GTI Resources set to begin uranium exploration in Utah, USA

GTI Resources Ltd (ASX:GTR) has completed the planning and permitting for the first phase of exploration following the settlement of the acquisition and transfer of two State of Utah mineral leases from Anfield Energy Inc.   The purchase of the leases serves to join the Jeffery and Rats Nest projects and consolidate ownership across a contiguous 5.5 kilometres of the interpreted mineralised trend. The company has now finalised exploration permitting and anticipates starting the fieldwork during March or April once the weather allows. Exploration will focus on a robust development target with over 1,300 metres of historical underground workings.  “Excited about the results” GTI executive director Bruce Lane said: “GTI is excited about the results of recent exploration activity on the newly acquired leases and sees real potential in the district for mine redevelopment and production of high‐grade uranium and vanadium ores. “We look forward to commencing our exploration program soon and will provide more details and results as work progresses.” Review of the data package GTI has conducted a full review of a recently acquired data package, targeting to support the exploration activities on the leases and further confirmed the excellent prospectivity of the acquired land package. The company has also completed underground mapping on two historical developments, known as the East Mine and West Mine. Both mines were operated into the late 1970s and show evidence of more modern mining techniques than seen in much of the Henry Mountains uranium district. Remnants of historical operations suggest that these mines operated trackless, within a random room and pillar mining environment. After completing the mapping, the company plans to finish pXRF screening of the mine ribs throughout both mines to further study controls on mineralisation, local trends and prospectivity beyond the current development. Sampling within the underground workings with a pXRF has yielded values up to 19.64% uranium oxide and 6.08% vanadium pentoxide and demonstrate excellent mineralised potential in all directions. Planned exploration activities Exploration activities during the fourth quarter of 2020 focused on a significant exploration and development target within section 36 Mineral Lease (one of the two newly acquired leases). The company believes that this early‐stage exploration work is only beginning to show the prospectivity of the project, strongly validating the acquisition of the leases as well as the overarching strategy to develop a uranium and vanadium project within the Henry Mountains uranium district. The planned exploration activities will include geophysical logging of the numerous exploration drill holes to confirm prior exploration activities and the advancement of numerous underground core drill holes. The exploration work is planned for early Q2 2021, with a follow‐up program in Q3, and the results of this program will allow for the study of the controls and distribution of ore‐grade mineralised material, as well as generate data for the construction of a possible mineral resource. GTI has engaged the services of Wyoming-based BRS Engineering to conduct the planned 2021 exploration plan.