VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (BSK.V) (MAL2.F) (BKUCF), ("Blue Sky" or the "Company") is a member of the Grosso Group and is the 100% owner of approximately 459,000 hectares (1,134,000 acres) of uranium and vanadium concessions in Argentina in the southern provinces of Chubut and Río Negro, Argentina.
Achievements
The Company’s flagship project, the Amarillo Grande encompasses a significant new uranium-vanadium district in the southern Argentina province of Río Negro, initially discovered by BSK in 2006. Since then, BSK has systematically assembled mineral rights covering more than 300,000 hectares along a +140 km prospective mineral trend.
Three principal mineralized areas, including the recently defined Ivana uranium‑vanadium deposit, and numerous target zones have been identified along the Amarillo Grande trend where all mineralization identified to date is at, or near surface. Collectively, these highlight the significant geological potential for multiple discoveries and development of a new world‑class uranium-vanadium district.
The Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit, located at the southeasternmost end of the Amarillo Grande trend, represents the largest National Instrument 43-101 uranium mineral resource in Argentina, and one of the largest uranium deposits ever discovered in the country. The maiden resource estimate comprises Inferred resources totaling 19.1 million pounds U308 and 10.2 million pounds of V205 (23.9 Mt averaging 0.036% U308 and 0.019% V2O5, at a 100 ppm uranium cut-off; NI 43-101 Technical Report by Thorson et al. filed on SEDAR dated April 18th, 2018).
The Amarillo Grande Project shares many geological similarities with the Inkai district, Kazakhstan, which produces approximately 7% of the world’s uranium, as well as the surficial uranium districts of Namibia (Langer Heinrich) and Western Australia (Yeelirrie and Lake Maitland).
A summary of key aspects of Blue Sky’s Amarillo Grande Project that speak to its overall potential include:
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Expansive wholly-owned property covering a +300,000 hectares – a new mineral district with high geological potential for multiple discoveries;
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Discovery of new ~20 million pound maiden 43-101 compliant uranium-vanadium resource at Ivana, the largest in Argentina and open to further expansion in both directions along strike with additional highly prospective targets identified in the surrounding area;
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Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) underway;
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Leverage to both improving uranium price and already strong vanadium price;
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Laterally extensive at or near surface uranium-vanadium mineralization hosted in poorly consolidated sands and gravels - potentially low mining cost with no drilling/blasting;
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Preliminary test work indicates that insitu mineralization can be upgraded and recovered using simple and low-cost methods (see news release dated February 7, 2011, January 22, 2018 and May 23, 2018) – potentially lowering transport and processing costs and allowing for multiple extraction sites feeding a central processing facility; and
- High recoveries with low cost and environmentally benign alkaline leach (see news January 22, 2018) – potentially low processing cost and environmental footprint.
The Uranium Market
Concerns over the global oil supply and global warming have renewed interest in nuclear energy as it is a carbon-free source of electricity with no CO 2 emissions. Many industrialized nations are heavily dependent on nuclear power generation and while nuclear power capacity grows uranium, production continues to be below annual demand resulting in the depletion of world uranium inventories.
During the period of 2015 to 2019 there will be 55 new reactors being built in 12 countries.1 This puts pressure on the annual uranium base demand and just for 2018‑2019 the demand totals 382 million pounds yet only 141 million pounds are projected to come from mine supply in 2018.2
The US uranium production for the first quarter of 2018 was close to a 70-year low at 226,780 pounds 3– less than what is needed for one reactor despite the US flagging uranium, lithium, cobalt, vanadium along with a list of 35 other critical minerals as “essential to the economic and national security” of the US!
Despite the growing demand for uranium, prices remain low and many of the large uranium miners have placed projects on “care and maintenance” causing inventories over time to be depleted leading us to conclude that uranium prices must increase in order to meet and ensure a sustainable uranium supply given the global demand for “clean” energy sources.
Blue Sky Uranium is poised to deliver exceptional returns to shareholders as it continues to advance its uranium / vanadium discovery at Amarillo Grande / Ivana, positioning the Company to benefit from the anticipated uranium rebound market as it works towards its goal of developing into a global supplier of uranium / vanadium.
Qualified Persons
The results of the Company's drilling program were reviewed, verified (including sampling, analytical and test data) and compiled by the Company's geological staff under the supervision of David Terry, Ph.D., P.Geo. Dr. Terry is a Director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. The contents of this news release have been reviewed and approved by Dr. Terry.
About the Amarillo Grande Project
This new 140-kilometre-long uranium district was first identified, staked and underwent preliminary exploration by Blue Sky from 2007 to 2012 as part of the Grosso Group’s strategy of adding alternative energy focus to its successful portfolio of metals exploration companies. The proximity of several major targets suggests that if resources are delineated a central processing facility could be utilized. The area is flat-lying, semi-arid and accessible year-round, with nearby rail, power and port access.
Mineralization identified to date at Amarillo Grande has characteristics of sandstone-type and surficial-type uranium-vanadium deposits. The sandstone-type deposit is related to a braided fluvial system comprising a potentially district-size “roll front” system where uranium minerals occur in porous poorly-consolidated sandstones and conglomerates. In surficial-type uranium deposits, carnotite mineralization coats loosely consolidated pebbles of sandstone and conglomerates. Carnotite is amenable to leaching, and preliminary metallurgical work indicates that the mineralized material can be upgraded using a very simple wet screening method. The near-surface mineralization, ability to locally upgrade, amenability to leaching and central processing possibility suggest a potentially low-cost development scenario for a future deposit.
For additional details on the project and properties, please see the Company’s website: www.blueskyuranium.com
About Blue Sky Uranium Corp.
Blue Sky Uranium Corp. is a leader in uranium discovery in Argentina. The Company's objective is to deliver exceptional returns to shareholders by rapidly advancing a portfolio of surficial uranium deposits into low-cost producers. Blue Sky holds has the exclusive right to over 434,000 hectares (equiv. to 1,072,437 acres) of property in two provinces in Argentina. The Company’s flagship Amarillo Grande Project was an in-house discovery of a new district that has the potential to be both a leading domestic supplier of uranium to the growing Argentine market and a new international market supplier. The Company is a member of the Grosso Group, a resource management group that has pioneered exploration in Argentina since 1993.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“Nikolaos Cacos”
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Nikolaos Cacos, President, CEO and Director
For further information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
Tel: 1-604-687-1828
Toll-Free: 1-800-901-0058
Email: info@blueskyuranium.com
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Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's public disclosure documents for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties.
1 World Nuclear Association. May 14, 2018. Surge in new nuclear helps build a sustainable global energy mix [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/press/press-statements/surge-in-new-nuclear-helps-build-a-sustainable-glo.aspx .
2 Proven and Probable. May 22, 2018. UEC Recap of a Busy Week in the Uranium Industry. Retrieved from https://provenandprobable.com/uec-recap-of-a-busy-week-in-the-uranium-industry/ .
3 U.S. Energy Information Administration. May 2018. Domestic Uranium Production Report, First-Quarter 2018. Retrieved from https://www.eia.gov/uranium/production/quarterly/pdf/qupd.pdf .
