Perhaps the White Home flap as to whether or not or not Saddam Hussein’s government tried to get uranium ore through the region of Niger was the finest publicity Niger has had about its uranium production for greater than two decades. How several geologists realize that the Republic of Niger ranks fourth, at the rear of Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan, in terms of the quantity of uranium yearly made worldwide?
Named following the river which runs through it, Niger generates almost four times the uranium currently mined in america. A lot more uranium is mined in Niger than in Russia, South Africa, India, China, Brazil, Ukraine Namibia or Uzbekistan. In truth, should you added up the total level of uranium mined in South Africa, China, India, Brazil, Czech Republic and the Ukraine for 2004, Niger would trump the combined creation of those six nations. Until Dr. Jon Northern came along, uranium mining was fairly a lot monopolized by Cogema and a consortium that includes Spanish and Japanese interests.
“This could be the fourth biggest uranium producer inside the planet,” raved an excited Dr. Northern into his cell telephone during our taped interview. “Niger has by no means had an entrepreneurial and nimble junior mining company ever explore for uranium. And this could be the very first one.” North was referring to Northwestern Mineral Ventures (TSX: NWT; OTC BB: NWTMF). “Imagine if Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan possessing never had a junior company seeking for uranium. It is absolutely absurd to even consider the concept.”
The Republic of Niger products about 9 percent from the world’s yearly creation to meet the developing will need for uranium to energy the world’s nuclear reactors. In accordance with the IAEA-NEA Red Book of 2003, the sub-Saharan Niger ranked #4 at the rear of Australia, Kazakhstan and Canada for total uranium reserves. Within the 2005 update, it fell to seventh location. It may be that this nation is under-explored. In 1981, Niger produced a peak of 4366 tonnes of uranium. As with others, mining manufacturing plummeted with the spot cost of uranium in the course of the 1980s and 1990s. The slump hit the region difficult simply because Niger is dependent upon uranium for a lot more than 30 percent of its exports, a lot more than $100 million. Five % with the country’s tax revenues appear from uranium mining.
Dr. Northern discussed how he came to acquire concessions for both his company, Northern Atlantic Means (TSX: NAC) and Northwestern Mineral Ventures, in which he serves as a director and helps guide geological colleague and president Marek Kreczmer. “I traveled around the Sahara Desert twice on field trips with a neighborhood Niger geologist just before I decided to utilize for permits. When I did this in 2004 with the minister of mines, he stated to me, ‘You know, you’re the first individual to ever do this, and also the only folks who have done this are power firms or governments.’ So, I informed him I would like to utilize for two permits.” North obtained two for Northwestern Mineral Ventures and an additional for Northern Atlantic Resources.
Salt Tectonics the Important to Uranium in Niger
North explained, “We selected the projects depending on the geologic ingredients that we felt have been crucial within the handle and distribution inside the uranium, for example, but not limited to, northwest trending fault corridors, northeast trending fault corridors, and inliers of stratigraphy that are popping up via more youthful parts from the stratigraphy.” Based on North, the salt structures would be the key to acquiring uranium in the Republic of Niger. “The northeast and northwest faults, and the inlier there, are all salt-related structures,” North remarked. An inlier is an area or formation of older rocks completely surrounded by younger layers. “For decades, the oilfield people have understood, emphasized and completed investigation on salt, the deposition and then the movement of salt via stratigraphic sequences,” Northern pointed out.
Salt is very common nonetheless it doesn’t last extremely extended in stratigraphy also it escapes, Northern explained. “When it escapes, it forms walls and diapirs (an anticlinal fold where the salt has pierced with the more brittle overlying rock).” Oil exploration geologists pay attention to these simply because they have a tendency to form permeability barriers to oil and gas deposits. Northern is interested in them for any various cause, “We noticed that the salt diapirs, exactly where they escaped with the sequence in Niger, coincided while using distribution of uranium deposits.”
Uranium within the Republic of Niger is mined by open up pit as a result of the sandstones. “These are redox deposits,” North noted. “They tend being connected with reduced layers and structures, for instance the former salt diapirs and faults inside the stratigraphy. On the time, we didn’t actually realize why we had been doing that. We just knew there was an association with uranium deposits and these structures in Niger.”
That seems to possess produced Dr. North’s job a walk in the park, or in this situation, a walk inside the desert. How do you inexpensively explore concessions of two,000 square kilometers every? That is about 24 miles and 30 miles every, both inside the desert. “If you do the target selection carefully, and also you stick towards the salt diapirs, individuals truly narrow down the search,” North revealed. “When we do our first multi sensor mag and radiometric survey, which will take place in the next couple of months, we will map out those people structures and features, and search for radiometric anomalies linked with them. When we have that info, we’ll have a minimum of 50 drill targets on those people projects.” There appear to become no scarcity of drill targets around the concessions.
With out that info, Northern believed he could have picked out ten high quality drill targets, just in the geology map. “They display up as circular bull’s eyes on geology maps,” North noted excitedly. “In the desert they show up as reduced hills. They’re topographic anomalies exactly where you might have about maybe 50 meters of relief. It’s just a reduced rise since the desert is flat as piss on a plate.” North explained that you could drive anywhere by pointing your vehicle and stepping about the gas. “The only points in your way are these very low hills, and those hills are related to either faults or inliers (exposed older rocks surrounded by more youthful rocks).” Initial targeting comes straight from a topography map.
A Vote of Confidence on Present Progress
But what concerning the availability of drill rigs for this project? North conceded there is really a global shortage. But he shot back again, “There’s a drilling organization in West Africa known as West African Drilling services – and surprise! surprise! – I’ve been working with them for that past four a long time.” Northern has already discussed moving a rig in with them. “Quite honestly, it’s not a big issue,” he stated. Neither is labor or the expense of drilling. “We pay an all-inclusive expense of approximately US$150/meter,” North informed us. “Labor costs are extremely lower, about one-third the expense of Northern America. We use all neighborhood folks since that is what we do in Mali. You can find plenty of very trained, skilled geologists in Niger.”
Clearly, Northwest Mineral Ventures is excited. “We are very pleased to be one of several first Northern American firms to acquire exploration permits in Niger – a country that has not been explored utilizing modern methods and has, until now, been one of several world’s best-kept uranium secrets,” Northwestern’s Chairman and CEO Kabir Ahmed informed Reuters in wire support story published in March.
Northwestern Mineral President Marek Krezcmer, who may be a geologist for greater than thirty years, seventeen of which have been spent exploring in Africa, was also enthused concerning the company’s prospects in Niger, “We know there is uranium mineralization on the surface, based on the work which was accomplished by Jon Northern. I believe we can succeed. We’re planning to find uranium.” Kreczmer is familiar with geology in Africa and accomplishing company on this continent. “I’ve worked in Tanzania, Zambia, Swaziland, Ethiopia and Eritrea,” stated Kreczmer. He was optimistic about developing Northwestern Mineral Venture’s uranium concessions, “Our enterprise plan there’s to discover mineralization, and (have) possibly somebody like Cogema turn out to be a partner of selection.”
At Cogema’s seven available pit uranium mines which feed the Arlitt mill, the grades have run 0.three % with 2003 manufacturing at 1126 tonnes. On the two available pit uranium mines which feed the Akouta mill, grades have run at between 0.four and 0.five % with 2003 production at 2017 tonnes. Krezcmer explained that Northwestern’s exploration licenses are valid for any period of nine many years, three-year licenses which are renewable three times. The country’s mining act, according to Krezcmer permits Northwestern to utilize for a mining license, which may be granted for between 25 and 70 a long time.
We have been concerned with any political circumstances, but both Northern and Kreczmer assured us the country is stable. “When I first went to Niger in November 2004, and that was throughout the final election, it honestly looked like a whole lot of fun. Everybody had just a little piece of rag tied close to their wrist or tied towards the antenna of their car to represent their political affiliation.” Kreczmer additional, “My knowledge functioning in Africa is that since this region relies so heavily on foreign aid, the World Bank has excellent influence.”
The Republic of Niger has North’s vote on confidence. He has worked for the past few years as Chief Executive of Northern Atlantic Assets, which hopes to develop its Kantela gold property in Mali. Niger and Mali and demographically and geographical identical, he informed us. Northern feels Niger is planning to become more aggressive in building its uranium properties. He talked about how the President of Niger told his minister of mines, “Get on the market and advertise Niger as being open up for company. We want individuals to come in right here and invest. We want to offer them mineral rights, and we want them to complete what Mali is performing.” Through the looks of it, the very first to jump on the Niger bandwagon were Northwestern Minerals and Northern Atlantic Assets, but they will not be the last.
“My knowledge with Niger is always that it is a peaceful, democratic country with no civil unrest. Let’s put it this way. They have less civil unrest than France.” Ironically, French is one of the country’s official languages. “You gotta be good, proper?” asked Northern. “The French recently stormed the Bastille in France, and they didn’t do something like that in Niger.”
Just how exhilarated is Dr. Jon North? “The excitement within the marketplace is we do the airborne survey,” he enthused. “We locate some radiometric anomalies that correlated inside of inliers. We display the model. If that does not excite individuals, then I really don’t consider their hearts are beating.”
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