EPL 3138, 3439 – 637 km²

Bordering Rio Tinto’s Rossing Mine to the north and 25km to the Langer Heinrich project to the east, the Husab Project covers an area of 637 km²  and contains several uranium prospects ranging from grass roots exploration through to advanced resource definition. The area has also been mined for copper and flurospar. The main focus for Extract is defining a significant uranium resource base that can under pin profitable and sustained production.

The main target areas include:

The Ida Dome - a synformal structure with approximately 10,000 metres of Uranium mineralisation defined by ground radiometrics (pdf 269kb) and follow up ground spectrometer surveys. The area contains seven different prospects that are predominantly at the resource definition stage and include Ida Central. Swakop West. Garnet Valley, Hook, New Camp, Hollands Dome and Ida East. 

Hildenhof is the eastern extension of the Goanikontes dome and has an indication of anomalous uranium over 2,000m of strike.

Rossing South is 5 km south of the Rossing Mine – a mine that has had 30 years of uninterrupted operation @ 300ppm U3O8. Rossing and Rossing South share the same stratigraphy with potential extensions of 15 km into EPL 3138. Extract is yet to fully explore the potential of Rossing South - early investigation of previous drill holes and recent drilling has intersected alaskite with anomalous levels of uranium mineralisation. Four lines of drilling in recent months have produced significant results both from lab assay and hand-held spectrometer. Rossing South represents the first significant New Discovery in the area for many years.

The main deposit types being investigated include alaskite and calcrete hosted uranium mineralization. Alaskite hosted primary uranium deposits are leucogranites that have exploited pre-existing structures, such as unconformity surfaces, and occur as extensive sheet-like intrusions and anastomising dykes. The best example of this style of mineralisation - bulk tonnage and low grade - is the Rossing deposit. The Ida Dome targets are one of four known occurrences of this style of uranium mineralisation in Central West Namibia - the others being Rossing, Goanikontes and Valencia.

Much of the Husab project area is dominated by flat desert peneplain cut by major drainage systems, such as the Swakop and Khan Rivers and tributaries. These areas are prospective targets for defining palaeo channel and calcrete hosted mineralisation. The best example of this style of mineralisation in Namibia is the Langer Heinrich.

Ida Dome

The Ida Dome area – EPL 3439 - was previously drilled by Anglo American Corp in the late 1970’s. Approximately 900m of strike length was tested from 61 holes along Anomaly ‘A” and “D” (now renamed Garnet Valley and Hollands Dome) and the testing was  to a depth of (only) 50m with many holes ending in mineralization. This early work also demonstrated that the uranium mineralisation was open along strike and at depth.

Ida Dome offers approximately 10,000 metres of strike extent with uranium mineralisation confirmed in the field by ground spectrometer surveys, channel sampling and drilling. The mineralisation trends NE - SW with the westerb limb (Garnet Valley, Swakop West and Ida Central) of the synform dipping to the SE and the eastern limb (Hollands Dome and Ida East) dipping NW. Some internal alaskites, in between the limbs of the synform, have also been identified - such as New Camp - indicating that there is also potential to define additional uranium mineralisation.

Uranium mineralisation has also been detected in some of the sedimentary units surrounding and caught up within the Ida Dome alaskites. Some of these zones have returned anamalously high uranium values for this style of mineralisation. The best example detected thus far is at Holland's Dome where calc silicate and garnet skarn units have returned spectrometer readings in excess of 1.0% eU.

In August 2008 the Company announced a maiden resource on the Ida Dome Project of 25.1 m lbs U308, within the Garnet Valley, New Camp and Ida Central zones.  These areas have not yet been closed off, and will continue to grow along with the resource drilling currently occurring on Holland’s Dome, also within the Ida Dome complex. Specifically, this maiden resource is a result of 28,852 metres of drilling completed thus far on the Ida Dome Project, being 48% of the planned 60,000 metre program.

Lower Cut	Indicated			Inferred
	Tonnes Above	U3O8	Contained U3O8	Tonnes Above	U3O8	Contained U3O8
	Cutoff (Mt)	(ppm)	(M lb)	Cutoff (Mt)	(ppm)	(M lb)
Garnet Valley
100	0.6	246	0.31	43.5	224	21.39
200	0.5	259	0.26	25.6	263	14.77
New Camp
100				4	156	1.4
200				0.4	234	0.2
Ida Central
100				5.2	170	1.96
200				1.1	238	0.6
Total
100	0.6	246	0.31	52.7	213	24.8
200	0.5	259	0.26	27	261	15.6

map pdf | larger image

Rossing South

Located about 5km south of the Rossing Mine, this is an area which is interpreted to contain the folded extensions of the stratigraphy hosting the Rossing deposit alaskites. The area is characterised by a flat peneplain surface with sands and gravels obscuring the underlying lithologies.

First vertical derivative, air borne magnetic data clearly indicates that the Rossing stratigraphy trends into EPL 3138. This has been verified in the field with the first ever drilling in the area intersecting alaskites with anomalous mineralisation. Recent work in this area continues to define the potential of this highly prospective zone.

Surface coatings of carnotite (secondary uranium mineral) in calcretes have also been mapped in the area with potential to define additional secondary hosted uranium mineralisation.

map pdf | larger image

On February 1, Extract released the first ever drill holes into the Rössing South zone which included an intersection of 40 metres at 240ppm U3O8 (including 8 metres at 998 ppm U3O8), and 100 metres at 265 ppm U3O8 (including 69 metres at 321 ppm U3O8. The results were the establishment of a new uranium discovery. Normally, uranium mineralization is identified by radiometric testing on surface.

The mineralization at Rossing South is covered by approximately 30 metres of overburden which completely eliminates any radiometric signature. The drilling at Rössing South was aimed at testing a magnetic low feature interpreted to represent the Khan and Rössing Formation unconformity surface. The uranium mineralised alaskites at the Rössing Mine and around Ida Dome generally occur proximal to this surface.

Reconnaissance exploration drilling has now been completed on 4 separate lines each 1,600 metres apart with holes spaced on 80 metre centres and a fifth hole, 400m to the north. Assays are not yet available for most these holes, but hand held spectrometer analysis returned values up to 2,520 ppm uranium metal (0.25% U or approximately 0.295% U3O8). Subsequent downhole spectral logging has provided a number of highly encouraging readings including:

167m @ 229 ppm eU3O8

81m @ 536 ppm eU3O8

40m @607 ppm eU3O8 and

19m @ 2139 ppm eU3O8

Note: eU3O8 refers to equivalent U3O8 grade derived from spectral gamma logging.

These holes have now outlined a mineralized body with an indicated strike length of 3,600 metres (open to North and South) and a width of approximately 180 metres to a depth of approximately 200 metres. With grades at least the equivalent of those seen at Rossing, these dimensions could add up to a considerably larger resource than that expected at Ida Dome.

It’s still early days at Rössing South, but these initial results indicate that a very large deposit could be lurking beneath the alluvial cover in this area.

An initial target has been set by the Company:-

Area	Tonnage Estimate Lower scenario (million tonne)	Tonnage Estimate Upper scenario (million tonne)	Grade Estimate Lower Scenario (ppm U3O8)	Grade Estimate Upper scenario (ppm U3O8)	Uranium Content Lower scenario (million lb U3O8)	Uranium Content Upper scenario (million lb U3O8)
Zone 1	100	140	260	300	57.3	92.5
Zone 2	120	160	260	300	68.7	105.8
Totals	220	300	260	300	126.0	198.3

map pdf

Hildenhof

The Hildenhof Zone is located on the eastern extension of the Goanikontes Dome, adjoining the Bannerman Resources Ltd “East Anomaly”, and comprising a southeast trending zone of uranium bearing pegmatites.

Whilst there is no historic drilling in the area, ground radiometry readings show that anomalous uranium is developed over a strike length of 2km, with associated uranium values up to 700ppm.

map pdf | Larger image

Go to Husab image gallery

Go to Husab fly over video for broadband or dialup connection speed

top