The Coso project, including 169 Federal mining claims and 800 state-owned acres, was previously developed by Western Nuclear, Pioneer Resources, Federal Resources and Union Pacific Mining/Rocky Mountain Energy.
An estimated $20m was spent on exploration and development of the project, including an engineered pit design, where exploration records indicate 5.5 million lbs of uranium was identified with an average grade of 0.07 U3O8. American Energy Fields is currently developing an exploration plan to confirm the historic data with the goal of moving the project towards production, the company said.
The Blythe project consists of 66 Federal mining claims in Riverside County, California, covering three historic mines, the Safranek, the McCoy Wash, and the Little Ore Hill operated by Humbug Mining and Bokum Corporation.
According to Bokum’s records during the years of 1963 to 1964, the Safranek mine produced and shipped 1,400 tons of uranium ore averaging 0.80% U308 to the VCA mill in Salt Lake City, Utah for processing. These records also indicate the Safranek site currently contains 100 tons at 0.40% U3O8 and 4,000 tons at 0.30% U3O8 of stockpiled ore, while the McCoy Wash has 3,000 tons of stockpiled ore with a grade of 0.20% U3O8.
Bokum drilled the property in the early 1970s and the results indicated approximately 153,000 lbs of U3O8 while outlining a further potential for an additional 2,000,000 lbs of U3O8. American Energy Fields aims to identify, expand and develop the ore body with the goal of putting the past producing mines back into production.
