VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 3, 2021 /CNW/ - International Consolidated
Uranium Inc. ("CUR" or the "Company") (TSXV: CUR) is
pleased to announce that it has acquired the Dieter Lake uranium
deposit ("Dieter Lake") in Quebec, Canada. The property consists of
168 claims totaling 8105 ha and was staked in January 2021. In connection with the acquisition,
the Company engaged Jadeite Capital Corp. ("Jadeite") to
provide CUR with services related to evaluating, acquiring, and
managing uranium projects in Quebec,
Canada. Dieter Lake is the first project Jadeite has secured
for CUR.
Key Points:
- Historic Mineral Resources – Based on a 2006 technical
report, Dieter Lake was considered to have a historic inferred
mineral resource of 19.3m tonnes at
an average grade of 0.057% containing 24.4m lbs of U3O8. This mineral resource estimate
is considered to be a historical estimate under National Instrument
43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI
43-101") and is not considered by the Company to be current. See
below under the heading "Historic Mineral Resource Table".
- Pedigreed Past Owners – Dieter Lake was formerly held by
Uranerz Exploration and Mining, Strathmore Minerals Corporation,
Fission Energy Corp. and Denison Mines Corp.
- First Project Acquisition of 2021 – Following on the
heels of an active 2020, the Company now owns outright, or has
agreements to acquire, six uranium projects in Australia, Canada and Argentina.
- On the Ground Expertise – Through its agreement with
Jadeite, CUR is now well positioned to find, acquire and manage
uranium projects in Quebec and
other parts of Canada.
- Proven Mining Jurisdiction with Uranium Endowment –
Quebec ranks highly as a mining
jurisdiction and has seen significant past expenditures on uranium
exploration by both major and junior mining companies.
- Low Acquisition and Holding Costs - Dieter Lake was
acquired by staking and is expected to require modest annual
expenditures to maintain.
Philip Williams, CEO commented
"Todays acquisition highlights CUR's ability to find and execute on
less well-known opportunities in the uranium sector. Quebec, while having a mixed history with
uranium development, is a stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction and
we believe offers asymmetric upside potential over time. As a
standalone project, Dieter Lake has a history of exploration
completed by leading uranium companies and boasts a historic
resource with higher grade and exploration potential. More
importantly, it continues to build critical mass in our portfolio,
particularly in Canada, where we
see additional opportunities going forward. We are also excited
about our partnership with Jadeite who bring tremendous experience
identifying and advancing mining projects in Quebec; we look forward to a prosperous
partnership going forward."
The Dieter Lake Uranium Project
The Dieter Lake Property is located in North-Central Quebec and
occurs within a Lower Proterozoic sedimentary basin, within the
Superior Structural Province of the Precambrian Shield. Between
Hudson Bay and Labrador Trough,
north-central Quebec, are two
east-west trending belts of sedimentary outliers attributed to the
Sakami Formation. The Gayot Lake outlier, which is host to the
uranium mineralization at Dieter Lake, measures approximately 52 km
east-west, by 12 km north-south. Suggested deposit types for the
uranium mineralization at Dieter Lake have included
unconformity-type, black shale type, and syngenetic
stratabound.
Uranium mineralization at Dieter Lake is in the form of
fine-grained, sooty pitchblende within a shale-wacke horizon of the
Sakami Formation. The pitchblende is accompanied by various
sulphides and moderately associated with metallic elements Fe, Cu,
V and Mo. The uranium ore horizon bed has been traced over an
east-west distance of 5 km and is generally 20 to 80 m above the unconformity. It ranges from 0.2
to 3 m thick and has been observed up
to 5 m thick.
Uranerz Exploration and Mining conducted significant exploration
at Dieter Lake in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Extensive mapping
and sampling programs were completed, involving the collection of
rock, soil, lake water, and lake sediment samples. Airborne and
ground geophysical programs were completed; as well as, diamond
drilling, including at least 145 holes. More recently, in 2011,
Fission Energy Corp. completed a 10 hole, 1,781m drill program designed to establish
continuity and expand mineralization where higher grades and
thickness were reported, gain a greater understanding of the
deposit with the intent of building a more predictive geological
model, and determining the dominant mineral deposit type. CUR,
working with Jadeite, plans to collect and analyze available
historical data in order to determine its exploration future plans
for the project.
Historic Mineral Resource Table
The table below sets out the historical mineral resource
estimates for each project CUR currently owns outright or on which
it has announced an option agreement. The mineral resource estimate
for each project is considered to be a "historical estimate" under
NI 43-101 and is not considered by the Company to be current.
Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information contained in this news
release was prepared by Peter
Mullens (FAusIMM), CUR's VP Business Development, who is a
"Qualified Person" (as defined in NI 43-101).
Each of the above estimates are considered to be "historical
estimates" as defined under NI 43-101, and have been sourced as
follows:
- Ben Lomond: dated as of 1982, and reported by Mega Uranium Ltd.
in a company report entitled "Technical Report on the Mining Leases
Covering the Ben Lomond Uranium-Molybdenum Deposit Queensland, Australia" dated July 16, 2005;
- Georgetown/Mauree: dated as of
June 25, 2008, and reported by Mega
Uranium Ltd. in a company report entitled "A Review and Resource
Estimate of the Maureen Uranium-Molybdenum Deposit, North Queensland, Australia Held by Mega
Uranium Ltd." dated June 25,
2008;
- Mountain Lake: dated as of February 15,
2005 and reported by Triex Mineral Corporation in a company
report entitled "Mountain Lake Property Nunavut" dated February 15, 2005;
- Moran Lake: dated as of January 20,
2011 as revised March 10, 2011
and reported by Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. in a
company report entitled "Technical Report on the Central Mineral
Belt (Cmb) Uranium – Vanadium Project, Labrador, Canada" dated January 20, 2011 as revised March 10, 2011;
- Laguna Salada: dated as of May 20,
2011 and reported by U3O8 Corporation in a company report
entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report Laguna Salada Initial Resource
Estimate" dated May 20, 2011;
and
- Dieter Lake: dated 2006 and reported by Fission Energy Corp. in
a company report entitled "Technical Report on the Dieter Lake
Property, Quebec, Canada" dated
October 7, 2011.
In each instance, the historical estimate is reported using the
categories of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as defined by
NI 43-101, but is not considered by the Company to be current. In
each instance, the reliability of the historical estimate is
considered reasonable, but a Qualified Person has not done
sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current
Mineral Resource and the Company is not treating the historical
estimate as a current Mineral Resource. The historical information
provides an indication of the exploration potential of the
properties but may not be representative of expected results.
For Ben Lomond, as disclosed in the above noted technical
report, the historical estimate was prepared by The Australian
Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) using a sectional method. The
parameters used in the selection of the ore intervals were a
minimum true thickness of 0.5 metres and maximum included waste
(true thickness) of 5 metres. Resource zones were outlined on 25
metre sections using groups of intersections, isolated
intersections were not included. The grades from the composites
were area weighted to give the average grade above a threshold of
500 ppm uranium. The area was measured on each 25 metres section to
give the tonnage at a bulk density of 2.603. The Company would need
to conduct an exploration program, including twinning of historical
drill holes in order to verify the Ben Lomond historical estimate
as a current Mineral Resource.
For Georgetown/Maureen, as
disclosed in the above noted technical report, the historical
estimate was prepared by Mining Associates using a block model
estimation methodology. Resource modelling was carried out on a
database comprising 94,810 metres of combined drilling. Using a
variety of estimation techniques, a 5x5x5 metre block model was
constructed. This defined the shallow westward-dipping
mineralization mantos which contain the higher grade zones. The
Company would need to conduct an exploration program, including
twinning of historical drill holes in order to verify the
Georgetown/Mauree historical
estimate as a current Mineral Resource.
For Mountain Lake, as disclosed in the above noted technical
report, the historical estimate was prepared by F.R. Hassard,
B.A.Sc., P. Eng. (Qualified Person) using the polygon method. The
resource estimate was based on a minimum grade of 0.1% U3O8, a
minimum vertical thickness of 1.0 metre. and specific gravity of
2.5. The Company would need to conduct an exploration program,
including twinning of historical drill holes in order to verify the
Mountain Lake historical estimate as a current Mineral
Resource.
For Moran Lake, as disclosed in the above noted technical
report, the historical estimate was prepared by C. Stewart Wallis P. Geo, Barry A. Sparkes, P. Geo., Gary H. Giroux, P. Eng. (Qualified Person) using
three-dimensional block models utilizing ordinary kriging to
interpolate grades into each 10m x
10m x 4m high block. For the purpose of the vanadium
resource estimate, a vanadium specific model was created in the
Upper C rock package above the C Zone thrust fault. The vanadium
model is based on a wireframe solid defining the vanadium
mineralized envelope using an external cut-off of approximately
0.1% V2O5. For the purposes of the estimates, a specific gravity of
2.83 was used. The Company would need to conduct an exploration
program, including twinning of historical drill holes in order to
verify the Moran Lake historical estimate as a current Mineral
Resource.
For Laguna Salada, as disclosed in the above noted technical
report, the historical estimate was prepared by Coffey Mining Pty.
Ltd. using block models utilizing ordinary kriging to interpolate
grades into each 1000m x 1000m x 10m parent
cell. For the purposes of the estimate, bulk density of 1.7t/m³ was
used for Lago Seco and 1.95t/m³ for
Guanaco. The Company would need to conduct an exploration program,
including trenching in order to verify the Laguna Salada historical
estimate as a current Mineral Resource.
For Dieter Lake, as disclosed in the above noted technical
report, the historical estimate was prepared by Davis & Guo
using the Thiessen (Voronoi) polygon method. Data constraints used
were 200 ppm, 500 ppm, and 1000ppm U3O8 over a minimum of 1 metre
thickness. Polygons created had radii of 200 metres. A rock density
of 2.67g/cm3 was used. The Company would need to conduct an
exploration program, including twinning of historical drill holes
in order to verify the Dieter Lake historical estimate as a current
Mineral Resource.
About International Consolidated Uranium
International Consolidated Uranium Inc. (formally, NxGold Ltd.)
is a Vancouver-based exploration
and development company. The Company has entered option agreements
to acquire five uranium projects in Australia, Canada and Argentina each with significant past
expenditures and attractive characteristics for development.
With Mega Uranium Ltd. (TSX: MGA), the Company has the right to
acquire a 100% interest in the Ben Lomond and Georgetown uranium projects in Australia; with IsoEnergy Ltd. (TSXV: ISO),
the right to acquire a 100% interest in the Mountain Lake uranium
project in Nunavut, Canada; with a
private individual, the Company has the right to acquire a 100%
interest in the Moran Lake uranium and vanadium project in
Labrador, Canada, with U3O8 Corp.
(TSXV: UWE.H), the Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest
in the Laguna Salada uranium and vanadium project in Argentina; and the company has acquired the
Dieter Lake project in Quebec,
Canada. The Company entered into the Mountain lake option
agreement with IsoEnergy Ltd. on July 16,
2020, and the transaction remains subject to regulatory
approval, as does the transaction with U3O8 Corp. on the Laguna
Salada Project.
In addition, the Company owns 80% of the Mt. Roe gold project
located in the Pilbara region of Western
Australia and an equity interest in Meliadine Gold Ltd., the
owner of the Kuulu Gold Project (formerlyknown as the Peter Lake
Gold Project) in Nunavut.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking"
Information.
This news release contains "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation.
"Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to,
statements with respect to activities, events or developments that
the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future
including plans to find, acquire and manage additional projects and
the anticipated expenditures to maintain Dieter Lake. Generally,
but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be
identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is
expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts",
"intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation
thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might"
or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative
connotation thereof.
Such forward-looking information and statements are based on
numerous assumptions, including that general business and economic
conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that
financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable
terms, and that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and
governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Company's
planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable
terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the
Company in providing forward-looking information or making
forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management
at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will
prove to be accurate.
Forward-looking information and statements also involve known
and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may
cause actual events or results in future periods to differ
materially from any projections of future events or results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or
statements, including, among others: negative operating cash flow
and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional
financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, reliance on key
management and other personnel, potential downturns in economic
conditions, actual results of exploration activities being
different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based
upon results, and risks generally associated with the mineral
exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and
regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining
governmental or other approvals.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by
forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause
results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can
be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements
will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events
could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or
intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements or information. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking
information as a result of new information or events except as
required by applicable securities laws.
Reader should also be cautioned that where reference is made
to mineralization of adjacent or near-by properties it is not
necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's
Property.
SOURCE International Consolidated Uranium Inc.