ABOUT
Urano Energy is a mineral exploration company focused on conventional uranium projects in the United States. With a preference for uranium projects in progressive jurisdictions, Urano leverages its access to large U.S. historic proprietary databases to acquire and advance previously explored conventional uranium projects. The Company conducts ongoing research, claim staking and further exploration to confirm the mineral potential of its targets. As the need for mineral independence and domestic nuclear energy grows, Urano Energy continues to utilize the extensive expertise throughout its board and management to establish its position as an industry leader.
The technical disclosure on this page was approved by Dr. Douglas H. Underhill, CPG, Chief Geologist for Urano Energy Corp., and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101
Location
50 km north of Port aux Basque, Newfoundland
SIZE
2,825 ha
OWNERSHIP
Seven documented uranium occurrences
Management
Urano has a strong management team in exploration for sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the western United States
The style of low-grade uranium mineralisation within extensive, organic-rich siliciclastic rocks is similar to sandstone-hosted uranium districts in the western United States. These districts have produced significant amounts of uranium from conventional and low-impact, low-cost in-Situ Recovery (ISR) operations. The potential for ISR amenable uranium mineralisation has never been evaluated in the Bay St. George Sub-basin.
Based on regional maps the widespread nature of the noted uranium occurrences and the volume of potential host-rock is significant in this area and could represent an economic uranium target. ISR is a globally accepted extraction process to remove uranium with wellfield technology, eliminating the need for open pit or underground mining.
Previous work in the area was focused primarily on red-bed copper potential of the Bay St. George Sub-basin, but also identified a strong correlation between high-grade copper and strongly anomalous uranium coincident with an airborne radiometric anomaly within the Codroy Uranium Property. Shell Oil geologists noted “Potential for sedimentary hosted uranium deposits in the Carboniferous of Newfoundland similar to the Pugwork – Tatamagouche type occurrences in Nova Scotia. Noting a close association of limestone or limy beds with most of the Codroy Valley uranium mineralization and hypothesized that the fluids, from which the limestones were precipitated, were uranium enriched and acted as a source of uranium” 1. The uranium mineralization occurs in a thick sequence of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates with the best anomalies associated with carbonaceous material. Carbonaceous rock chip values from the prospect known as Codroy 4 returned values to 2.2% uranium. This prospect has yet to be drill tested. Some of the better historic rock chip samples from surface mineralisation at the Limestone, Seythestone and Stephen’s Brook locations within the limits of the property returned copper values of 0.5% to a maximum of 1.6% with accompanying uranium values from 26 to 93 ppm.
At the Codroy Valley 6 prospect significant copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and uranium (U) values were reported from oxidized grey siltstone, sandstone and conglomerate:
Results of geochemical analyses of rock samples from the Codroy 6 prospect:
| Sample # | Cu (ppm) | Pb (ppm) | Zn (ppm) | U (ppm) |
| 152 | 7000 | 330 | 2940 | 20.0 |
| 153 | >20,000 | 520 | 2680 | 435.0 |
| 154 | 10,800 | 580 | 2420 | 78.0 |
| 3522 | >20,000 (%4) | 520 | 5800 | 400.0 |
Two limited phases of drilling have been completed in the area. Shell drilled two holes within the property in 1981 and Cornerstone Resources drilled 5 holes within the property in 2006. These widely spaced reconnaissance holes, several kilometers apart from one another, do not represent an adequate test of the sedimentary formations hosting the anomalous metal values.
The region is underlain by the Carboniferous-age sub-aerial sedimentary rocks that fill the Bay St. George Sub-basin. The area was originally explored for sediment-hosted copper mineralization. However, the early regional evaluation programs highlighted anomalous uranium concentrations often accompany the copper mineralisation in outcrop, drill-core, and stream sediment samples. Urano. intends to evaluate the potential for economic uranium mineralisation in the area and its potential amenability to In-Situ Recovery (ISR) techniques.
The Codroy Uranium Property is underlain by Bay St. George sub-basin, the northeast extension of the regional-scale Maritime Basin. The 10 km thick succession Carboniferous-age sedimentary rocks form the Anguille, Codroy, and Barachois groups. The most prospective portion of the stratigraphy is the Codroy Group are the Mollichignick Member of the Robinsons River, Woody Cape, and Friars Cove formations. The Mollichignick Member is a 2,300 m thick succession of red siltstone and red to grey micaceous sandstone. The succession is interpreted to have been deposited as a basin-fill sequences with coarsening-up sequences at the base and braided stream and floodplain deposits in the upper portions of the member. Mineralisation within the succession occurs as disseminated chalcocite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and malachite with yet to be identified uranium mineral(s). Mineralisation typically forms within reduced portions of the grey, micaceous sandstone beds, which commonly contain woody trash. Previous work in the area concentrated on the potential for copper mineralization in the Mollichignick Member but noted that anomalous uranium has a strong correlation with copper in rock samples. The known mineralised outcrops occur within a 15-20 km2 airborne radiometric anomaly.
1Sherwin, J. G., 1981: Report on geological mapping, prospecting and geochemical sampling work for licence 1245 on claim block 1511 in the Codroy area, Newfoundland. Bondar-Clegg and Company Limited, Northgate Exploration Limited, and Shell Canada Resources Limited Unpublished report [GSB# 011O/14/0102]
Location & Access
110 kilometres northwest of Carmacks, Yukon; winter road access & airstrip
SIZE
259 mineral claims, 5,414 hectares
OWNERSHIP
100% Ownership
WORK TO DATE
Soil geochemical, airborne & ground geophysical, mapping & sampling surveys, & 1,589 m drilling in 20 holes (historical) & 14,063 m drilling in 65 holes (current)
TARGET
Structure and lithology controlled Au-Ag, Porphyry Cu-Au-Mo
ADJACENT PROJECTS
Coffee Au Deposit (Newmont), Casino Cu-Au-Mo Deposit (Western Copper), Freegold Mountain Au Deposit (Triumph)
Sporadic exploration was conducted from 1965 to 2001 including surface work and 1,589 metres of drilling in 20 holes. From 2003 to 2011 Sonora Gulch saw comprehensive exploration including soil geochemical, geophysical, mapping and prospecting surveys, and drilling. This work was done mostly by Northern Tiger Resources Inc. which was merged into Golden Predator in 2014. In 2011 Northern Tiger shifted its entire exploration effort to the 3 Aces gold property located on the Nahanni Range Road in southeastern Yukon. The 3 Aces property is currently Golden Predator’s flagship project. Taku recently acquired an option to earn a 100% interest in the Sonora Gulch property from Golden Predator Mining Corp. (“Golden Predator”).
A NI 43-101 compliant technical report was completed on the Sonora Gulch property in February 2011 by Watts, Griffis and McOuat Ltd.1 The report recommended a drill program of 16,400 metres to test targets for both structurally and lithological controlled gold-silver mineralization, and for bulk tonnage copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry mineralization. The technical report concludes that Sonora Gulch remains underexplored considering the scale of the mineralized system and its location in the prospective Dawson Range Mineral Belt. The following technical discussion is derived from the 2011 NI 43-101 report except where otherwise noted.
A nine square kilometre gold anomaly has been outlined on Sonora Gulch from 1,971 soil samples with gold-in-soil values ranging from trace to 2,340 parts per billion gold (“ppb Au”) averaging 56ppb Au. Contained within this broad gold anomaly is a two square kilometre copper anomaly with copper-in-soil values ranging from trace to 1,870 part per million copper (“ppm Cu”) averaging 145ppm Cu from 443 samples. Age determinations published by the Yukon Geological Survey2 indicate that the Sonora Gulch system is temporally equivalent to the Casino copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposit, located roughly 40 kilometres to the west-northwest.
The copper-molybdenum anomaly is flanked by three gold targets including the Amadeus zone on the east, the Nightmusic zone on the northwest, and the Gold Vein zone on the southwest. From 2006 to 2011, 14,063 metres were drilled in 65 holes, with significant gold-silver mineralization encountered at the Amadeus, Nightmusic and Gold Vein zones.
The 700 by 250 metre Amadeus zone is a strong gold-silver anomaly centered on the Amadeus quartz-feldspar porphyry. It appears to have a high level epithermal system marginal to the porphyry. Selected drill intersections include gold and silver values in grams per tonne (“gpt”) as follows:
| Hole | From m | Int. m | Au gpt | Ag gpt |
| SG-06-04 | 29.7 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 45.0 |
| SG-06-05 | 19.4 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 7.0 |
| & | 67.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 92.0 |
| SG-06-06 | 208.3 | 11.1 | 8.0 | 3.0 |
| SG-06-12 | 205.0 | 14.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
The 2,000 by 150 m Nightmusic zone is a very strong gold-silver anomaly that lies along the southern contact of an ultramafic body just north of the Big Creek fault. Drilling to date has concentrated on the ultramafic contact rather than on possible structural targets related to the Big Creek fault. Selected drill intersections include:
| Hole | From m | Int. m | Au gpt | Ag gpt |
| SG-08-23 | 113.3 | 2.0 | 5.1 | 1.2 |
| SG-08-25 | 51.7 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 2.0 |
| & | 117.0 | 5.2 | 2.1 | 18.0 |
| SG-08-27 | 70.0 | 46.0 | 3.0 | 9.0 |
| SG-08-28 | 111.4 | 17.6 | 1.6 | 29.0 |
| & | 164.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 75.0 |
| SG-09-33 | 91.0 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 2.2 |
| & | 127.1 | 1.4 | 5.3 | 7.4 |
| SG-09-37 | 82.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 62.0 |
| SG-09-38 | 101.0 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 25.0 |
| SG-09-41 | 13.7 | 5.1 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| SG-09-44 | 78.4 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 139 |
| SG-10-52 | 27.3 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 28.0 |
The 1,400 by 500 m Gold Vein zone is a very strong gold-silver anomaly that is marked by wide alteration zones on the south margin of the QVZ quartz-feldspar porphyry. Selected drill intersections include:
| Hole | From m | Int. m | Au gpt | Ag gpt |
| SG08-26 | 216.5 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 81.0 |
| SG10-46 | 37.2 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| SG10-47 | 180.4 | 6.0 | 1.4 | 44.0 |
| SG10-48 | 177.0 | 1.0 | 5.65 | 33.0 |
| SG10-50 | 134.8 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| SG10-53 | 280.0 | 16.0 | 1.9 | 6.1 |
| SG10-55 | 88.4 | 44.6 | 1.1 | 24.0 |
| Incl. | 115.0 | 4.0 | 11.3 | 232.5 |
| SG11-573 | 3.0 | 94.0 | 0.42 | 3.8 |
| SG11-583 | 3.0 | 234.0 | 0.45 | 3.0 |
| SG11-593 | 49.0 | 110.0 | 0.44 | 2.6 |
The Sonora Gulch property covers a tectonic setting where the Big Creek fault, a first-order regional northwest-trending structure, intersects both mid- and Late Cretaceous magmatism, representing a highly prospective target area for economic metal deposits.2 The Big Creek fault is recognized as a controlling structure to many mineral occurrences in the Dawson Range including Triumph Gold Corp.’s Freegold Mountain gold deposit located 70 km southwest of Sonora Gulch. In addition, Newmont’s Coffee gold deposit is located 75 kilometres northwest on the same mineralizing trend.
Recent Developments
On September 2, 2017, $360 million in combined federal and territorial funding to improve road access in the mineral-rich areas of the Dawson Range in central Yukon and the Nahanni Range Road in southeastern Yukon was announced by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of Yukon, Sandy Silver. The “Yukon Resource Gateway Project” will help upgrade over 650 kilometres of road and build or replace numerous bridges, culverts, and stream crossings including four separate public road systems In the Dawson Range where Taku holds ten properties enclosing 2,366 mineral claims covering a total of 48,261 hectares. In particular the upgrades to the winter-only access Casino Trail, which currently passes through Taku’s Sonora Gulch and Chopin properties will have a lasting positive effect on the projects’ logistics and provide long term benefits to Taku and its shareholders.
- R.H. (2011) Technical Report on the Sonora Gulch Project, Yukon Territory. Prepared by Watts, Griffis and McQuat. (unpubl.);
- Bennett, V., Schulze, C., Ouellette, D. and Pollries, B., 2010. Deconstructing complex Au-Ag-Cu mineralization, Sonora Gulch project, Dawson Range: A Late Cretaceous evolution to the epithermal environment. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2009, K.E. MacFarlane, L.H. Weston and L.R. Blackburn (eds.), Yukon Geological Survey, p. 23-45; and
- Ouellette, D., 2013. Assessment Report on the 2011 Diamond Drilling Program, Sonora Gulch Property, Dawson Range, Yukon Yukon Energy Mines and Resources Assessment Report No. 096382
- Newfoundland Gold Projects: Millertown Project, Badger Project, Barrens Lake Project;
- Limited comprehensive gold exploration until the 1970’s position Newfoundland for a modern-day gold rush due to private ownership of most mineral rights pre-1970;
- Proven gold mines combined with modern gold exploration and discoveries;
- The Geological Survey of Canada identified widespread orogenic gold mineralization in Central Newfoundland within and in proximity to crustal-scale faults;
