Canadian firm reports seven-fold increase in uranium discoveries in Guyana

A Canadian-based company said it has discovered uranium in Guyana in large quantities in just over one year of exploration at its Kurupung Project.
In a release, U3O8 Corp President and Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Spencer said: “With this expanded resource from the Kurupung, we have grown our NI 43-101 uranium portfolio nearly seven-fold in just over one year while defining maiden resources of phosphate, vanadium, rare earths and other metals.”
“Positive metallurgical results have also been achieved on all of our projects. 2012 is expected to be another milestone year with the priority on the Berlin Project in Colombia where we can efficiently use our cash to build shareholder value. Key objectives for Berlin are: ongoing drilling to show the size potential of the entire mineralised trend; infill drilling to increase the resource; refine the metallurgical process developed to extract multiple commodities from the ore; and complete a preliminary economic assessment by year-end.”
Uranium is a very heavy metal which can be used as an abundant source of concentrated energy. Uranium occurs in most rocks in concentrations of two to four parts per million, and is as common in the Earth’s crust as tin, tungsten and molybdenum.
Uranium occurs in seawater, and can be recovered from the oceans. The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants. One kilogramme of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about 80 terajoules of energy.
Dr Spencer added, “On the regulatory front, U3O8 Corp benefits from operating in different jurisdictions; and governments continue to be supportive of our projects in Colombia and Guyana. These countries encourage foreign investment as evidenced by Colombia’s free trade agreements with Canada and the USA. Guyana is also working towards free-trade relations with Canada.
“In relation to our Laguna Salada deposit in Chubut Province, Argentina, we are monitoring proposed changes to the provincial mining law. A draft mining law has been tabled for debate in the provincial legislature that proposes a high tax burden on mining projects. We note that uranium is to be considered a strategic commodity, and provisions are contemplated to encourage the development of uranium mines that could fuel Argentina’s growing nuclear power generation capacity.” Mineralisation-as is typical of all the Kurupung structures, uranium in the four Aricheng deposits starts in the near-surface saprolite, or soft clay layer, and extends to a maximum depth of 340 metres (“m”) in hard-rock mineralisation.
The saprolite layer extends from surface to a depth of between 20m and 80m over the project area. Therefore, mining in the Kurupung could potentially use low-cost, open pit methods for extraction of near-surface mineralisation where no blasting is required in the saprolite layer, combined with underground mining of the deeper mineralisation in the stable, granitic host rock.
Uranium in the Aricheng deposits is generally contained in near-vertical shoots in which it is typically concentrated in 200m-long segments of the vein-breccias. The uranium bearing zones are associated with albite, chlorite and hematite alteration. None of the deposits have been completely drilled out and mineralisation is still open at depth and along strike.
U3O8 Corp is a Toronto-based exploration company, focused on exploration and resource expansion of uranium and associated commodities in South America, a promising new frontier for uranium exploration and development.
U3O8 Corp has one of the most advanced portfolios of uranium projects in the region comprising NI 43-101 resources in Guyana, Argentina and Colombia.