Blue Sky Uranium has said that the initial results from aircore drilling on its ANIT uranium-vanadium project in Rio Negro Province, Argentina confirm the existence of a surficial uranium-vanadium mineralized paleochannel.
Blue Sky has completed 97 drill holes for 2463mtof a planned 200 hole, 5,000mt drilling program. Drilling to date has been within or adjacent to the western 3.5km of the 15km long airborne U channel anomaly in the ANIT West areas.
Of 51 holes reported 40 holes intersected mineralization above cut-off grade. The best intercept to date averaged 4mt thickness at 0.108% U3O8 and 0.125% V2O5. The weighted average of intervals from all 40 mineralized drill holes was 2.73mt thickness at 0.03% U3O8 and 0.096% V2O5.
In five holes that were re-drilled the average grade for uranium increased by 46% and the vanadium grades increased by 109% .The results reported above are from the 40 original drill holes, and do not included the re-drilled holes.
Twinning of the holes and critical evaluation of sample results has lead Blue Sky’s technical team to the conclusion that the current drilling method has not optimally sampled the semi to unconsolidated sediment-hosted mineralization, and a larger diameter drill hole or bulk sampling combined with measures to mitigate loss of fine material from samples may significantly increase the grades.
Previously announced trench results from the ANIT West and Central areas returned a weighted average of mineralized intervals from all three trenches was 847mt grading 0.043% U3O8 and 0.104% V2O5, indicating a potential drill recovery issue.
The company said that it has identified the technical issues regarding the drill sample recovery and is taking the required steps to resolve it. The aircore drill rig is currently being modified to use larger diameter HQ drill rods to increase the sample size and modifying the recovery system.
The drilling program is expected to recommence within the next 10 days. Further Blue Sky is in the process of filing for an extension to our environmental permits to allow for an additional 20,000mt drilling and expansion of its pitting and trenching activity on the ANIT project.