Cameco exploration focus on gold, uranium

Uranium producer Cameco (TSE) plans to match last year’s exploration budget of $10-12 million in 1992, according to The Source, Cameco’s employee newsletter.

While most of the money will be spent in North America, Cameco recently set up an Australian subsidiary to supervise uranium projects in the East Alligator River area of the Northern Territory. Although it could take up to two years to obtain exploration permits, Exploration Vice-President Gerry Pollock is excited about the geological potential of the area. Expansion is also planned for South America, including gold projects in Bolivia and Peru.

Almost half of the budget will be spent on uranium projects, while the remainder will be directed toward gold and diamonds.

“The program this year will be similar to last year’s but the focus will be more on uranium and gold and less on base metals,” says Pollock. About $1.5 million will be used to establish additional reserves at the Contact Lake gold project at La Ronge, Sask. The deposit contains minable reserves of 1.3 million tons grading 0.24 oz. gold per ton. Another $500,000 will finance four gold projects in the Fork Lake-Star Lake area of northern Saskatchewan.

Cameco has nine exploration projects in Eastern Canada, all in northern Ontario and Quebec.

The company is drilling three of the gold properties along the Abitibi greenstone belt, but Pollock says he has no assays to report at this stage. In British Columbia, Cameco plans to continue gold exploration. “There is a good possibility a third field office will be established in central British Columbia in the new year,” Pollock says.

Cameco is meeting with joint venture partner Uranerz Exploration and Mining this month to determine a 1992 diamond exploration program for the Fort a la Corne region of Saskatchewan. Although the 14 kimberlite pipes drilled to date returned uneconomic grades of up to 8 carats per 100 tons, 21 pipes remain to be tested. An economically viable pipe would yield about 30 carats per 100 tons.

Cameco did not participate in the recent staking rush north of Yellowknife, N.W.T., when millions of acres were set aside for exploration after a diamond discovery by joint venture partners Dia Met Minerals (VSE) and BHP-Utah Mines. “We’ve got our own cluster of kimberlite pipes,” explained Pollock.