Paladin Announces Large Resource Upgrade for Langer Heinrich
- Resource upgrade delineates world class uranium deposit - Confirms Langer Heinrich as the largest calcrete hosted uranium deposit in the world - 46% increase in the Measured and Indicated Resources - 64% increase in the Inferred Resources - Overall grade remains at 0.06% U3O8
9:10 AM ET, August 28, 2008
PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, Aug 28, 2008 (Marketwire via COMTEX) -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Paladin Energy Ltd ("Paladin" or "the Company") (PDN)(ASX:PDN) is pleased to advise that the 2007/08 resource drilling of the mineralised palaeochannel in all Details has returned highly encouraging results. This drilling programme of 17,751m of RC drilling from 717 holes is shown on the map below. A revised mineral resource estimate for the Langer Heinrich Deposit conforming to both the JORC and NI 43-101 codes has now been completed and the results are reported below using a 250ppm U3O8 cut off. This now means that the entire deposit has been re-estimated since the previous resource estimate was reported in 2006, also at a cut off of 250ppm U3O8.
New Mineral Resource Estimate for Details 1 to 7, (250ppm U3O8 Cut Off, depleted for mining)
250ppm Cut-off M t Grade % U3O8 t U3O8 Mlb U3O8Measured Resources 32.8 0.06 19,582 43.158Indicated Resources 23.6 0.06 13,276 29.260-------------------------------------------------- 72.418Measured + Indicated 56.4 0.06 32,858 (46% increase)-------------------------------------------------- 91.591Inferred Resources 70.7 0.06 41,557 (64% increase)--------------------------------------------------
Compared to the previous Mineral Resources announced in 2006 the new 2008 resource (estimates outlined herein represent a 55% increase in contained U3O8 and comprise.
- 46% increase in the Measured and Indicated Resources from 22,548t (49.7Mlb) to 32,858t (72.4Mlb) contained U3O8, after depletion for mining.
- 64% increase in the Inferred Resources from 25,308t (55.8Mlb) to 41,557t (91.6Mlb) contained U3O8.
A substantial portion of the resources are in the Measured and Indicated Resources categories, representing 44% of the overall resources identified for Langer Heinrich and confirms the very robust nature of the deposit. The infill drilling in Details 1 and 2 has shown an excellent conversion rate of Inferred to Measured and Indicated categories giving confidence that future campaigns will achieve similar results.
COMPARISON OF NEW AND PREVIOUS RESOURCE ESTIMATES
The tables below show the substantial overall increases in resources in all Details following this re-estimation, using the same cut off grade as used in the 2006 estimate. Minor local reduction in resource grades is a result of a change to the resource variance adjustment based on actual grade control reconciliations. The overall average grade remains at 0.06% U3O8. Following extensive studies undertaken by Langer Heinrich Minesite, a decision has been taken to change the bulk density used in the resource estimation from 2.1g/cm3 to 2.4g/cm3 which has resulted in an approximately 14% increase in tonnes and metal content.
To view the accompanying graph, please visit the following link: media3.marketwire.com/docs/pdlgraph828.pdf
All Details - 250ppm U3O8 Cut Off--------------------------------------------------CATEGORY MEASURED INDICATED INFERRED--------------------------------------------------2006 and 2008 estimate Grade Grade Grade comp- Tonnes ppm Metal Tonnes ppm Metal Tonnes ppm Metal arison Mt U3O8 t U3O8 Mt U3O8 t U3O8 Mt U3O8 t U3O8--------------------------------------------------Detail 1 2006 12.15 736 9,200 4.54 602 2,733 2.8 571 1,599(i)Detail 1 2008 18.31 659 12,062 7.24 655 4,741 1.9 824 1,551--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decrease) 50.7% (10.5%) 31.1% 59.5% 8.8% 73.5% (32.1%) 44.3% (3.0%)--------------------------------------------------Detail 2 2006 4.79 628 3,008 5.08 565 2,870 8.6 691 5,942Detail 2 2008 12.98 579 7,512 7.54 592 4,467 11.2 682 7,635--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decr- ease) 171.0% (7.8%) 149.7% 48.4% 4.8% 55.6% 30.2% (1.3%) 28.5%--------------------------------------------------Detail 3 2006 2.67 576 1,538 3.70 448 1,658 1.1 468 519Detail 3 2008 3.97 429 1,702 2.65 483 1,277 2.9 612 1,801--------------------------------------------------Increase /(Decr- ease) 48.7% (25.5%) 10.7% (28.4%) 7.8% (23.0%) 163.6% 30.8% 247.0%--------------------------------------------------Detail 4 2006 9.0 437 3,933Detail 4 2008 15.3 379 5,807--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decrease) 70.0% (13.3%) 47.6%--------------------------------------------------Detail 5 2006 1.66 477 792 3.11 470 1,461 5.7 464 2,645Detail 5 2008 1.26 455 574 6.17 453 2,795 7.9 465 3,655--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decr- ease) (24.1%) (4.6%) (27.5%) 98.4% (3.6%) 91.3% 38.6% 0.02% 38.2%--------------------------------------------------Detail 6 2006 3.0 491 1,473Detail 6 2008 5.5 459 2,527--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decrease) 83.3% (6.5%) 71.6%--------------------------------------------------Detail 7 2006 10.1 735 7,424Detail 7 2008 25.9 716 18,580--------------------------------------------------Increase/ (Decrease) 156.4% (2.6%) 150.3%--------------------------------------------------(i) Detail 1 resources have not been depleted for mining in this comparisonDetail boundaries have been aligned between both resources
Mineral Resources are quoted exclusive of Run of Mine (ROM) stockpiles which, at the end of May 2008, contained 3.5M tonnes at a grade of 514ppm U3O8 for 1,796t (3.96Mlb) U3O8. Mineral Resources are quoted inclusive of any Mineral Reserves.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL
The potential for increasing the resource base even further within ML140 is still regarded as high. All Details contain substantial mineralisation which remains in the Inferred category and future drilling will concentrate on raising resource confidence in these areas. Whilst the majority of the mineralisation has been closed off laterally there are still a number of substantial areas which need to be infilled within the main body of the resource.
It should be noted that a considerable amount of currently sub-economic mineralisation exists above a cut off of 100ppm U3O8 and below the current economic cut off of 250ppm U3O8 which has the potential to be of significant value should heap leach processing of calcrete uranium mineralization to be viable. The new resource that has been estimated indicates (in the cut off range of 100ppm and 250ppm U3O8) that there is 29.1Mt at a grade of 176ppm for 11.3Mlb U3O8 in the Measured and Indicated categories and 47.5Mt at a grade of 172ppm for 17.9Mlb in the Inferred category. Heap leach studies are currently underway at Langer Heinrich to determine the feasibility of processing this material.
CONCLUSION
The resource drilling work has resulted in a significant increase in the mineral resources of the Langer Heinrich Deposit. At present, a total of 74,415t (over 164Mlb) of contained U3O8 is now identified in the Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources categories after depletion for mining. The Langer Heinrich Deposit can now be regarded as a truly world class uranium resource. In the revised resource base there are still 70Mt of Inferred Resources grading at 0.06% U3O8 containing 41,557t (91.6Mlb) U3O8. The Directors believe a considerable amount of these Inferred Resources will be able to be converted to Measured and Indicated Resources categories in the future.
Ore Reserve studies involving pit optimization and scheduling based on parameters derived from the proposed 6 Mlbs/a LHU Stage 3 upgrade are currently underway and an updated Ore Reserve is expected to be announced in the near future.
There is strong expectation therefore that these new resource estimates will contribute significantly to extending both minelife of the Project and the subsequent upgrades in production. Additional mine production is regarded as being essential to meet increasing worldwide demand. Therefore the opportunity to readily and substantially expand production of the Langer Heinrich mining operation with long term production output, places Paladin in an excellent position to capitalise on the market opportunities and further benefit its shareholders.