Shifting gears, platinum group metal explorer Ursa Major Minerals (UMJ-V) plans to sink a pair of holes on the past-producing Agnew Lake uranium mine, 40 km west of Sudbury.
The holes are designed to test uranium targets hosted in metasedimentary rocks. Drilling will begin in mid-November.
Uranium mineralization at Agnew Lake is contained in a pyritic quartz-pebble conglomerate unconformably overlying granitic rocks similar to the setting in the Elliot Lake area to the west of the property. The deposit is also reported to contain significant rare earth element (REE) mineralization.
The underground mine was operated by Kerr Addison, later part of Noranda, which has since been scooped up by Falconbridge (FAL.LV-T, FAL-N). Between 1977 and 1983, the mine produced 1.1 million lbs. U3O8 from 2.8 million tonnes of ore.
The underground mine was developed to over 980 meters depth. Uranium was produced from leaching of underground and surface stockpiles.
A review by Watts, Griffis and McOuat concludes that the mine still contains a resource of 4.8 million tonnes of ore running a fully diluted grade of up to 0.5 kg U3O8 per tonne. The estimate does not comply with the standards of National Instrument 43-101.
North American Palladium (PDL-T, PAL-X) has an option to earn a half interest in the Agnew Lake property by spending $1 million on exploration over three years. The agreement excludes the mine.
Shares in Ursa were 4, or nearly 7%, higher at 63 in late afternoon TSX Venture Exchange trading following the news on Nov. 7. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 40-78.
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