Metals One (MET1) has released the results of reconnaissance rock chip sampling and scintillometer surveying of historic waste dumps and limited outcrop at its Uravan uranium-vanadium project in Montrose County, Colorado.
A total of 19 rock chip samples were collected from across the claim block and surrounding areas. The samples were analysed for uranium, vanadium and associated elements, with full QA/QC protocols including blanks, standards and duplicates.
Among the highlights in the results were uranium assays grading up to 41,768 parts per million from historic waste material, vanadium assays grading up to 2.46% vanadium, copper grading up to 1.14%, and silver grading up to 99.4 grams per tonne.
Metals One also encountered pathfinder elements typical of redox-front uranium systems, including molybdenum at 108 ppm, selenium at 32 ppm and arsenic at 428 ppm, all coincident with high uranium-vanadium values.
Separately, an RS-125 spectral scintillometer survey over the UV claim block also identified numerous high-count anomalies, mostly coinciding with historic mine sites, but also including moderate anomalies in areas without recorded workings.
"These results indicate the exceptional grades historically mined from the Project, with multiple samples containing uranium and vanadium at ore-grade levels,” said Craig Moulton, chairman of Metals One.
“While these results are not from in-situ mineralisation and cannot be taken as indicative of average grades, they provide strong validation of the scintillometer anomalies identified in our survey and evidence of high value material mined historically from many visible adits. Our next steps will involve surveying the historical adits across the anticline to understand the extent and grade of these occurrences and therefore determine the exploration potential of the project."
View from Vox
These samples are highly encouraging in confirming both the high value nature of the historic ore that was mined at Uravan, and the potential for more. The results of the adit survey will be intriguing, and in a world that’s increasingly awake to the value of uranium and vanadium, could prove highly significant.