TNT Mines’ punt that the old workings on its East Canyon project in the USA should still be harbouring some uranium and vanadium riches looks to have been bang on after the company said it could see “visible” uranium and vanadium in the old workings at its historic Bonanza and None Such mines in the northern area of its claims.
The company said it has observed remnant mineralised underground faces that have already been prepped and ready to charge with explosives at Bonanza.
Notably, TNT’s in-country Geologists have observed that the artisanal workings at Bonanza form a larger underground network than it had previously recognised. The company has taken samples and mapped the extents of the visible mineralisation.
Whilst laboratory samples are required to confirm the tenor of the uranium mineralisation at East Canyon, the Geologists have been using a handheld ‘scintillometer’ to assess the naturally occurring gamma radiation emitted by the uranium.
TNT said it recoded high gamma readings of up to 42,000 counts per second from both the None Such and Bonanza mines.
Scintillometer readings are not directly or quantitatively related to uranium grades but are used by explorers as a preliminary sign of the presence of radioactive materials.
However, given that the high readings are associated with visible uranium mineralisation from within an historical uranium mine, it looks possible that the assays might just throw up some interesting numbers.
TNT said that readings above 5,000 counts per second are considered anomalous in the region, which boasts a 100-year plus history of uranium and vanadium mining.
Management also said it has picked up the location of historical drill holes which form the first available and valuable records for TNT. The location of the holes is important, as combined with the surface and underground geological mapping, the data may assist to determine the orientation of mineralised horizons and aid in subsequent targeted drill hole follow up.
TNT said it may also run a down hole gamma sampling tool into the historical drill holes. Down hole gamma tools can take live measurements of gamma radiation, which can be converted into equivalent U3O8, or uranite, values.
An old location map produced by previous owners of the East Canyon claims, the Vanadium Corporation of America, show drill hits ranging from two feet grading 0.83 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 0.127 per cent U3O8 to seven feet grading 1.07 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 0.237 per cent U3O8. Now the company can match the locality and orientation of these old holes to aid future exploration programs.
With the old workings accessible and in good condition, the company’s present extensive channel sampling program is expected to provide it with a suite of representative uranium and vanadium grades from the visibly mineralised horizons at both underground mines.
There is nothing quite like visible mineralisation to create some allure around pending assay results.
Is your ASX listed company doing something interesting ? Contact : matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
