Vancouver – The first of a series of resource estimates for the San Rafael property in Utah showed that Magnum Uranium (MM-V) is exploring an interesting property in an historic uranium district.
The Down Yonder deposit sits in the southern end of the 6,000-acre San Rafael property, which hosts seven historic uranium deposits. Magnum is working with a large bank of historical drill data to recalculate all resource estimates to National Instrument 43-101 standards, while also drilling to expand that resource base.
The new calculation for Down Yonder estimated the deposit hosts 199,100 indicated tons grading 0.183% U3O8 and 292,900 inferred tons grading 0.185% U3O8, for 1.8 million lbs. contained U3O8. The estimate is based on 32 historic drill holes drilled between 1960 and the mid-1980s, mostly by Conoco, which is now ConocoPhillips (COP-N). The mining major drilled more than 150 holes in Down Yonder area.
Mineralization on the Down Yonder deposit is typical of peneconcordant, channel-controlled trend-type mineralization hosted in upper Salt Wash Member sandstone.
Down Yonder is, to date, the largest drill-tested resource at San Rafael, but it only accounts for 10% of the property. Updated resource estimates for the other six zones on the property are expected in the near future. In addition, Magnum has had some success finding new zones of uranium mineralization, such as the Jackrabbit and North Jackrabbit zones.
Magnum defined the Jackrabbit zone in its first phase of drilling at San Rafael in early 2007, returning intercepts like 2 metres grading 0.9% U3O8 in hole SR-3 and 1.5 metres grading 0.212% U3O8 in hole SR-13. The northeast-trending high-grade zone is outlined along an 800-metre strike length, still open.
In the company’s phase II drill program later in the year, six drills hit mineralization to define the new North Jackrabbit zone. Hole SR-9 returned 1.2 metres grading 0.448% U3O8 from 151 metres depth; hole SR-10 hit 0.9 metres grading 0.176% U3O8 from 154 metres below surface.
Another nine holes in the phase II program expanded the western half of the Deep Gold deposit, which was discovered in the early 1980s. Magnum cut 1.2 metres of 0.47% U3O8 from 244 metres depth in hole SR-15, 1.2 metres grading 0.356% U3O8 from 252 metres down hole SR-27, and 1.2 metres of 0.161% U3O8 from 255 metres depth in hole SR-25.
The San Rafael property sits 16 km west of Green River in east-central Utah. The western section of the property covers the core of the historic San Rafael uranium district. During the second half of the 1900s the San Rafael District produced some 4 million pounds of uranium and 5.4 million pounds of vanadium, by conventional underground methods.
In mid-February Magnum completed its earn-in obligations for San Raphael. According to its joint venture agreement with Energy Metals, a subsidiary of Uranium One (UUU-T), Magnum earned a 65% interest by spending US$1 million on exploration and issuing 600,000 shares, and did so three years ahead of schedule. Magnum then exercised a secondary option to earn an additional 15% interest in the project by issuing an additional 250,000 shares.
Magnum holds 11 exploration-stage uranium properties in the western United States: five in Utah, four in Wyoming, and one each in Idaho and New Mexico. The junior also owns a 416,000-acre property in the Athabasca Basin, 75 km northwest of the operating uranium mines at McClean Lake and Rabbit Lake.
News of the resource estimate boosted Magnum’s share price only 2 in March 25 trading, to close at 64. The company has a 52-week trading range of 35 to $1.47 and has 28.2 million shares issued.
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