GTI Resources has completed initial uranium exploration at Section 36 of its Henry Mountains uranium-vanadium project in Utah as it works toward drilling in July.
Geological mapping, mapping of all existing underground adits and geophysical downhole logging of 56 existing shallow drill holes were among the activities carried out by GTI (ASX:GTR) in first-phase exploration at Section 36 – a recently acquired lease which is home to 1300m of historical workings.
More than half the holes logged showed at least trace elements of uranium oxide to a maximum depth of 61 feet (18.6m).
The highlight of the work was hole #36-14, which contained 4.5ft (1.5m) from 41ft (12.49m) at a grade of 0.19% equivalent uranium oxide, or 1900 parts per million.
Within this zone, the best interval was 3ft (1m) at a grade of 0.26% equivalent uranium oxide, or 2600ppm.
GTI said the thickness and grade of uranium mineralisation reported was consistent with that observed in the region’s past producing mines, which generated more than 17.5 million tonnes at 2400ppm uranium oxide for 92 million pounds, and 12,500ppm vanadium pentoxide for 482 million pounds.
The next phase of exploration drilling includes surface drilling of up to 40 holes, as well as the geophysical logging of an additional 39 smaller diameter drillholes.
GTI had planned to underground drill from the existing East and West mines on the site, but a more extensive survey of the site and the geophysical logging of existing drillholes showed surface drilling to be a more effective and efficient method to grow known mineralisation.
That being the case, a surface drilling program is now being planned, with drilling planned for July pending approvals and contractor availability.
A JORC compliant uranium resource for Section 36 and other areas within Henry Mountain is on the cards, pending the results of the planned drilling.
A gold update
GTI also owns the Niagara gold project in Western Australia’s Goldfields, where it recently received approval for a program of work to conduct drilling at four newly granted and two recently acquired prospecting licences.
Exploration drilling is approved for areas within the contiguous land package of more than 5km of mineralised trend, over an area of extensive historic mine workings within the Niagara gold district.
The tenements cover the historic White Cross and Perseverance mining areas, along with smaller historic working trends including the Christmas and Good Friday trends.
The region’s Orion Trend extends east-north-east to the south of the tenement and hosts the historic Orion/Sapphire mine.
An independent compilation of historical mine records taken from the WA Mineral Exploration database by CSA Global suggests those historical workings produced 5100 ounces of gold at a grade of 25.8 grams per tonne between 1898 and 1914.
GTI said it was reviewing its options for exploration and development of Niagara, and continued to evaluate opportunities to expand its uranium exploration ground postion.
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