Uran is a part of its option and joint venture agreement with Uranium Energy. The Armijo and F33 zones include nine prior-producing uranium mines from the previous production cycle (the previous Section 30 mines, Dalco, Barbara J No. 1, Flat Top, Section 9 Mines, Section 4 Mines, F33, Tom 13 and the Lone Pine Mines – according to “Geology and mineral technology of the Grants uranium region 1979,” New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources, Memoir 38, 1980, the “Source”).
The Grants Ridge Project originally consisted of 4,260 acres in the central part of the Grants Mineral Belt, and has grown to about 5,620 acres during the first five months of the agreement. The parties have added the north half of Section 9, covering about 320 acres that include the prior-producing Section 9 Mines, plus the Ricks claims covering an additional 1,040 acres that are on trend to the northwest.
The exploration program is targeting the Todilto Limestone, which hosts numerous prior underground and open-pit mines with grades ranging from 0.18% – 0.38% U3O8, with an average mined grade of 0.20% U3O8. Known mineralization is in fairly flat-lying stratigraphic units, at depths ranging from surface at Armijo to approximately 500 feet at the prior F33 mine (the Source referenced above). The Todilto Limestone underlies the more heavily explored Morrison Formation.
At the Armijo site, Uran plans to conduct 10,800 feet of core drilling based on approximate 400 x 400-foot spacing. Drilling depth is a maximum 50 feet, a potentially significant advantage of this prospective area. If the results of this drilling are successful, Uran plans to conduct an additional 9,800 feet of drilling in 2010 which, if successful, may then allow the Project to establish defined mineralization for this area later next year.
At the F33 site, Uran plans to conduct about 6,500 feet of reverse-circulation drilling, with a further 7,200 feet planned for 2010 which, if successful, may then also allow the Project to establish defined mineralization for this area in 2010.
Uran can earn a 65% interest in the Grants Ridge Project from Uranium Energy over a five-year option period by completing a feasibility study and making certain payments of cash and shares as detailed in the joint-venture announcement release dated March 17, 2009.
Since initiation of the option, and in addition to expanding the size and scope of the Project, Uran has completed radiometric traverses on previously mined areas of Armijo and F33 to establish existing radiometric background levels for providing a baseline for future permitting and reclamation. Metallurgical studies regarding the amenability of heap leaching have been initiated and will be ongoing through 2010.
The Grants Ridge Uranium Project is in the Grants Mineral Belt, in the southeastern part of the Ambrosia Lake uranium region approximately 70 miles west of Albuquerque. According to the Source referenced in the second paragraph above, the Grants Belt produced over 340 million pounds of U3O8 prior to 1986 and was the largest producing uranium field in US during the previous production cycle in the 1960s and 1970s.
