UEX Corporation (UEX:TSX) (“UEX” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company is currently evaluating opportunities to enhance shareholder value through its 100% owned West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect located on the Hidden Bay Project, immediately east of the West Bear Uranium Deposit (“WBU Deposit”).
The West Bear Co-Ni Prospect was discovered by the Company during the exploration programs that defined, evaluated and tested the area surrounding the WBU Deposit between 2002 and 2005.
UEX believes that the surging demand for cobalt driven by the rapidly growing electric car industry provides the Company with strategic alternatives to enhance value for our shareholders through this asset.
The West Bear Co-Ni Prospect assays compare favorably to the grades of other global and North American cobalt deposits. The highest-grade assay sample obtained during the 2002-2005 UEX drill programs was from hole WBE-019 that returned 9.94% cobalt and 2.97% nickel over a core length of 0.2 m between 33.8 m and 34.0 m (see UEX News Release dated April 22, 2002 filed on SEDAR.ca).
Impressive cobalt and nickel grades were also returned from historical UEX holes WBE-079 which assayed 3.95% Co and 2.36% Ni over 4.45 m from 60.65 to 65.10 m and WBE-071 that assayed 2.15% Co and 0.91% Ni over 8.4 m from 45.1 to 53.5 m.
Table 1 – Select Co-Ni Intersections – West Bear Co-Ni Prospect
Cobalt-nickel mineralization has been found in three locations in the West Bear area to date. Of prime interest is the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect, a body of what appears to be continuous cobalt-nickel mineralization covering an area at least 175 m long and extending down-dip at least 75 m and ranging between 15 to 55 m depth immediately east of the WBU Deposit. The West Bear Co-Ni Prospect is open for expansion in all directions and does not contain uranium mineralization.
Cobalt-nickel mineralization is also known to extend down-dip of the WBU Deposit, and is also present in lower concentrations within the WBU Deposit itself.
UEX believes that the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect could have significant potential advantages:
- High Grades
- Cobalt grades of several of UEX’s holes compare favorably to the grades of many global and North American deposits
- Open-Pit Amenable
- Open In All Directions For Expansion
- Historical Focus on Unconformity Uranium Targets Avoided Co-Ni Opportunities
- Historical drill holes did not test the clay-altered host fault structure down-dip from the unconformity, the host environment for the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect.
- Several historical holes reported shiny metallic minerals within clay-altered graphitic pelite that were not assayed for cobalt or nickel. These same clay-altered graphitic pelites containing visible metallic minerals comprise the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect.
- Mining Friendly Location
- Located in Saskatchewan, the world’s most attractive mining investment jurisdiction according to the Fraser Institute’s 2016 Survey of Mining Companies.
- Potential North American Cobalt Source
- Could help alleviate current cobalt supply chain security concerns.
In the coming weeks, the Company will be investigating strategic alternatives to unlock value of the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect for our shareholders.
Meanwhile, UEX will continue to focus exploration efforts on growing uranium resources at Ōrora and along the Yalowega Trend at our Christie Lake Project. The Company remains on track to issue the first NI 43-101 resource estimate of the Paul Bay, Ken Pen, and Ōrora Deposits prior to year-end.
Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX’s President and CEO who is considered to be a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About UEX
UEX (TSX:UEX, OTC:UEXCF.PK, UXO.F) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in fourteen uranium projects, including three that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (“AREVA”) that is 90.1% owned by UEX and is under option to and operated by ALX Uranium, as well as eight joint ventures with AREVA, one joint venture with AREVA and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by AREVA, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX. The fourteen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world’s richest uranium belt, which in 2015 accounted for approximately 22% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project (located 50 km north of Fission’s Triple R Deposit and Patterson Lake South Project, and NexGen’s Arrow Deposit) the Horseshoe and Raven deposits located on its 100%-owned Horseshoe-Raven Development Project and the West Bear Uranium Deposit located at its 100%-owned Hidden Bay Project.
Source: UEX Corporation
