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In April, 2005 the Company acquired the right to earn a 50% interest in the MacInnis Lake uranium project from Alberta Star Development Corp. (TSX.V: ASX; OTC BB: ASXSF), complimenting its current land holdings adjacent to Alberta Star's Longtom Lake property in the Northwest territories, where the discovery of high-grade uranium was announced in 2004.
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- Unconformity Type of Uranium occurrence with base, precious, and rare earth potential. Some of the drill indicated deposits that have been found on the property include:
- the Dussault, which has 27,000 tons of 0.17% U308 (the occurrence appears to be open down dip and along strike) and values of 0.84% U308 were intersected over 2 feet.;
- the Ace, with a reported 30,000 to 50,000 tons of ore grade material;
- the Cole showing that has samples that assayed 6.58% U308 and 0.123 ounce per ton gold; and
- the KULT, which has assays that returned up to 7% Copper and 3.4% U308
This type of deposit is typical of an Athabasca Basin type occurrence. The Athabasca Basin, 140 km south of MacInnis Lake, is the location of the major Uranium mines in Canada. The Basin itself is an oval-shaped deposit of sandstone, elongated east-west, which sits atop older "basement" rocks. The sandstone layer is shaped like a bowl - thicker in the center (over 1,000 meters), tapering to less than 100 meters thickness at the edges. Uranium deposits are, for the most part, located at or near the contact between the sandstone and basement rocks (called the "unconformity"), and thus historical exploration has focused on the edges of the Basin where the thin sandstone makes it easy to get at this mineralized zone. Geologists involved believe this is because of linear structures present in the basement rock here, called "shear zones", similar to faults, which run northeast-southwest underneath the Basin. The shear zones do several important things, including providing a track for uranium-rich fluids to flow along and creating empty space within the ground where uranium can be deposited. Many shear zones also contain abundant graphite (carbon), which causes uranium to fall out of solution and form significant deposits. These structures seem to have played a major role in making the Athabasca Basin's eastern rim ores more heavily mineralized than deposits discovered so far in other sections.
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The total value of Athabasca's uranium deposits is on the order of US$30 billion (1.5 billion pounds of U308), putting the region on par with the world's major mining districts - Nevada's Carlin trend (US$35 billion at US$300 per ounce gold), and Ontario's Timmins Camp (US$21 billion) and Hemlo (US$6.6 billion). The world average grade from producing uranium mines is 0.15% U308. - Vein/Shear Fractures that have returned assays up to 0.28% U308.
- Paleoplacer Polymetallic type that are found in 6 areas on the property.
All of these targets are very viable and have the chance of finding an economic deposit. Modern geophysical techniques will enhance the probability of finding a deposit, with MAX and Alberta Star having contracted for a "MEGATEM" airborne survey on MacInnis area, to be flown in late April 2005. In the past 10 years there has been little activity in the uranium exploration scene and there have been significant technological advancements in the application of geophysical exploration techniques. There has been a "Quantum Leap" in the ability to detect mineral deposits from the air compared to previous limits of 100+ metres. With a "MEGATEM" survey, you can now image into the earth up to 1000 metres (over half a mile) to look for conductive targets. These new, highly sophisticated radio transmitters and receivers, coupled with high-powered computers, continue to push new limits.
The purpose of the airborne surveys is to image the magnetism and conductivity of the rocks under the aircraft as it flies its survey lines. The magnetic images allow the geologist to identify the different types of rocks in the area, and how they are broken up or crumpled. The conductivity surveys show the potential location of mineral deposits and alteration zones.
