Uranium is a hot topic again, as it was in the 1980s when mining companies set their sights on Nova Scotia. The government of former premier John Buchanan listened to the people of Nova Scotia and, in 1982, established a de facto moratorium on the exploration and mining of uranium in the province. This moratorium has remained in place since then, but was never enacted into legislation.

Recently, an exploration company discovered uranium in the Windsor Forks area. Rodney MacDonald and his Conservative government are now considering lifting the long-standing ban on uranium mining. He and Natural Resources Minister David Morse argue that this would be good for our economy and that we need to move towards “green energy.” Yet the trend is in the other direction.

British Colombia recently enacted a full moratorium, the Nunatsiavut of Labrador put in place a three-year moratorium to allow for more research to be conducted, and the state of Virginia recently affirmed a ban on uranium mining.

Many people may not know a lot about uranium, other than perhaps that it produces radiation. Because of the radiation, current regulations in Nova Scotia stipulate that when an exploration company discovers uranium of more than 100 parts per million, it must declare the find to the Department of Natural Resources and halt all exploration in the area. In terms of uses, uranium is Read more

Mesa Uranium Corp. (TSX VENTURE:MZU) (“Mesa” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) with Foster Wilson, the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Mesa, of up to 2,000,000 units (the “Units”) at a price of $0.11 per Unit to raise aggregate gross proceeds to Mesa of up to $200,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share (a “Share”) in the capital of Mesa and one-half of one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share (a “Warrant Share”) in the capital of Mesa for a period of 18 months following the closing of the Offering at a price of $0.15 per Warrant Share. The securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Offering is subject to TSX Venture Exchange and shareholder approval.

Mr. Wilson will become a “control person” (as defined in the Securities Act (British Columbia)) of Mesa by virtue of purchasing the Units as he will hold an aggregate of approximately 22.2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Mesa. The transaction is considered a “related party transaction” under securities legislation as Mr. Wilson is a director, officer and holds over 10% of Mesa’s issued and outstanding common shares. Mesa will be relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements under securities legislation, as the fair market value of the Units or the consideration for the Units does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of Mesa at the time the transaction was agreed to. Read more

Recently in Perth RIL Australia, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, has paid $3.45 million (Rs 14.56 crore) in cash to Uranium Exploration Australia Ltd (UXA) to acquire 49 per cent interest in four of the latter’s exploration licences in South Australia.

The payment follows an approval from the Australian as well as the South Australian governments for a ‘farm-in and joint venture agreement” between UXA and RIL Australia.

Reliance, as part of the agreement, will also pay back 49 per cent of the exploration expenditures on the four exploration sites between July 2007 and January 2008.

It will also foot 49 per cent of the expenses for all exploration expenditures on these sites in future, a statement on UXA Web Site said.

Besides, Reliance will also get 49 per cent interest in four other sites in Australia’s Northern Territory if the current licence applications for exploration licences by UXA are found to be in order. Read more

Uranerz Energy Corporation (“Uranerz” or the “Company”) (TSX: URZ)(AMEX: URZ)(FRANKFURT: U9E) is pleased to announce, in connection with its January 15, 2008 acquisition of the Arkose Property, that an independent National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the Arkose Property (the “NI 43-101 Technical Report”) has been filed by Uranerz and will soon be available on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (“SEDAR”). The NI 43-101 Technical Report presents an estimate of the potential uranium exploration target on the Arkose Property pursuant to NI 43-101, Section 2.3(2), which states that, subject to the provisions thereof, an issuer may disclose the potential quantity and grade, expressed as ranges, of a potential mineral deposit that is to be the target of further exploration by the issuer. Based on a conceptual model developed by the Authors of the NI 43-101 Technical Report, the potential exploration target of uranium mineralized alteration-reduction fronts is approximately 105 miles and, in aggregate, has the potential to contain from 41 million to 79 million pounds of U308 at a potential grade ranging from 0.059% to 0.114%. Alteration-reduction trends in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming are typically composed of multiple, stacked roll front deposits that often contain associated uranium mineralization amenable to in-situ recovery (ISR) mining techniques.
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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire) – Cash Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:CHX) today announced the 2008 exploration program for the highly prospective Aillik uranium property, located in the uranium rich Central Mineral Belt, Labrador. The program will consist of a ground induced polarization (IP) survey and additional mapping, followed by a 2,000 metre drill program.

In 2007, Cash Minerals conducted an airborne radiometric-magnetometer survey of the Aillik property and delineated a large east-west trending magnetic anomaly located in the northern region of the property. The magnetic anomaly highlighted apparent curvilinear structural features that are similar to structures that host uranium mineralization at the Jacques Lake prospect, held by Aurora Energy Resources Inc. Also, potassic altered metamorphosed intrusive rocks cut by magnetite veins were identified south of the magnetic anomaly, and are similar to the host rocks at the Jacques Lake prospect. A rock chip sample collected from outcrop during reconnaissance mapping returned elevated uranium of 0.02% uranium oxide (U3O8). Read more

Terra Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TAS) is pleased to provide an update on the Midwest Northeast uranium project in the Athabasca Basin. Terra Ventures owns an 8-per-cent production carried interest in the project and is not required to contribute any exploration expenditures until a positive feasibility study is produced. Hathor Exploration Limited (TSX VENTURE:HAT) has a 90-per-cent interest in the property and is the operator. The Athabasca Basin accounts for approximately 25-per-cent of the world’s annual mine production of uranium. All of this production comes from unconformity-style uranium ore deposits, the highest-grade uranium ore deposits in the world.

In a news release dated February 26, 2008, Hathor Exploration Limited has reported that: “Hathor has encountered anomalous uranium mineralization during its winter 2007/2008 Midwest Northeast project drill program. The mineralization occurs in hole MWNE-08-12, the 12th hole of a planned 24-hole program.
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SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) – Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) said Thursday it will spend 57 million Australian dollars to expand the open pit at its Ranger uranium mine in Australia’s Northern Territory to extend the mine’s life to 2012.

ERA, 68 percent-owned by Rio Tinto, said the planned expansion will add an additional 4,857 tonnes (10.7 million pounds) of contained uranium oxide.

It said the majority of the additional production from the extension will occur in 2011. Processing at Ranger is due to cease in 2020.

As well, the company said, it will spend a further 10 million dollars on a study which will examine the potential for further expansion as well as the possibility of lifting capacity at the project’s processing plant. Read more