It looks like Strateco Resources (RSC-T) will be the first company to explore underground for uranium in Quebec now that it’s received permission to begin the process to do so at its Matoush uranium project in the Otish Mountains.
Strateco will also be the first junior company to advance a uranium project to the underground stage in Canada; it hopes to be drilling from the underground by mid-2009.
The company has sent a letter of intent to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Quebec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks, informing them that the company would like to begin the process of obtaining permits needed for planned underground exploration work.
The work will be a part of a feasibility study and would include site preparation, excavation of an access ramp to the 300-metre level and the excavation of exploration drifts for definition drilling.
The company will be able to assess the quantity and processing of mine water, ventilation, mining methods and ore stockpiling.
In the meantime, Strateco plans to drill 50,000 metres at Matoush in 2008 with its $22-million exploration budget. The company expects to put out an updated resource estimate this summer.
Current indicated resources, calculated in 2007, total 201,000 tonnes grading 0.79% U3O8 containing 3.48 million lbs. U3O8.
Inferred resources are estimated at 65,000 tonnes grading 0.43% U3O8 totaling 620,000 lbs. U3O8.
In March 2007, Strateco built a permanent exploration camp that can house 50 people allowing the company to work year-round on the project.
The company also began several environmental baseline studies which will be completed this summer and used in a prefeasibility study that will be released in the fall of 2008.
Initial metallurgical testing has shown that a 98% recovery rate could be achieved and that the ore does not generate acid or contain arsenic.
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