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UraniumCore Company Projects UraniumCore Company has optioned four properties from Rodinia Minerals and two properties from Universal Uranium for the purpose of further evaluating their potential to produce economic grade uranium. Four of these
With the subsequent decline in the price of uranium, activity in the area was completely shut down until the late 1970’s. At that time, Wyoming Mineral Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Westinghouse, blanket staked the area and embarked on an intensive exploration and development program. This program identified the Workman Creek deposit as their primary focus. Their work included drilling 432 holes, geological mapping, geochemistry, metallurgical testing, designing a mining plan, and commissioning Dravos Engineers and Contractors (“Dravos”) to complete a feasibility report, at a total estimated cost of US$10 Million. The Dravos geo-statistical estimate of reserves encompassing both open pit and underground mining was 4.4 million tons containing 9.8 million pounds of U308 with an average grade of 0.11% and a cutoff of 0.05%. The further development of the Workman Creek project remains Rodinia Minerals primary focus. Oak Creek and Coon Creek The Oak Creek and Coon Creek properties comprise two of the eight other anomalies identified by the Westinghouse work program. The two properties are of particular interest because they are very close together and show signs of Uranium very near surface. Documentation of historical data is mostly lacking, however prior drill activity is evident. A February, 2006 report done by Dr. Joe Montgomery for Rodinia Minerals indicates that the host quartzite lithology appears to be less that several hundred feet from the surface. A total of 287 grid soil samples were collected returning 69 uranium values exceeding 1ppm, including 8 assays ranging from 2.05 ppm to a high of 7.53 ppm of Uranium. Dr. Montgomery states that elevated Uranium levels in the soil samples appeared to cluster over grid distances of 250 to 350 meters. Further mapping and rock chip sampling, as well as scintillometer surveying and radon gas detection studies are recommended prior to prioritizing possible future drill targets. Pendleton Mesa The Pendleton Mesa property has very little historical data to work from but is a property of significant interest because of the high background radioactivity detected over a large surface area of the property. These radioactivity showings are extremely interesting as they occur despite some 600 feet of overburden present on the mesa. Data from earlier exploration activity does include detailed mapping of uranium mineralization outcropping immediately west of Pendleton Mesa. Suckerite The Suckerite property lies roughly one mile west of the Workman Creek North deposit, where it crosses Workman Creek as a north-south trending narrow strand. Previous workings access ore near creek level, and total about 500 feet of exposed mineralization. The Suckerite property has produced ore grade Uranium in the past. Production was limited but the ore grades averaged .23% Uranium, which should prove to be economically viable given the present price of Uranium. Examination of the underground workings found that the majority of the development work was from winzes that would have extracted ore at or below creek level. A grid with line spacing of 50 meters and stationing on 25 meter centers has been established with both soil geochemistry and a scintillometer survey testing an area approximately 800 meters long and 250 meters wide. Results of the soil sampling and radiometric work are now being compiled and plotted. Marshall Pass Property In the 1950’s the Lookout Uranium mine, located within the Marshall pass claim blocks, mined 514 tons of ore grading 1.17% uranium, which produced 13,500 pounds of uranium. The Marshall Pass Property is considered a favorable exploration target to host another mine similar to the nearby Pitch Mine, which produced 104,520 tons of ore with an average grade of 0.58% U308. Jamestown Property The Jamestown claims cover the past producing Fairday Uranium Mine, which produced 182,679 lbs of U3O8 with an average grade of 0.44% from a tertiary vein system. These claims are considered favorable exploration targets to discover a deposit similar to the Schwartzwalder Mine, Colorado's largest uranium mine, which produced in excess of 10.5 million pounds of U308 from six veins. UraniumCore believes there is potential to discover additional vein systems similar to those previously discovered in the area. Technical Background
Most of the work conducted by Westinghouse was concentrated on or around the Workman Creek deposit and by the time they abandoned the property in 1981 because of the collapse of uranium prices, very little work had been performed on other targets—in particular, on the eight other significant radiometric anomalies that were identified. All of these anomalies are within a 10 mile radius of the Workman Creek deposit. |
The four properties in Arizona were first discovered as part of a 1955 United States Atomic Energy Commission study that conducted an airborne radiometric survey over Gila County, Arizona and discovered 20 radiometric anomalies, nine of which were considered significant. This prompted a massive staking rush which resulted in the discovery of 46 known uranium deposits in the area. 
Joe Montgomery PhD., the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 has authored a report conforming to NI 43-101 and in it he describes the Workman Creek deposit as stratiform and lying within the Dripping Spring Quartzite, a unit of the Upper Precambrian Apache Group. Mineralization is present mainly in the upper siltstone member of the Dripping Spring Quartzite. This uranium bearing unit is in excess of ten miles in length. Controls of mineralization aside from the stratigraphic control, are north-trending faults and monoclinal folding and contact with a complex system of dykes and sills. A technical report completed in 1979 stated that authigenic uraninite and coffinite (primary uranium minerals) were subject to thermal metamorphism caused by intrusions of diabase. This caused recrystallization, oxidation, and remobilization of the uranium minerals near the intrusive contact. Metallurgical studies conducted by Westinghouse indicated that leaching recovery was in the neighborhood of 94% and in their feasibility report Dravos noted that by implementing conventional mining methods including underground and open pit, and by building a $12 million mill site, the internal rate of return (IRR) was calculated at 86% with U308 at US$22/pound. With In Situ leaching (ISL), the cut-off grade would drop and the IRR would increase as long as recovery rates remained constant. Early indications are that the deposit will be amenable to In Situ Leaching.