25 March,
2008
MEDIA
RELEASE
URAN FORMS
NEW TUNGSTEN SUBSIDIARY, ACQUIRES FINLEY
BASIN TUNGSTEN PROJECT
________________________________________________________________
International
uranium company Uran Limited (ASX: URA) announced today that it has
formed a new subsidiary to take advantage of non-uranium opportunities it has
been presented with whilst carrying out its core uranium business. The
subsidiary company will initially focus on tungsten projects.
Uran
Exploration Pty Ltd (UEPL), a 100% owned subsidiary of Uran Limited, has
entered into an option agreement to acquire the Finley
Basin tungsten project in Montana, USA.
The project consists of 20 granted mineral claims within the Finley Basin
(previously called Ho Mountain), an area of historical high-grade silver
mining.
UEPL has
entered into an option agreement with Mr Rich McKamy, the current owner of the
mineral claims, whereby UEPL has paid US$10,000 for a three-month option to
carry out due diligence including seeking to locate historic drill records.
UEPL can acquire 100% ownership of the project by payment of US$165,000 plus a
1% net profit royalty to McKamy.
Uran
Managing Director Kate Hobbs said
while the company’s focus remains solidly on advancing its uranium
projects in Europe, particularly the Ukraine, the Board will continue to
review and capitalise on opportunities to acquire new projects which add value
to its shareholders.
“We
have identified a number of low-cost opportunities which could create
significant value for shareholders, given the high prices of certain
commodities such as tungsten. The Montana
tungsten project is a low price entry to a drilled high-grade tungsten project,
and tungsten has surged in price in recent years to about US$25,000 per tonne.
We plan to put together a number of such deposits in the subsidiary.
“We
regard such projects as low-cost high-upside opportunities for shareholders,
but not a diversion from advancing our key uranium projects,” Ms Hobbs
said.
Upon full
acquisition of the project, UEPL will undertake geophysical surveys to identify
further mineralisation at Finley
Basin and carry out
detailed mapping prior to preparing an infill and extension drilling program.
Ms Hobbs
said that if the market improves Uran may look at an IPO to make the tungsten
arm self-funding, whilst providing a benefit to shareholders.
About Finley Basin
Finley Basin project
covers the Ho Mountain tungsten deposit discovered by Union Carbide in the
early 1970’s. Union Carbide drilled ten diamond drill holes at into Ho
Mountain and 13 diamond drill holes at Ho Mountain North, as well as
exploration holes at two other nearby tungsten occurrences.
Drilling by
Union Carbide at Ho Mountain indicated the presence of significant scheelite
mineralisation at an average grade of about 0.7% WO3 at a depth of
about 330 metres. The mineralisation lies in skarns along the contact between
the Mississippian Madison Formation and the underlying granites, although
tungsten was observed in tactites of the overlying Amsden Formation. Drilling
also intercepted an overlying 70-metre thick breccia which outcrops at surface
in places and which contains silver and copper oxides, however Union Carbide
did not routinely assay for gold, silver and base metals. Surface samples from
within the project area have been assayed with the best sample assaying 18.2
oz/ short ton (604 g/tonne) silver, 3.4% copper, 0.79% lead and 2.86% zinc.
Mineralogical
studies carried out for Union Carbide in 1978 indicated that the tungsten
mineralogy should not pose a problem to beneficiation. Tests indicated that the
effective scheelite liberation from the heavy gangue minerals is at least 97%
complete at 90 microns. Scheelite was the only tungsten mineral observed.
Due to low
prices, Union Carbide stopped field work in the late 1970s and the mineral
claims later lapsed until pegged by Mr McKamy.
About
Tungsten
Following
flooding of the tungsten market by China in the 1970s, tungsten prices
fell sharply from about US$175 per metric ton unit (MTU) in 1977 to less than
US$50 in 1986. Prices have risen strongly since about 2002, due to export
restrictions and internal demand in China. Price is currently
about US$250 per MTU, which is equivalent to US$25,000 per tonne.
The major
uses of tungsten are as “hardmetals” or tungsten carbide for tool
manufacture, and in production of hardened steel.
For media enquiries contact
Kate Hobbs
Caroline de Mori
Uran
Limited
Purple Communications
+61 8 9321
3445
+61 8 9485 1254
Issued
by
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Communications
Level
3, 28 Kings Park Road, WEST
PERTH WA 6005
Ph:
08 9485 1254 Fax: 08 6263 0455
purple@purplecom.com.au
