- The Green River South Project is Located 10 miles southwest of Green River, Utah
- A295 Mining Claims and 3 Utah State Mining Leases ~ 7,800 acres (3,150 ha)
- Historical resources estimate of 500,000 pounds U3O8 with potential for deposit expansion.*
- Substantial Historical Data, in both paper and digital formats
*Non NI 43-101 compliant is not being treated as mineral resources and not to be relied upon. Report by Stewart Wallis, P. Geo. of Roscoe Postle Assoc. Inc. dated June 22, 2005.
Aldershot Resources Ltd. ("Aldershot") (TSX.V-ALZ), through its wholly owned US subsidiary, Royal USA Inc. ("Royal"), is pleased to announce the execution of a Purchase and Sale Agreement ("PSA") with Energy Fuels Wyoming Inc. ("EFW"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Fuels Inc. (EFR:TSX), to purchase EFW's interests in the Green River South uranium and vanadium project, including the historic Sahara mine. Upon the favorable completion of the due diligence period and the closing of the transaction, Royal will obtain the assignment of EFW's interest in a joint venture wherein Royal will become manager. Those interests include EFW's fully-vested right to receive a deeded 70% tenant-in-common interest (the "TIC Rights") in 295 unpatented mining claims and three Utah state leases, all located in Emery County, Utah.
Royal's acquisition selection process identified the project as being located in jurisdictions that have shown a willingness to grant permits for suitable mining operations. Royal's management team believes the property is well positioned to be developed and offer an opportunity to shorten the path to production.
Mike Leidich, Aldershot President and CEO said, "The Green River South Project is a large area with excellent potential located in a previously active mining district. The property, along with the comprehensive data set that will be acquired, fits well into our acquisition model and will enable our exploration team to economically determine the location and extent of potential deposits."
The property is located within the historic San Rafael River mining area which has produced over 3 million pounds of uranium from 1948 to 1975 (Trimble & Doelling 1978). Extensive exploration activities occurred on the property from the early 1950's into the 1980's followed by the opening of the Sahara mine. The Sahara mine deposit was delineated by drilling prior to 1959. A 550-foot decline was sunk and a small portion of the resource had been mined intermittently through 1977 by Trio Industries and others. In 1977, Energy Fuels Nuclear Inc. ("EFN") acquired the property, and in 1979 a haulage decline of approximately 800 m was driven to the area of previous mining and the old decline cleaned out. By 1980, however, only one truckload of ore (grading 0.108% U3O8 containing 1,042 lbs of U3O8) had been shipped.
Prior to 2005, over 450 reverse circulation drill holes, most about 500 ft. in depth, were used to delineate the first 1,800 ft. of the Sahara trend which included three mineralized bodies. By 1990 a total of 776 holes totaling 325,988 ft. had been drilled on the property extending the trend for over 3,000 ft. EFN has reported a proven and probable reserve of 110,000 tons grading 0.225% U3O8 containing approximately 500,000 pounds of U3O8 in four mineralized bodies (Andrus 1986). Similar amounts of vanadium were estimated to be contained in the mineralized zones.
In 2008 an airborne geophysical survey was flown over the project area using the Fugro GeoTem system. The survey was flown to better define sand channels or any other geological structures. Specific areas outlined from the flight later became the targets for the drilling program.
The historical resources estimated by EFN were prepared to industry standards at the time and are considered relevant today. These resources were compiled before the implementation of National Instrument 43-101 reporting standards and independent verification of the data has not been performed. Royal is not treating the historical estimates as National Instrument defined resources or reserves verified by a qualified person, and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.
The 2009 drilling program took place between September 29 and October 7, 2009. Two standard rotary rigs were utilized for this project. Twenty holes totaling 12,560 feet were drilled over the course of the program.
A large amount of historical data from the previous exploration activities has been included with the purchase of the property. This data includes:
i) Numerous historical resource areas that are open along strike in one or both directions, which offers potential for defining extensions of the mineralized zones; and
ii) Areas of encouraging drill results that had not been previously pursued which could lead to further discoveries.
Royal will utilize its analytics to supplement the data and confirm the results of the historical data.