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Ucore Rare Metals Inc (TSX VENTURE:UCU)(OTCQX:UURAF) (“Ucore” or “the Company”) is pleased to report that it has acquired significant additional rare earth-prospective land holdings in Alaska. During May, 2011, the Company completed staking of a substantial claim block in the northern Ray Mountains region of central Alaska, on lands selected for mineral potential by the State of Alaska.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Landmark Alaska LP, Ucore has completed physical staking and claim recording on approximately 11,400 acres located in the Ray Mountains, in close proximity to the Dalton Highway. The Company has additionally conducted initial geochemical analyses of field-concentrated heavy mineral samples from the region. Most of the initial sample set was collected directly from surface exposures, and the heavy mineral content can be expected to increase at greater depths within the alluvium.
The initial assay results indicate mineral concentrates containing 5% to more than 30% combined valuable metals, with a total rare earth element (REE) content ranging from 1% to 8%. The samples additionally show high heavy REE content, generally ranging between 20% and 30% of total REE’s, and high content of the strategic metal dysprosium (Dy ranges from 2 to 5% of the total REE content). A summary of assay results from the 2008 drill program at the Dotson Zone are available at the following link: http://ucore.com/ray-mountains-assay-summary-may-2011.pdf
“The State of Alaska has shown tremendous support for Ucore and our plan to expedite the development of America’s preeminent heavy REE asset at Bokan Mountain, Prince of Wales Island,” said Jim McKenzie, President and CEO of Ucore. “With this in mind, we’ve elected to even further invest in Alaskan REE exploration and development. With the Ray Mountains acquisition, we’ve now covered what we believe to be two of the most prospective remaining REE exploration targets. We expect Bokan to become an important source of heavy REE’s to the U.S., and we’ll now begin to evaluate the Ray Mountains property to this end as well.”
Multiple mineralized stream systems and fluvial basins occur across an 80 km-wide section of the Ray Mountains region. Various government surveys during the 1970s and 1980s concluded that significant tin placer deposition of a sub-economic grade or higher are present in the drainages of the Kanuti, Kilolitna and Ray Rivers. The presence of REE was also noted at the time. The greater area is extensively eroded, forming widespread outwash fans, alluvial terraces, and generations of stream channels evident in this part of the northern intermontane region which escaped scouring by the Quaternary continental ice sheets.
Ucore’s extensive new claim package is aligned with major alluvial features of the Ray Mountains region. REE’s and associated metals such as tin have been found to occur in the alluvial outwash of the Ruby granitic batholith located there. The target metals are contained in heavy minerals which are widespread across the area, known to be resistant to weathering, and believed by Ucore geologists to be highly prospective for potentially valuable REE content and other associated rare metals. The Company has scheduled an initial reconnaissance program for the Ray Mountains project to commence this year.
The rare metal placers of the Ray Mountains contain REE as monazite and xenotime, tin as cassiterite, tungsten as wolframite, and zirconium as zircon. Minor amounts of niobium and tantalum have also been identified. Unlike hardrock deposits, heavy mineral placers can be effectively concentrated via conventional gravity separation and processing methods using only water as the separation medium. Additionally, the technology to process a monazite-xenotime placer concentrate for contained REE’s has long been known elsewhere in the world and poses no new metallurgical challenges.
The State of Alaska has been highly proactive in encouraging the exploration and development of strategic rare earth metals known to be critically important to the United States. As part of the Alaska State Budget which commences July 1, 2011, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell has announced a $500,000 allocation to the strategic assessment of REE resources within the state. Under the Alaska Statehood Act of 1959, Alaska is entitled to approximately 105 million of its own acres for resource development and other uses, and Ucore’s Ray Mountains project is situated within lands selected under this entitlement.
Read the full news release here.
