Ucore Uranium Confirms Significant Rare Earth Presence at Geoduck Zone, Expands Confirmed Bokan Mineralized Area
Date: February 5, 2009
(Halifax, N.S., February 5, 2009) Ucore Uranium Inc. (TSX-V:UCU) is pleased to announce the discovery of light and heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE’s) at a remote high priority target to the southeast of Bokan Mountain. Based on newly obtained assays, the Geoduck Zone, on the south side of Kendrick Bay, has now been confirmed as a structural extension of previously explored mineralization. Results indicate that the known area of mineralization now extends at least two kilometres to the southeast of the I&L Zone, adjacent to the former Ross Adams uranium mine. The newly obtained assays support Ucore’s geological model for Bokan, in combination with an extensive 1989 U.S. Bureau of Mines study, both of which predict progressively more significant HREE values stepping away from the intrusive complex and the former Ross Adams mine and across Kendrick Bay to the southeast.
Hole LM08-46, located in the Geoduck Zone, was drilled at a -45o angle to a total depth of 59.74 meters. Significant mineralization was identified over a 1.2 meter intercept between the depths of 18.62 to 19.82 meters. Assays of this interval are as follows:
|
Metal
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ppm
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Est. Lbs./ton
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Yttrium (Y)
|
3160
|
6.3
|
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Light REE (LREE)
|
5737
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11.5
|
|
Heavy REE (HREE)
|
1701
|
3.4
|
|
Total REE (TREE)
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10598
|
21.2
|
|
Zirconium (Zr)
|
3768
|
7.5
|
|
Niobium (Nb)
|
515
|
1.0
|
LREE = light rare earth elements as metal: La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm
HREE = heavy rare earth elements as metal: Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu
TREE = LREE + HREE + Y
“These results reinforce Bokan’s potential as a prospective multi-metals deposit,” said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore. “To date, Ucore has assembled a 100% owned coherent claim package covering all of the known prospective ground, expanded the mineralization at the I&L zone, investigated the high grade uranium mineralization at the former Ross Adams uranium mine, and identified new zones of uranium-REE mineralization over a wide area. What’s more, our most recent step-out holes for 2008, commencing at the I&L and moving southeastward to previously untested ground, have uncovered high grades of exceedingly valuable, high-demand HREE’s, in addition to the known uranium. During a short 18 months of renewed exploration at Bokan, the story has quickly expanded from uranium only, to a diversified suite of high value, high grade technology metals. Our near term goal will be to delineate the outer limits of the structural extensions of Bokan mineralization, which remain open and which we now believe to span several square kilometers to the south, west and north of the former mine.”
The term “rare earth elements” refers to the 15 metallic elements of the lanthanoid series, plus yttrium, which are characterized by similar physical and chemical properties. International demand for REE’s, particularly heavy REE’s, has escalated markedly in recent years, with current worldwide production originating primarily within Asia. As the world’s primary producer of HREE’s, China has recently instituted limits to the exportable quantities of these critically important high technology metals, many of which trade between $100 and $1000 per pound on North American markets. The USGS has acknowledged the increasing importance of the HREE suite to the United States’ military-industrial complex, and the risk associated with supply sources outside of U.S. control.
Bokan’s enrichment in heavy REE’s is a relative rarity among North American REE deposits, which skew towards the comparatively less valuable light REE’s. A 1989 U.S. Bureau of Mines report on Rare Earth Elements at Bokan Mountain (Warner, J.D. and Barker, J.C. 1989; Columbium and rare earth-bearing deposits at Bokan Mountain, Southeast Alaska. U. S. Bureau of Mines, Open File Report 33-89, p.196) documented the potential at Bokan for substantial deposits of Beryllium (Be), Niobium (Nb), Zirconium (Zr), as well as the 15 metals which constitute the REE group. During the 2008 field season, Ucore’s completion of Hole LM08-46 at the Geoduck Zone helps to confirm mineralization along a previously untested structure over two kilometres long.
Among the REE elements identified in Hole LM08-46 is the presence of significant concentrations of the metal Dysprosium (Dy; 497 ppm across 1.2 m). Dysprosium is used in making laser materials, control rods in nuclear reactors, and in various data storage applications (such as compact discs). Neodymium-iron-boron magnets can have up to 6% of the neodymium substituted with dysprosium to raise the coercivity for demanding applications such as drive motors for hybrid electric vehicles. This substitution would require up to 100 grams of dysprosium per hybrid vehicle. Based on automotive leader Toyota Motor Corporation’s near-term projected two million hybrid units per year, the consumption of dysprosium is predicted to quickly exhaust its available supply.
Other significant components of the REE suite in Hole LM08-46 are Erbium (Er; 314 ppm across 1.2 m) and Ytterbium (Yb; 223 ppm across 1.2 m). Among Erbium's increasing uses are applications in photographic filters, and nuclear technologies in the fabrication of neutron-absorbing control rods. When added to vanadium as an alloy, erbium lowers hardness and improves workability. Erbium oxide is used as a colorant for glass, porcelain and in the production of cubic zirconia. Additionally, Erbium is used in optical communications and lasers. Ytterbium is used as an X-ray source for portable machines, as an additive to stainless steels, in ceramic capacitors, and as an industrial catalyst.
Demand for REE’s has increased most prominently within the past 24 months, with Asian sources supplying most of the world’s alternative energy and energy-efficient applications. International car manufacturers are a primary target industry, and have now entered the REE supply chain, securing long-term sources to ensure availability of raw materials for increasingly high-tech and energy efficient car models. More details on individual elements are available on the Bokan project page of Ucore’s web site. NI 43-101 Compliance
Diamond drill core was split on site, with half the core transported by commercial freight carriers to the Activation Laboratories analytical facility in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. As part of a rigorous QA/QC program, blanks, standards, and duplicates were inserted into the sample train in the field and in the laboratory. Analyses were by a combination of inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence. Reported values are length-weighted averages from multiple samples as ppm metal. Insufficient structural information is available to make a conclusive statement on the relationship between true width and core intercept. Harmen Keyser, P.Geol. (NWT), Ucore’s Vice President of Project Development and a qualified person in accordance with NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release. Plan maps showing drill hole locations and a table showing complete assay results have been posted on Ucore’s web site.
Stock Options
Ucore also advises that 150,000 options have been granted to an officer of Ucore. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.30 per share and expire after five years from the date of grant. Options will vest 25% on the first anniversary of the grant and in 25% increments every six months thereafter until fully vested.
Background
Ucore Uranium Inc. is a junior exploration company focused on establishing uranium resources through exploration and property acquisition. With more than ten projects, Ucore’s primary focus is the Bokan Mountain uranium and rare earth element property in southeast Alaska. The Bokan Mountain project contains Alaska’s only prior producing uranium mine. The Ross Adams Zone at Bokan produced 1.3 million pounds of U3O8 at an average grade of 0.76% between 1957 and 1971. These were among the highest average grades ever recorded by a U.S. based uranium mine.
REE mineralization at Bokan Mountain is hosted in a complex system of felsic dikes radial to a zoned, peralkaline, granite intrusive known as the Bokan Mountain Intrusive. Most of the uranium mineralization in the area is characterized by multiple, steeply dipping, uraniferous quartz-pegmatite veins localized by radial fractures near the margin of the Complex, while most of the REE mineralization is more distal in more than 30 known occurrences.
Ucore Uranium owns a 100% interest in 512 Federal lode mining claims at Bokan Mountain, subject to NSR’s ranging from 1% to 4% payable on less than 20% of the total mineral claims. Bokan Mountain is located on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska, with excellent deep water access and proximity to major sea and rail shipping routes across North America and to Asia.
For more information, please visit our website: www.ucoreuranium.com . For specific information relative to REE’s, their valuations, and their applications, websites such as www.periodic.lanl.gov, , www.elementsales.com , www.theanchorhouse.com, www.chemicool.com, and www.usgs.gov publish information of use to educational institutions, business, and industry.
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