-- Encouraging results from 2009 program -- New area of granite-hosted anomalous uranium -- Large conductivity anomaly outlined
Pitchstone Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:PXP) ("Pitchstone") reports the results of the December 2009 prospecting and electromagnetic surveying program on the Dome property, Namibia. Dome comprises 182,000 hectares and is part of a uranium exploration joint venture between Pitchstone (60%) and private company Manica Minerals Ltd. (40%) through Manica's wholly-owned subsidiary Cheetah Minerals Exploration Ltd. The property location relative to the nearby Rossing and Langer Heinrich uranium mines, and other uranium occurrences in the western Namibian uranium district, is illustrated on the company's website (www.pitchstone.net).
New Granite-hosted Uranium Occurrence
Two surface grab samples were collected from a newly identified coarse-grained, leucocratic granite outcrop in the Dome North area. The two samples contain 149 and 152 ppm U3O8. The style of mineralization is similar to that at the Rossing mine. Very little exploration has been done in this area and further prospecting and geological mapping are required prior to initiating a drill program.
Calcrete-hosted Mineralization
Also at Dome North, 250 line-kilometers of detailed electromagnetic surveying completed in December has outlined a large, previously unrecognized area of anomalous conductivity interpreted to reflect buried calcrete paleochannels. This exploration was following up on uranium mineralization intersected in recently completed drill holes (see October 28, 2009 News Release). The mineralization, with grades up to 352 ppm U3O8 over 1.0 meter in drill holes, is open along strike. Surface grab samples in proximity to the drill holes contain up to 0.19% U3O8. The mineralization is calcrete-hosted, similar to that at the Langer Heinrich uranium mine, 70 kilometers to the northeast. Drilling to follow up on previous drill intersections and to test the new conductivity targets is being planned.
Steve Blower, P.Geo., President of Pitchstone, is the Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101 with respect to the technical information in this news release. Sample preparation and analyses were done by ALS Chemex, Johannesburg. A multi-element ICP-MS analysis was completed on the samples after a four acid, near-total digestion. Pitchstone utilizes internally and externally submitted standard reference materials for quality assurance and quality control of the sample preparation and analyses.