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The 100% owned West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit was discovered by UEX Corporation (“UEX”) during the exploration programs that defined, evaluated and tested the area surrounding the West Bear Uranium Deposit (“WBU Deposit”) between 2002 and 2005. The West Bear Co-Ni Deposit is a shallow, open-pit amenable and very high-grade cobalt-nickel deposit that has a strike length of over 600 m and ranges from 30 – 110 m in vertical depth. The cobalt mineralization is hosted in very soft clay-altered rocks that extend into the basement below the unconformity. To date, cobalt resources at West Bear have been defined at an impressively low discovery cost of approximately $1.00 per pound.
The West Bear Co-Ni Deposit is located in the heart of Saskatchewan’s eastern Athabasca Uranium District, immediately downdip and east of the West Bear Uranium Deposit in Canada’s Athabasca Basin. While the Athabasca Basin is known for its uranium endowment and production, cobalt is commonly found in the same geological environments. The 11,104-hectare West Bear Property, which contains the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit and the WBU Deposit, was originally part of the Hidden Bay Property that was rolled into UEX by Cameco during UEX’s formation in 2001 as a spin-out from Pioneer Metals and Cameco Corporation.
The West Bear Co-Ni Deposit is high grade, contains 3.763 million pounds cobalt at an average grade of 0.58% Co and 3.164 million pounds nickel at an average grade 0.49% Ni. Highlights from the 2018 winter exploration program include drill holes WBC-012 which intersected 4.90% Co and 2.08% Ni over 8.0 m (from 77.0 to 85.0 m) and WBC-001 that encountered 2.00% Co and 1.26% Ni over 10.5 m (from 46.0 to 56.5 m).
In December 2017, UEX Corporation formed CoEX Metals Corporation (“CoEX”), a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary, which will be tasked with the exploration and development of the West Bear Project. UEX and CoEX are evaluating opportunities to unlock the value of the West Bear Property for shareholders.
To learn more about UEX Corporation and all of its projects please visit www.uex-corporation.com.
The West Bear Project is located within the Eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan approximately 30 km southwest of Cameco’s Rabbit Lake Mill and 10 km west of provincial highway 905 and existing power lines. The Project contains two known mineral deposits, the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Deposit and the West Bear Uranium Deposit (“WBU Deposit”), both of which have mineral resource estimates compliant with the Canadian Securities Administrators’ NI 43-101 policy.
The property lies at the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin, and is covered by 0 to 25 m of sandstone that overlies classic Wollaston Domain basement rocks consisting of metamorphosed and deformed pelites, semipelites, arkose, quartzites, and graphite-bearing pelitic rocks. The core of the West Bear Project is underlain by a quartzite-arkose dome rimmed by strongly graphitic pelites. Intense brittle fault structures have been developed in the graphitic pelites adjacent to the quartzite dome.
In addition to the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit and the WBU Deposit, the Property hosts several mineral occurrences and showings including the West Bear Uranium Deposit (“WBU Deposit”), the Pebble Hill Uranium Occurrence, North Shore Uranium Occurrences, and the Umpherville Uranium Occurrence. The WBU Deposit has been the subject of several NI-43-101 resource reports and a pre-feasibility study commissioned by UEX. View Technical Reports
Exploration on different portions of the property commenced in the 1970’s by several explorers including Gulf Minerals, Noranda, and the Conwest Exploration Joint Venture that continued through the 1980’s and led to the discovery of the WBU Deposit and nearby uranium showings. Historical exploration efforts focused exclusively on discovering classic unconformity uranium deposits of the Cigar Lake-style, which meant that drill holes tested the intersection of graphitic pelites with the unconformity surface. Exploration drill holes rarely penetrated more than 15 m below the unconformity surface. Despite the large number of historical holes drilled in the West Bear area, the vast majority of these holes failed to test the West Bear Fault structure below its intersection with the Athabasca Basin unconformity where the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit is located.
The West Bear Co-Ni Deposit underlies and extends along strike to the east of the WBU Deposit within the intensely clay-altered West Bear Fault. Cobalt mineralization consists of disseminated skutterudite and is predominately located at the base of the very strongly clay-altered West Bear Fault package that in turn is located at the bottom of the graphitic rock sequence. As currently defined, mineralization ranges from 30 - 110 m in vertical depth over a strike length of 600 m and remains open in all directions. Wherever UEX has encountered cobalt mineralization, high nickel concentrations are most often present. For more details of the West Bear Co-Ni Deposit including an estimate of the contained resources, please review the latest technical report filed on SEDAR and on our website accessible from this link.
The WBU Deposit has been defined over a strike length of 530 m, ranges in width between 20 m and 70 m, ranges in thickness from 0.1 m to over 15 m and is located at vertical depths between 15 m to 35 m. The WBU Deposit is a classic cigar-shaped body similar to the Cigar Lake and McClean Lake deposits and is hosted at and above the intersection of faulted graphitic metapelites with the unconformity with the overlying Athabasca Group sandstone. For more details of the WBU Deposit including an estimate of the contained resources, please review the latest technical report filed on SEDAR and on our website accessible from this link.
Cobalt and Nickel Resources
| Mineral Resource Statement*, West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Project, Saskatchewan | ||||||
|
Grade
|
Contained Metal
|
|||||
|
Category
|
Quantity
Tonnes |
Cobalt
(%) |
Nickel
(%) |
Cobalt
('000 lb) |
Nickel
('000 lb) |
|
| Inferred |
295,000
|
0.58
|
0.49
|
|
3,763
|
3,164
|
*Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates. Resources were estimated using a cut-off grade of 0.14% CoEq and consider metal prices of US$32.84 per pound cobalt and US$ 11.64 per pound nickel. Cobalt equivalent (“CoEq”) grades have been calculated using the following factor CoEq% = Co% + (Ni%*0.38).
The West Bear mineral resource was determined using a cut-off grade of 0.14% CoEq. A total of 295,000 tonnes containing 3.763 million pounds cobalt at an average grade of 0.58% Co, and 3.164 million pounds nickel at an average grade 0.49% Ni are estimated in the indicated category.
The current mineral resource estimate includes the results from 430 sonic and diamond drill holes totalling 27,571.1 m which were drilled during the period 2003, 2005, 2007, 2018, and 2019. Based on the observed continuity of drilling and tight drill hole spacing, the Qualified Person considers all block estimates within the mineralized wireframe to satisfy the classification criteria for Indicated Mineral Resources. The most recent cobalt and nickel resource was filed on SEDAR on August 8th, 2022.
2022 WestBear Co-Ni Technical Report
2019 WestBear Co-Ni Technical Report
2018 West Bear Co-Ni Technical Report
2010 Preliminary Feasibility Study
West Bear Gallery
