The Viken Licence
Viken Licence Overview
- Large multi-mineral deposit containing uranium, nickel, molybdenum and vanadium.
- 1,000 metre wide mineralized zone with minimal overburden making it suitable for the development of an open pit mine
- Located in politically stable country of Sweden with modern infrastructure in place at licence
Located in the central part of Sweden approximately 500 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, the property subject to the Viken licence covers 677 hectares.
The Viken licence stratigraphy consists of upper Middle and Upper Cambrian age black shales interlayered with subordinate quartzites, limestones and ‘stinkstones’ (bituminous limestone). This assemblage is overlain in parts of the licence area by Ordovician limestones. The black shales are generally underlain by Proterozoic granites and gneisses thrust eastward over Archean granitic basement rocks. The shales occur as both autochthonous (in situ) and allochthonous (fault detached) blocks, the latter having greater potential for economic mineralization due to imbrication of mineralized blocks.
The thickness of the Upper Cambrian black shale stratigraphy hosting the syngenetic deposits has been tectonically thickened from a general 20-30 metres by Silurian thrusting and folding to approximately 180 metres near the village of Myrviken. The allochthonous blocks can be subdivided into those belonging to the Middle Cambrian and Upper Cambrian, with the higher grades of mineralization occurring in the Upper Cambrian blocks. Structurally the Viken MMS licence is situated on the eastern flank of a major north-northwest trending anticline, which is manifested by a broad ridge trending in the same direction.
The Alum Shale exhibits a strong penetrative foliation and has been subjected to metamorphic temperatures of 200-300°C, converting black shale into semi-anthracitic to anthracitic grade “coal.”
A NI 43-101 compliant technical report was completed in June 2007, and updated August 2007, April 2008 and December 2008, on the Viken licence based on the drilling completed by Continental, which indicates an estimated inferred resource of 1 billion pounds uranium with significant amounts of molybdenum, nickel and vanadium.
The table below summarizes the resource estimates for uranium oxide, vanadium oxide, molybdenum oxide and nickel.
Viken Resource EstimateU3O8 |
V2O5 |
MoO3 |
Ni |
||
| Indicated Resource (1) |
Tonnes in 000’s |
23,610 |
23,610 |
23,610 |
23,610 |
| Lbs/ton | 0.38 |
6.25 |
0.56 |
0.63 |
|
| Grade % | 0.019 |
0.313 |
0.028 |
0.032 |
|
| Lbs metal/oxide in 000’s |
9,944 |
162,751 |
14,678 |
16,500 |
|
U3O8 |
V2O5 |
MoO3 |
Ni |
||
Inferred Resource (2) |
Tonnes in 000’s |
2,830,757 |
2,830,757 |
2,830,757 |
2,830,757 |
| Lbs/ton | 0.33 |
5.36 |
0.49 |
0.65 |
|
| Grade % | 0.017 |
0.268 |
0.024 |
0.032 |
|
| Lbs metal/oxide in 000’s |
1,037,661 |
16,716,126 |
1,516,487 |
2,015,742 |
(1) Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing or other relevant issues.
2) The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource capacity.
(3) The mineral resources in this news release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council December 11, 2005.