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Laramide Resources Ltd. (“Laramide” or the “Company”) is a Toronto-based resource company specializing in the acquisition, discovery and development of uranium projects.
Laramide has acquired an impressive list of known uranium assets with drilled out resources. Currently Laramide has approximately 62 million pounds of U3O8 (uranium oxide) located in NI 43-101 compliant resources. It also has some exciting exploration projects located in the USA and Australia, with the potential to double these known resources.
The Company’s current main focus is the advancement of its flagship asset, the Westmoreland Uranium Project in Queensland, Australia. In 2009, Mining Associates of Australia completed a NI 43-101 compliant technical report that showed Westmoreland has an indicated resource of 36.0 M lbs @ 0.089% U3O8 and an inferred resource of 15.9 M lbs @ 0.083% U3O8 which ranks it as one of the ten largest uranium deposits in Australia and the only one not under the control of a major mining company.
GRD Minproc completed a scoping study on Westmoreland in early 2007 which indicates that the project is economically robust. The study estimates annual production of around 3.0 million pounds of U3O8 at production costs of approximately US$20 per pound. The initial mine life of 11 years could be increased to more than 15 years with further drilling currently underway. The direct and indirect capital cost for the project is estimated at US$214 million. Using long term contractprices, payback would occur in approximately 2 years. The proposed mining method is conventional open pit and would take place using the acid leach method. Both are conventional mining methods which are not considered technically challenging.
In addition, Laramide participates in two joint ventures on projects which fall adjacent to the Westmoreland Project, located within the Northern Territory. Laramide now holds in excess of 680,000 hectares of highly prospective tenements located in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
In 2008, further drilling at Westmoreland was completed in the second quarter to expand the resource base. A second drill program was completed during the fourth quarter of 2008 which, combined with the earlier program, will support a new resource calculation. Subsequently that data will be incorporated into a prefeasibility study.
Laramide also holds 4 advanced uranium projects located in the USA, purchased from Homestake Mining, a subsidiary of Barrick Mining. The two most important of these projects are the La Sal Project located in Utah, and the La Jara Mesa Project located in the Grants mining district of New Mexico. In April 2008 Laramide submitted amendments to its current plan of operations for the development of the la Jara Mesa Uranium Project to the USDA Forest Service ("Forest Service"). Laramide plans to advance both the La Sal and La Jara Mesa Projects towards permitting and a production decision as quickly as possible.
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