Crescent focused on Manitoba U3O8

Vancouver — Newly listed Crescent Resources (CRR-V) is gearing up to explore a gold project in Brazil’s Mato Grasso state and a uranium project in northwestern Manitoba.

The company — previously known as Neuer Kapital — was formed by Michael Hopley, Don Halliday, Rahoul Sharan, and Doris Meyer, who collectively have 60 years of experience managing mining and exploration companies.

Crescent holds an option to buy the 60-sq.-km Matupa gold project, which was partially explored by Rio Tinto (RTP-N) and Western Mining in the late 1990s. The property (then known as Serrinha) was deemed geologically complex, however one area was reported to have potential for an estimated 17 million tonnes averaging 1.3 grams gold per tonne. This preliminary historic estimate is based on nine holes in an area measuring about 200 metres by 150 metres, and is not compliant with National Instrument 43-101 reporting standards.

The Vancouver-based company has started initial exploration at Matupa, focused mostly on further testing the area deemed prospective by Rio Tinto. Other targets will be drill-tested in the program, including several areas with large open pits.

The Matupa acquisition will cost about US$3.5 million over 5.5 years.

In Manitoba, Crescent can acquire three exploration licences that comprise the 218-sq.-km Boulder Lake uranium project through staged payments of cash and shares, plus exploration expenditures of at least $1 million over four years.

A previous operator discovered uranium in an overburden-covered area during a 1969 drill program that tested an airborne radiometric anomaly. The dominant uranium mineralization is uraninite, hosted in a pegmatite complex.

Previous work on the property included air and ground geophysics, surface prospecting, and 5,200 metres of drilling in 61 holes to test four zones.

At least 16 radiometric anomalies were identified in a 3-sq.-km area. Float samples found near two of the radiometric anomalies returned up to 0.7% U3O8 and 0.52% U3O8. Drill results ranged from background up to 0.19% U3O8 across an estimated 9 metres, including 0.49% U3O8 across 1.5 metres.

Crescent has since carried out a 1,700-line-km airborne magnetic survey that has revealed potential for additional targets. The company notes that the known bedrock uranium mineralization was not adequately tested and remains open for expansion. More work is planned, starting with data compilation and surface prospecting.