Not much happening for a while and I think thCrosshair plans Moran Lake winter diamond drill program
Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp (TSX-V:CXX)
Shares Issued 54,011,941
Last Close 12/7/2005 $1.08
Thursday December 08 2005 - News Release
Mr. Mark Morabito reports
DRILLING TO BEGIN AT MORAN LAKE C ZONE TO EXPAND URANIUM RESOURCE
Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. has planned a phase 1, winter diamond drill program scheduled to begin Jan. 30, 2006. The company has awarded a drill contract to Cartwright Drilling, based in Goose Bay, Labrador. The initial program will consist of a minimum of 2,000 metres of diamond drilling based on recommendations to expand the Upper C zone. The recommendations for this drill program are contained in a recently completed National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the historic uranium resource on the Upper C zone at Moran Lake prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA) of Toronto. Phase 2, which will consist of an additional 10,000 metres of drilling, is planned to test new targets identified from follow-up of the airborne radiometric and magnetic survey, as well as ground geophysical surveys. Phase 2 is planned to begin early in the spring and continue through the summer of 2006.
Mark J. Morabito, president and chief executive officer of the company, stated: "We are pleased to begin our large-scale 2006 program at Moran Lake by testing for expansion of the NI 43-101 recognized resource with an average grade of 0.25 per cent U308. The company commissioned the NI 43-101 report with a view to establishing a road map for further exploration of the project and with the objective of establishing a NI 43-101 compliant database upon which the company could build."
Shell Canada Resources Ltd. drilled 72 holes in the C and B zones; however, due to the weakening uranium market in 1979, it abandoned the property before completely testing the mineralization. The upper C zone is highlighted by historic intersections including 0.562 per cent U308 over 3.99 metres, 0.13 per cent U308 over 5.89 metres and 0.314 per cent U308 over 3.23 metres, all within 75 metres of surface.
RPA reports the Upper C zone to contain an inferred resource of 124,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.25 per cent U3O8, containing approximately 688,000 pounds of U3O8. The resource estimate was completed after a comprehensive review of the historical data from the Upper C zone, including reassaying of selected core intervals. For the purpose of the resource estimation, RPA determined that a minimum width of 1.5 metres would be used. An approximate cut-off grade of 0.10 per cent U3O8 was calculated based on the following assumptions:
* uranium price of $30 (U.S.) per pound U3O8;
* metallurgical recovery of 90 per cent;
* operating costs of $80 per tonne; and
* exchange rate of $1 (U.S.) equals $1.20.
No assay values were cut. Given the nature of the mineralized rock, a density factor of 2.7 tonnes per cubic metre was assumed.
The RPA report recommends that future drilling undercut the Shell drill holes to test the down-dip extension of the uranium mineralization. The report notes that the Shell drilling was shallow (less than 75 metres vertical depth) and the most encouraging intercepts are among the deepest. The mineralization in the Upper C zone is potentially related to and on the periphery of a large IOCG system.
A camp has been established to facilitate the phase 1 drilling and is currently being used to complete ground gravity and other geophysical surveys in advance of a larger scale (upward of 10,000 metre) drilling program scheduled for the spring and summer of 2006. This later phase of drilling will test other target areas identified from the ground geophysical surveys and follow-up of the airborne radiometric and magnetic survey. These will include:
* IOCG (Olympic Dam) targets in the central area;
* unconformity (Athabasca basin) related uranium mineralization in the northern area, such as the Moran Heights boulder field target where the recently completed airborne radiometric and magnetic survey has identified an adjacent geological unconformity as the likely source; and
* structurally controlled (Michelin-type) uranium mineralization in felsic volcanic rocks in the southern area.
The overall exploration activities on this project are being directed by Timothy Froude, PGeo, who is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. A copy of RPA's NI 43-101 report on Moran Lake will be available on SEDAR. The qualified persons at RPA responsible for the NI 43-101 report are R. Barry Cook, MSc, PEng, and William E. Roscoe, PhD, PEng.