Mr. Juan Vegarra reports
VENA ANNOUNCES SIGNIFICANT NI 43-101 URANIUM RESOURCE AT MACUSANI, PERU
Henkle and Associates has completed Vena Resources Inc.'s firstresource estimate for Minergia SAC, a uranium exploration company ownedby Vena (75 per cent) and Cameco (25 per cent). Henkle's NI43-101-compliant report will be published within 45 days and will alsoinclude initial resource estimates for other areas that Minergiacontrols on the Macusani plateau in Peru.
The current resourcenumbers are based on 15,160 metres of diamond drilling in 86 drill holesperformed over the last four years covering only 20 per cent of theprospective Tantamaco target area.
TANTAMACO NI 43-101-COMPLIANT REPORTResource 0.2 lb/Tm (76.90 ppm) U3O8 cut-offtype Tonnes Lb U3O8 Lb/Tm ppm/Tm % U3O8/TmIndicated 13,622,226 7,598,193 0.558 214.56 0.025Inferred 13,603,295 7,369,497 0.542 208.40 0.025Resource 0.4 Lb/Tm (153.80 ppm) U3O8 cut-offtype Tonnes Lb U3O8 Lb/Tm ppm/Tm % U3O8/TmIndicated 10,565,113 7,089,536 0.671 258.01 0.030Inferred 11,225,506 6,996,922 0.623 239.55 0.028
JuanVegarra, chairman and chief executive officer of Vena, commented: "Weare pleased to report a first-stage resource estimate for Tantamaco, oneof five projects being drilled jointly with Cameco in the Macusani areaof Puno, Peru. Given the success of the current drilling campaign,Minergia is already planning the next-phase drill program and iscurrently in the process of obtaining drilling permits with the goal ofexpanding and improving the resource base."
Resource calculation methodology
TheTantamaco resource was calculated using the Polygon area method ofresource calculation as follows. The midpoints of mineralizedintersections from the 86-angle drill holes were used as centre pointsof the polygons. A 150-metre search radius was used to search fornearest-neighbour midpoints. The area of each polygon was calculated andthen multiplied by the true thickness of the mineralized intercept toobtain a volume. The volume was then multiplied by the density of themineralized rock, which in this case is 1.98, to obtain a tonnage value.The tonnage was then multiplied by the tenor of the mineralization (onepound of triuranium octoxide per tonne) to obtain the number of poundsof U3O8 contained within each polygon. The results for each individualpolygon were then summed to arrive at the estimate for the project area.
Thevarying areas of the 86 separate polygons were then plotted on astraight-line graph from smallest to largest, being a range of 756square metres to 67,247 square metres. The graph showed three distinctpopulations, breaking at 18,000 square metres and 40,000 square metres.Polygons with areas less than 18,000 square metres were assigned to theindicated resource category. Polygons with areas between 18,000 squaremetres and 40,000 square metres were assigned to the inferred resourcecategory. Polygons with areas greater than 40,000 square metres wereassigned to the hypothetical resource category and were not reported incompliance with NI 43-101 guidelines.
Geology and mineralization
Uraniummineralization at Tantamaco occurs in the upper (Yapamayo) unit of theapproximately 600-metre-thick Quenamari rhyolitic pyroclastic formationof Mio-Pliocene age. At property scale, the Yapamayo is divided into twounits: the A and B horizons, which are separated by an erosionalsurface that is marked as a distinct hiatus in the volcanic cycle.Uranium mineralization in the A horizon is referred to as the Upper zoneand is generally quite thin and erratic at Tantamaco. The B horizonhosts the Lower zone, which constitutes the bulk of the uraniumresources delineated to date. The maximum depth to the base of the Lowerzone mineralization is 150 metres below surface.
Uranium atTantamaco is predominantly contained in autunite (U phosphate) withlesser week site (U silicate) that was precipitated at a relatively lowtemperature (100 C). The mineralization occurs as both fracturefillings and as fine disseminations within the tuff. The workinghypothesis is that the major controls for the mineralization arestructural and hydrogeological. Vena and Cameco's drilling program hasdelineated a structural corridor paralleling the small, central gullystriking northeast-southwest that is dominantly a higher-grade,uniformly disseminated mineralization. The zone is open to thesouthwest, and there is a marked increase in grade in this direction,which will be a major focus of the next drilling campaign.
DavidBent, vice-president of exploration for Vena, commented: "The intenselydisseminated style of uranium mineralization discovered in the Lowerzone at Tantamaco greatly enhances the prospectivity of the Quenamarivolcanics to host economic uranium deposits. Tantamaco will serve as amodel in our search for the large deposits that may be completely hiddenor have only minimal exposure at surface."
This report was prepared by William R. Henkle Jr., PGeo, Vena's qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.
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