
David Scott, a geological analyst at eResearch, published a speculative purchase recommendation at Forum Development Corporation (TSX: FDC) in October 2005 and wrote that the company “has an excellent management and advisory team with many years of experience in the pool. and quickly moved on to their research. " eResearch has set a 12-month target price of $ 0.60 per share for FDC with a potential target price of $ 0.90 per share “if the company continues to get good results in the Athabasca pool.”
The analyst repeated the recommendation for a speculative purchase on February 13 with a target price of $ 0.60 per share. Analysis based on investment opinion and price target, comparing the development of the Forum with the companies of the younger uranium group of “peers”. The assessment was achieved on this price target, comparing the development of the Forum in terms of (a) uranium exploration companies of a similar size and (b) uranium exploration companies with properties next to the Forum’s development. FDC shares traded between C $ 0.40 and C $ 0.50 per share in February.
Snapshot: Dr. Boen Tan
Dr. Boen Tan is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan and has over twenty five years of experience in uranium exploration. Dr. Tan joined the German private company Uranerz in 1969 and after several years working as a geologist in Germany and Australia, he moved to Canada in 1973 as a senior geologist and project manager for Uranerz Exploration & Mining Ltd. (UEM), conducting uranium exploration in the Athabasca Basin.
Dr. Tang was instrumental in the discovery of the Key Lake uranium deposit and the development of a key lake mine that produced 195 million pounds of U3O8 at 2.5% during the fifteen year mine life from 1983 to 1997. After developing Key Lake, Dr. Tan continued to monitor UEM's uranium exploration and drilling programs in the Athabasca Basin, including regional exploration in the Great Lake region. Dr. Tan oversaw exploration and diamond drilling of UEM joint ventures with the Cameco Corporation on the MacArthur River, Maurice Bay, the Millennium and Rabbit Lake fields, until all uranium property and project interests were sold to Cameco in 1998
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