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Westmoreland


WESTMORELAND URANIUM PROJECT : "Lagoon Creek"

Laramide Resources owns 100% of the Westmoreland Uranium Project through its acquisition of a private Australian company, Tackle Resources. Laramide trades as Lagoon Creek Resources in Australia, a 100% subsidiary of Laramide.

Briefly, the project is located in northwest Queensland near the Northern Territory border, not far from the northern coast. It can be accessed both from the city of Mt Isa (350 km) which has an airport and from Karumba (260 km) which has a Port Facility. Karumba can be accessed via the town of Burketown (130 km) which is located near the coast on the Burke River.

The Westmoreland Project was discovered by Mount Isa Mines in 1956 and has had a long history of exploration. Most recently it was held by Rio Tinto Exploration from 1990 until 2000.

Rio Tinto completed a pre-feasibility study which included infill drilling, detailed metallurgical test work and resource calculations. This work was focussed on three deposits Redtree, Huarabagoo and Junnagunna. There are a further 39 uranium occurrences throughout the project area. This work completed by Rio Tinto, showed that the uranium mineralization was readily amenable to acid leaching and had low acid consumption with high uranium recoveries. (“Geology of Australia and New Guinean Mineral Deposits.” Published by the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. “Westmoreland Uranium Deposits” Author G M Rheinberger et al). Laramide believes that potential exists to enhance the robustness of the project.

In 2009, Mining Associates of Australia updated an independent National Instrument 43-101 technical report. The updated mineral resource report estimates indicated mineral resources at Westmoreland totalling 36.0 million pounds of uranium (U3O8) that are contained in 18.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.089% U3O8, and an additional 15.9 million pounds of uranium (U3O8) contained in 9.0 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.083% U3O8 which are classified as inferred mineral resources. Total resources at Westmoreland are 51.9 million pounds of U3O8, which has an in-ground value at current spot prices of US$ 2.3 billion.

In addition to this GRD Minproc has completed a scoping study on Westmoreland. The scoping study was very robust economically, estimating production of around 3.0 million pounds of U3O8 annually at production costs around US$ 20 per pound. The initial mine life is for 11 years with a strong liklehood of this being increased to greater than 15 years with further drilling. The direct and indirect capital for the project is estimated at US$ 214 million. Payback on current prices would be less than 2 years. Mining would be with conventional open pit and processing by an acid leach. These are both methods which are not technically challenging. At current uranium prices the project has the potential to generate a very large pre-tax cash flow per year.

Laramide plans to complete a major exploration program at Westmoreland during the coming field season. This will include up to 30,000 metres of drilling to be used in upgraded resource calculations and metallurgical test work. This work will form the basis for a definitive feasibility study, which will pave the way for applying for permits to construct the project.

Currently, uranium mining is regulated at both federal and state levels, with the federal government controlling uranium exports and the states responsible for permitting. Historically the Australian Labour Party (ALP) had a “Three Mine Policy”, capping the number of operating mines in the country. At the federal ALP conference in April 2007, this 25-year old policy was abolished, which should pave the way for new uranium mines to be established in Australia.


 


Drill Location Maps

Red Tree Resource Area
(updated April 23, 2009)

Junnagunna Drill Locations Plan
(updated Oct 2, 2008)

Redtree - Jack Lens
(updated Jan 13, 2009)

Red Tree Drill Location Plan
(updated Oct 2, 2008)

Westmoreland Drill Results Table (updated January 13, 2009)


Section Drawings (updated January 13, 2009)

Red Tree Prospect Section 1 Red Tree Prospect Section 2 Red Tree Prospect Section 3
Red Tree Prospect Section 4 Red Tree Prospect Section 5 Red Tree Prospect Section 6
Released December 8, 2008

Red Tree  Drill Loaction Map

Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 1 Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 2 Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 3
Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 4 Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 5 Red Tree Prospect Cross Section 6
Other Sections
Red Tree Cross Section 7400 Red Tree Cross Section 7600 Red Tree Cross Section 7650
Red Tree Cross Section 10850 Junnagunna Cross Section 13850 Junnagunna Cross Section 13950
Junnagunna Cross Section 14250



NORTHERN AUSTRALIA URANIUM PROJECT

The Westmoreland Uranium Project occurs in a major Proterozoic belt which runs from Darwin in the north west to Mt Isa in the southeast. This belt covers a distance of 1600 kilometres and contains a number of world class base metal mines including Mt Isa Cu, Ag, Pb, Zn, Century Zn, and Cannington Ag deposit. It is recognized as one of the great mineralized belts of the world. In addition there are a number of uranium deposits including the world class Ranger & Jabiluka properties (Energy Resources Australia) and Koongarra (COGEMA Australia Pty) in the Northern Territory and Westmoreland and Valhalla (Summit Resources) located in Queensland.

Currently a uranium exploration boom is taking place in the Northern Territory. Some of the world's largest companies, including ERA, Cogema and Cameco, are focusing on the Northern Territory. This is due to the presence of large, low production cost, uranium deposits in the Northern Territory. Recently the Australian Federal Government also came out in support of uranium exploration and mining in the Northern Territory.

Since purchasing the Westmoreland Project, Laramide has acquired a large exploration land package of highly prospective ground in both the Northern Territory and Queensland. To date Laramide holds in excess of 680,000 hectares which covers the Westmoreland conglomerate, the host of much of the mineralization in the district.

These 680,000 hectares include two joint ventures, one with Nupower Resources Ltd (NUP: ASX,) a publicly listed Australian company and Hartz Range Mines, a private Australian company. Laramide has also staked extensive ground holdings in both the Northern Territory and Queensland.

During 2005, Laramide flew a high resolution radiometric and magnetic geophysical survey over Westmoreland and the two adjacent joint venture project areas. This survey readily picked out Westmoreland and all of the other known mineralized deposits. The survey also indicated a number of other high priority targets, which either were not previously known or previously had been given a lower priority. During 2007 Laramide plans a major field campaign focusing on the new targets generated by this geophysical survey. Up to 10,000 metres of drilling will be completed on these targets.

During the 2006 field season Laramide commenced exploration on both of these Joint Venture areas. To date a number of promising projects have been identified including the following:

  • North East Westmoreland located on the Nupower Joint Venture area
  • El Hussein South located on Nupower JV
  • El Hussein located on the Hartz Range JV project

In a drill program in 2006 at North East Westmoreland, Laramide completed 2,818 metres of Reverse Circulation Drilling “RC” in 23 drill holes. Five of the drill holes did not reach target depth due to excessive water in flows. These holes will be deepened in the coming field season. The best results from this drilling are as follows:

  • NEWM204 - 5 metres @ 0.18 % U3O8 from 124 metres
  • NEWM222 - 5 metres @ 0.06 % U3O8 from 73 metres
  • NEWM216 - 2 metres @ 0.05 % U3O8 from 65 metres

Of interest NEWM204 appears to have intersected steep dipping uranium mineralization which was not previously recognized at this project.

Sampling on the El Hussein project area identified the following zones from surface sampling:

  • 1 metre @ 0.55 % U3O8
  • 7 metres @ 0.45 % U3O8
  • 1 metre @ 0.14 % U3O8

This sampling is over a strike length of 400 metres and occurs within a steep dipping structure. Previous drilling has been vertical and failed to test this zone. The target is for both steep and stratabound mineralization at depth. Laramide plans to test this zone during the 2007 field season.

Work will continue on these projects in 2007 field season. Drilling is expected to start in June 2007 to continue on The North East Westmoreland Project. This will be followed up by testing of the El Hussein target and further grass roots work.

Related Documents:

  • Review and Resource Estimate of the Redtree Group of Uranium Deposits (PDF 3.2Mb)

 

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