A total of 1,090 trenches have been excavated to determine the extent of the mineralized layer, which occurs from surface down to a maximum depth of 3m in unconsolidated sandy gravel.
The average thickness of the mineralized layer is 0.9m at average uranium and vanadium grades of 155 parts per million (ppm) U3O8 and 842ppm V2O5 respectively at a cut-off grade of 50ppm U3O8.
Mineralization at Laguna Salada is contained in two flat-topped mesas that are about 10m higher than the surrounding plain.
Carnotite, the principal uranium-vanadium mineral at Laguna Salada, occurs as a powdery filling between the sand grains in the gravel and also as a partial rim on pebbles.
Tests done at the time of sampling suggest that dry sieving through a quarter-inch mesh may provide a simple and inexpensive means of augmenting the uranium and vanadium grade of the sand.
Exploration at Laguna Salada has been mainly through mechanized trenching since the unconsolidated nature of the gravel renders conventional diamond, aircore or reverse circulation drilling an ineffective means of sampling.
The areas that have been trenched at nominal 400m by 400m spacing are being in-filled to nominal 200m by 200m spacing in preparation for the NI 43-101 resource estimation planned for completion by the end of the year.
The Laguna Salada Project is located in Chubut Province of Argentina, where an open-pit mining ban is currently in effect.
Draft legislation is under review in the provincial legislature, which proposes that mining carried out in an environmentally and socially responsible manner be allowed in the central, semi-desert plain of the region.
