MPM acquires Patagonia Uranium projectMaple Minerals acquires permits in for possible uranium
Maple Minerals Corp (TSX-V:MPM)
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Thursday May 19 2005 - News Release
Mr. L.M. Falzone reports
MAPLE ACQUIRES PATAGONIA URANIUM PROJECT, CHUBUT PROVINCE, ARGENTINA
Maple Minerals Corp. has acquired 16 exploration permits (cateos), totalling 1,443 square kilometres, over ground with uranium-discovery potential in the central part of Chubut province in southern Argentina (the Patagonia uranium project). The exploration permits cover numerous radiometric anomalies detected in airborne surveys conducted in the 1960s and late 1970s in the Mesozoic San Jorge Gulf basin by the Commission Nacional de Energia Atomica de Argentina (CNEA: the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina).
The bulk of the radiometric anomalies detected in the CNEA surveys occur within sediments and volcaniclastics at three separate stratigraphic levels in the Cretaceous Chubut Group, respectively in the Los Adobes formation (fluvial sandstones and conglomerates with abundant organic material), Cerro Barcino formation (tuffs) and Puesto Manuel Arce formation (fluvial sandstones). Additional anomalies have been detected over caliche occurrences in Tertiary sediments in the eastern part of the basin. The exploration permits acquired by Maple contain radiometric anomalies at all three uraniferous stratigraphic levels within the Chubut Group.
Due to financing constraints and other issues, the CNEA has undertaken only limited follow-up of the radiometric anomalies in the San Jorge Gulf basin. Only four prospects have been investigated by drilling. In the 1970s, drilling of the Los Adobes and Cerro Condor prospects in the Los Adobes formation delineated small uranium resources which were briefly exploited in open cut operations. In 1978, the Sierra Cuadrada prospect in the Puesto Manuel Arce Formation was investigated by shallow drilling to less than 200 metres depth. In 1979, drilling of the Los Adobes formation in the vicinity of the Los Adobes and Cerro Condor deposits resulted in the discovery of the Cerro Solo deposit and the subsequent delineation of a uranium resource based on 410 drill holes.
A prefeasibility study of Cerro Solo was undertaken by Nuclear Assurance Corporation International on behalf of the CNEA in 1997. The study concluded that an open cut/underground mining operation would be economically viable, based on mineable reserves at an average grade of 0.3 per cent U(3)O(8), containing a recoverable uranium content of 4,670 tonnes (10.3 million pounds) U(3)O(8). In addition, the study reported that the deposit contains an average grade of 0.3 per cent molybdenum.
In 1999, the CNEA solicited bids for the deposit in an international tender, but in March, 2001, it was announced that none of the proposals received were acceptable. Two of Maple's exploration permits, located adjacent to, and immediately east of, CNEA claims over the deposit, contain untested radiometric anomalies on the eastward projection of the trend of the host rocks to the Cerro Solo mineralization, and offer potential for the discovery of economic uranium mineralization in both the Cerro Barcino and Los Adobes formations.
Access to the project area is obtained by sealed road from the coastal town and provincial capital of Rawson (population 30,000), located 330 kilometres to the east. The exploration permits are very favourably located for exploration activities as they are situated in easily accessible, flat-lying, sparsely vegetated ground at low elevation (below 600 metres). Climatic conditions permit exploration work throughout the year apart from the winter months of June and July when there can be heavy snow falls. The only population centre of any significance in the area is the village of Paso de Indios (population 2,000).
Maple will now proceed to a detailed review of previous exploration data on the radiometric anomalies with a view to prioritizing targets that can be advanced to the drilling stage.
Maple has retained Argentinian geologists with considerable uranium exploration experience to manage its ground acquisition program. Other Maple applications for exploration permits over uranium targets are being processed by the relevant authorities in the province of Cordoba.
"We are very happy to have had the opportunity to acquire the Patagonia property," stated Gino Falzone, Maple's president. "The Patagonia acquisition is yet another step in Maple's endeavour to become a significant worldwide uranium player."
Stewart Taylor, Maple's vice-president, international operations, is acting as the qualified person for the Patagonia uranium project.