Maiden Mineral Resource Announced for the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit
VANCOUVER, July 10, 2018 - UEX Corp. (TSX:UEX) (“UEX” or the “Company”), through its 100%-owned subsidiary, CoEX Metals Corp. (“CoEX”) is pleased to announce the maiden mineral resource estimate for the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit, located on the Company’s 100% owned West Bear Property.
The maiden mineral resource estimate was completed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by Mr. Sébastien Bernier, P.Geo. and has an effective date of July 6, 2018.
The West Bear Co-Ni Deposit mineral resources were determined using a cut-off grade of 0.023 percent cobalt equivalent (“CoEq”), using the equation CoEq = Co + (Ni x 0.2). Only mineralization located within a conceptual open pit was included in the final resource estimate. The resource is classified as an inferred mineral resource, totaling 390,000 tonnes averaging 0.37% cobalt and 0.22% nickel which equates to 3,172,000 pounds of cobalt and 1,928,000 pounds of nickel.
Mineral Resource Statement*, West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Project, Saskatchewan, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., July 6, 2018
| Category | Grade | Contained Metal | |||||
| Quantity | Cobalt | Nickel | Cobalt | Nickel | |||
| Tonnes | (%) | (%) | (‘000 lb) | (‘000 lb) | |||
| Inferred | 390,000 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 3,172 | 1,928 | ||
| *Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates. Composites were capped where appropriate. Mineral resources are reported at a cobalt equivalent cut-off value of 0.023 percent, considering metal prices of US$35.00 per pound of cobalt and US$7.00 per pound of nickel, and assuming metal recovery of 90 percent for cobalt and 90 percent for nickel. | |||||||
The current mineral resource includes the results from 53 drill holes totaling 5,774 metres drilled by UEX in 2003, 2005 and 2018 targeting mineralization between 18 m and 85 m from surface. The reported mineral resource was constrained within modeled cobalt mineralization wireframes and estimated using a geostatistical block modelling approach. A block size of 5 by 5 by 2 metres for all mineralized lenses was used. Wireframe modeling, variogram analysis and block modeling were performed using Leapfrog Geo, Geostatisical Software Library (GeoLib) and Datamine Studio RM software.
Resource Sensitivity
The mineral resource model is relatively sensitive to the selection of reported CoEq cut-off grade. The following table illustrates the sensitivity to various cut-off grades. The reader is cautioned the figures presented in the table should not be misconstrued as mineral resources but are presented to show the sensitivity of the block model estimates with a conceptual open pit shell optimized to changes in CoEq cut-off grade.
| Global Block Model Quantities and Grade Estimates | |||||||
| at Various Cobalt Equivalent Grades | |||||||
| Cut-Off Grade CoEq (%) | Inferred Blocks | ||||||
| Volume/Quantity | Grade | ||||||
| Volume | Tonnage | Co | Ni | CoEq | |||
| (m3) | (tonnes) | (%) | (%) | (%) | |||
| 0.010 | 139,013 | 393,406 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.41 | ||
| 0.020 | 138,722 | 392,582 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.41 | ||
| 0.023 | 138,653 | 392,387 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.41 | ||
| 0.025 | 138,601 | 392,240 | 0.37 | 0.22 | 0.41 | ||
| 0.030 | 138,294 | 391,371 | 0.37 | 0.23 | 0.42 | ||
| 0.035 | 136,724 | 386,928 | 0.37 | 0.23 | 0.42 | ||
| 0.040 | 133,539 | 377,915 | 0.38 | 0.23 | 0.43 | ||
| 0.050 | 129,814 | 367,373 | 0.39 | 0.24 | 0.44 | ||
| 0.060 | 121,668 | 344,321 | 0.42 | 0.25 | 0.47 | ||
| 0.070 | 113,880 | 322,279 | 0.44 | 0.26 | 0.49 | ||
| 0.080 | 105,772 | 299,334 | 0.47 | 0.28 | 0.53 | ||
| 0.090 | 98,529 | 278,837 | 0.50 | 0.29 | 0.56 | ||
| 0.100 | 93,811 | 265,484 | 0.52 | 0.30 | 0.58 | ||
The sensitivity analysis demonstrates the high-grade nature of the deposit. When compared to the base case resource estimate, over 96% of the contained cobalt still lies within the conceptual pit shell when cut-off grades are increased to 0.09% CoEq (278,837 t at 0.50% Co and 0.29% Ni equaling 3.07 million pounds Co and 1.78 million pounds Ni).
UEX is pleased that we have been able to report one of the first primary cobalt mineral resources in Canada. More exciting is the fact that the Deposit clearly remains open for expansion. High-grade mineralization remains unfenced to the west and to the southeast of the current mineral resource model. Our next programs will focus on expanding the Deposit where historic drilling has encountered anomalous cobalt and nickel at the unconformity but failed to test the basement fault structure that hosts the Deposit.
- Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO
All samples and specific gravity determinations used to calculate the resource estimate were assayed at the Saskatchewan Research Counsel’s Geoanalytical Laboratories and umpire sampled assayed at TSL Laboratories of Saskatoon, SK. Analytical quality control data was reviewed and validated independently by Analytical Solutions Ltd. who confirmed that the available cobalt and nickel assay data was sufficiently reliable to support an initial resource evaluation of the Deposit.
The database used to estimate the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit mineral resources was validated by SRK. SRK is of the opinion the current drilling information is sufficiently reliable to interpret with confidence the boundaries for cobalt mineralization and the assay data is sufficiently reliable to support mineral resource estimation.
About the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit
The West Bear Property is an advanced exploration project located in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada that contains both the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit and the West Bear Uranium Deposit. The Property is approximately 740 kilometres north of Saskatoon, west of Wollaston Lake and measures approximately 7,657.3 hectares comprising of 23 contiguous areas to which UEX has title.
The West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit is located within an area of the Athabasca Basin that has excellent infrastructure. The Deposit is situated within 10 km of an existing all-weather road and power lines that service Cameco Corp.’s nearby Cigar Lake Mine and Rabbit Lake Operation, as well as Orano’s McClean Lake Operation.
UEX, through its wholly-owned subsidiary CoEX, commissioned a $1.6 million winter exploration program designed to assess the continuity of cobalt mineralization in basement rocks. The program was designed to follow-up results from 2005 that identified the potential for economically significant cobalt mineralization. Many of the 41 drill holes testing the Project in 2018 were very high grade and expanded the size of the zone. The drill program was successful at expanding the West Bear Co-Ni Project which now has a strike length of over 250 m and a dip length of over 100 m (see attached figure) and remains open for expansion in all directions.
Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition
The mineral resource estimation work was completed by Mr. Sébastien Bernier, P.Geo. of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., who is considered to be an appropriate independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Mr. Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., Exploration Manager of UEX Corp., is a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has verified the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained herein by reviewing original data certificates and monitoring all of the data collection protocols.
Additionally, the technical information in this news release has been approved by Mr. Roger Lemaitre, P.Geo., P.Eng., President & CEO of UEX Corp., and Mr. Trevor Perkins.
A technical report co-authored by SRK and Analytical Solutions Ltd will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.
About UEX
UEX (TSX:UEX) (OTC:UEXCF.PK) (UXO.F) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in seventeen uranium projects, including seven that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with Orano Canada Inc. (“Orano”) and ALX Uranium Corp. (“ALX”) that is 50.1% owned by UEX and is under option to and operated by ALX, as well as eight joint ventures with Orano, one joint venture with Orano and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by Orano, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX.
The company is also involved in one cobalt-nickel exploration project located in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The West Bear Project was formerly part of UEX’s Hidden Bay Project and contains the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect and the West Bear Uranium Deposit.
The seventeen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium belt, which in 2016 accounted for approximately 23% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project (located 50 km north of Fission’s Triple R Deposit and Patterson Lake South Project, and NexGen’s Arrow Deposit) the Horseshoe and Raven deposits located on its 100%-owned Horseshoe-Raven Development Project and the West Bear Uranium Deposit located at its 100%-owned West Bear Project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Roger Lemaitre
President & CEO
(306) 713-1401
Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities laws. Such statements are based on UEX's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit drill program, UEX's drill hole results, uranium, cobalt and nickel prices, outlook for our future operations, plans and timing for exploration activities, and other expectations, intentions and plans that are not historical fact. Such forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions and is subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from UEX's expectations include uncertainties relating to the, interpretation of drill results and geology, assay confirmation, additional drilling results, continuity and grade of deposits, fluctuations in uranium, cobalt and nickel prices and currency exchange rates, changes in environmental and other laws affecting uranium, cobalt and nickel exploration and mining, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in UEX's Annual Information Form and other filings with the applicable Canadian securities commissions on SEDAR. Many of these factors are beyond the control of UEX. Consequently, all forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement and there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by UEX will be realized. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Except as required by applicable law, UEX disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
UEX Corp.
UNIT 200 – 3530 MILLAR AVENUE, SASKATOON, SK., CANADA S7P 0B6
PH: (306) 979-3849 FAX (604) 669-1240
Website: www.uex-corporation.com Email: uex@uex-corporation.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a1dd75d7-36e0-4d09-9b5b-9aac50888d39
