Maple inks uranium deal (February 07, 2005)

A takeover agreement between Maple Minerals (MPM-V) and privately owned Uranium Minerals Ventures will bring an option on the Ben Lomond uranium deposit in Queensland, Australia, into Maple’s fold.

Uranium Minerals can buy the Ben Lomond mining leases from Afmeco Mining & Exploration for A$1 million, and has already advanced A$150,000 against the purchase price.

Ben Lomond, about 50 km from Townsville, has a 1982 reserve calculation of 1.9 million tonnes grading 0.25% U3O8 and 0.15% molybdenum, which Maple will have verified by an independent consultant in order to comply with new reserve definitions. Feasibility studies at the time proposed mining three-quarters of the reserve by open-pit methods (stripping ratio: 5 to 1), with the rest mined from underground.

Queensland is among the Australian states whose policy is not to approve new uranium mines.