Trio soars on uranium power (September 14, 2004)

Shares in three junior explorers all shot higher on Sept. 14, after the trio unveiled some high-grade uranium values from the Longtom Lake property in the Northwest Territories.

The best result was a 1-metre section (beginning 80 metres down hole) running 1.68% U3O8; that was included in a longer 3-metre interval grading 0.56% U3O8. The same hole also returned 1 metre of 0.16% U3O8 at a depth of 51 metres.

The holes are part a 2,100-metre summer drill program that targeted a series of large geophysical anomalies associated with extensive alteration and local surface copper-gold mineralization. Other encouraging results include 0.19% copper over 15 metres at a depth of 37 metres, and 0.14% cobalt over 6 metres at a depth of 185 metres.

Previous drilling in the mid-1980s also returned some shallow, significant values within 300 metres of the latest discovery. Results from eight historic holes run from 0.21% to 0.48% U3O8 over widths from 0.6 metres to 1.5 metres.

Fronteer Development (FRG-T) can earn a 75% interest in the project by paying Alberta Star Development (ASX-V) $15,000 in cash and funding $500,000 worth of exploration over three years. Northwestern Mineral Ventures (NWT-V) is in turn earning a half-interest in the property (along with several others) from Fronteer by completing $5 million worth of exploration by Sept. 2008. Fronteer is acting as project operator during the earn-in period.

Alberta Star shares were outshining the others in late-afternoon trading, up 6, or nearly 30%, to 26.5; Northwestern Mineral Ventures was next in line, up 15, or 27%, to 71; and Fronteer’s issue was 6, or 7.5%, higher at 86 in Toronto.