The International Resource Journal: Northern Uranium

Northern Uranium
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admin on 26 July, 2010 03:27:00
 
Northern Uranium is a company that can boast a broad portfolio, virtually
unrivaled in the industry, and an ambitious one at that. The company is an
established Australian exploration enterprise focused primarily on uranium and
rare earth exploration and development in Western Australia and the Northern
Territory—with a significant strategic land package in the Georgina and
Amadeus Basins.
Coupled with a stellar board and extensive experience exploring in the
area—Northern Uranium is set to be a major player as demand for these
resources increases worldwide.
Gardiner Tanami
Northern Uranium has an impressive land position in the Gardiner Tanami, holding
10,600sqm of land.
This particular project area is comparable to the Athabasca Basin in Canada,
which currently has the world’s highest-grade unconformity-related uranium
deposits. This represents a strong position for Northern Uranium, who can count
as counterparts those exploring Athabasca. Similar deposits anywhere outside
Gardiner Tanami and Athabasca are extremely rare, giving Northern Uranium an
edge in the industry.
George Bauk, Managing Director for Northern Uranium, says that Northern Uranium
is well-positioned to capitalize on all of their projected successes. When the
company was formed in late 2006, the “portfolio put together by Northern
Uranium was identified as extremely high potential, conceptual targeting of
unformed mineralization, which is what you see in Athabasca, Alberta,
Canada,” Bauk explains. “If you have a look at the chart of grade
code of all resources of uranium, all high grade uranium is not conformed.
Northern Uranium has had a very good history of identifying and mining those
projects in Canada. As such, the opportunity that presented itself with Northern
Uranium is something we’re very interested in,” he continues.
It was 2007 by the time that the company announced a strategic alliance with the
French nuclear group, Areva NC, via its wholly owned subsidiaries, Areva NC
Australia Pty Ltd (Areva) and Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (Afmex). 
Under the terms of that particular agreement, Afmex has become the operator of
uranium exploration and development of the Gardiner-Tanami Project (including
Denison Range), and Areva will market any uranium produced by Northern
Uranium—according to Bauk.
“The Gardiner Tanami project has been a focus for the company for the past
three-and-a-half years. The company has spent about $8 million on it, and there
has been a lot of work happening from concept through to this stage,” Bauk
says. “There was a drilling program last year and now the company’s
about to embark on the next phase of drilling which is really trying to target
the mineralization. Another component for the Gardiner Tanami is that last year
the company also announced a joint venture, which has really put together the
whole package in that area. This joint venture has delivered to us the ability
to enter into another project that has had the most successful exploration in
the past 20 or 30 years,” he continues, highlighting the amount of work
that Northern Uranium has put into the property.
“We’ve just completed some geographically mapping and there will be
further work undertaken this year. Hopefully, we can plan to have drill targets
identified for either the end of this year or early next year.”
Other focuses
Although Northern Uranium has a strong focus on uranium, the company is also
interested in phosphate. However, despite the opportunity to capitalize on
valuable phosphate resources (which can be costly at the outset), “you can
clearly see that there are valuable assets and we have to make sure people are
aware of them, but we can’t just do work on everything,” says Bauk.
He emphasizes that the company must prioritize. Northern Uranium’s
Corrondi project is located in Australia’s Northern Territory, which is
southeast of Gardiner Tanami.
Bauk says it is a “separate project with an interesting, historical
extraction” and adds that it “interesting because of its size and
potential.”
However, Bauk reminds that although this is a great project with lots of
potential, “Gardiner Tanami is the flagship project.”
“The [Gardiner Tanami] project, at this stage, gives the investors the
outcome they are chasing. Then we have the second-tier projects, and phosphate
would be below that. All of the high-grade resources in the world are all
unconformity style, and there’s not much that is close to them. There are
a lot of uranium explorers out there, but we are chasing high grade—and
grade is king,” Bauk says.
Rare earth potential identified
An interesting slant for Northern Uranium’s business is their
concentration on rare earth exploration, though it’s not a primary area of
attention like Gardiner Tanami. The company has developed a portfolio of early
stage Heavy Rare Earth Element (HREE) projects, identifying that portfolio as
representing “an exciting avenue for additional value.” The
company’s focus in HREE has been backed by the discoveries it has made as
well as the demand for rare earths.
For a bit of background, rare earths are critical to high-technology
developments, like hybrid cars and wind turbines. For a world that is trying to
embrace green technology, rare earths’ potential will be of increasing
importance.
A series of 17 chemically similar metals make up rare earths. Those metals
consist of 15 elements known as the lanthanides, in addition to yttrium and
scandium. They are classified into 3 groups;
- Light: Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium
- Medium: Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium
- Heavy: Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium,
Yittrium
There will be a steady growth of global demand for rare earths, at approximately
8-11 per cent per year. Rechargeable batteries, mobile phones, plasma and LCD
screens and laptop computers, and, on a larger scale, clean energy production,
demand rare earths. It is anticipated by those in the industry that global
demand for rare earths will eventually outstrip supply.
Strategic goals for the coming year
Northern Uranium, with its broad portfolio and strategic alliances, is set for a
busy few years. For now, however, Bauk says that the “key goal for the
coming 12 months is to intersect mineralization at Gardiner Tanami. That’s
the real key.”
If the company gets unsuccessful results, it gets tougher to process the project
smoothly. But luckily, the Northern Uranium team is not new to this game:
“We have a real skill set,” Bauk beams. “A lot of people have
talked about the lack of experience and knowledge in uranium in the past three
to five years, but there has obviously been a build up. That puts us at an
enormous advantage as we explore for the projects. It’s important to note
we own the project 100 per cent. Gardiner Tanami belongs to Northern Uranium and
there is no buy-in option from Areva,” he continues.
Clearly—no feat is too small for Northern Uranium, and one can expect big
announcements from the company within the year.
northernuranium.com.au