Rampart
Rampart to begin drilling Sibley basin by June 1
2005-05-16 15:47 ET - News Release
Mr. Nelson Baker reports
RAMPART TO COMMENCE DIAMOND DRILLING ON SIBLEY BASIN URANIUM PROPERTIES
Rampart Ventures Ltd. has signed a contract for a program of diamond drilling on its uranium properties in the Sibley basin, 50 kilometres northwest of Nipigon, Ont. Drilling is expected to be under way by June 1.
The first phase of drilling will focus on the area east of Black Sturgeon Lake, where cover rocks are generally thin, and there are windows of exposed Archean basement. The first targets will be conductors defined by the recent VTEM airborne electromagnetic survey, plus conductors defined in a 2003 ground EM survey (part of a regional exploration program for nickel-copper-platinum group element mineralization by Teck Cominco; the conductors were never explained or drill tested).
Currently, prospecting and geological reconnaissance are being carried out around the Black Sturgeon uranium occurrence, to define additional drill targets in this area. High-grade pitchblende veins occur in fractures in an Archean iron formation on the company's Black Sturgeon property. Grab samples of narrow pitchblende seams by previous operators have been reported by the Ontario geological survey to yield assays up to 12 per cent uranium dioxide (U3O8). This is a novel geological environment for uranium mineralization and may possibly represent a hitherto unknown deposit type.
The Sibley basin is a mid-Proterozoic-age sedimentary basin that has the potential to host unconformity related uranium deposits of the type found in the Athabasca basin of Saskatchewan, home of the world's richest uranium mines. Geological similarities between the Sibley and Athabasca basins include: high background uranium contents in basement rocks; a well-developed regolith or weathered zone of basement rocks below the unconformity; and the presence of graphitic rocks in the basement, providing a favourable environment for uranium deposition.
Rampart holds nine separate claim groups in the Sibley basin, totalling approximately 131,200 acres, of which 109,040 acres are subject to an agreement with New Shoshoni Ventures Ltd. (see Sept. 30, 2004, news release in Stockwatch).
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed by Colin Bowdidge, PhD, PGeo, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.