EXPLORATION: Hathor drills hit high-grade uranium

VANCOUVER - After its stock surged on news in late February of highly anomalous uranium-mineralized drill intercepts, HATHOR EXPLORATION posted further gains on assays confirming wide, high-grade uranium oxide values from its 90%- owned Midwest Northeast project, in the Athabasca basin.

Hole MWNE-08-12 returned 11.9 metres (from 261.5 metres down-hole depth) of 5.29% uranium oxide, including narrow intervals of up to 40.2% uranium oxide across 20 cm. The intercept is within a wider 46- metre zone of mineralization.

The stock closed up almost 50% on the news, gaining 64 to $1.94 per share.Hathor says the high-grade uranium mineralization occurs in basement rocks comprised of a mix of variably clay-altered to clay-replaced pelitic gneiss, graphitic pelitic gneiss, granitic pegmatite and micro-granite.

"The mineralization represents a non-traditional, non-conductive target where no airborne EM anomalies are present, a new style of target for the Athabasca basin," said Hathor's senior project geologist, Alistair McCready, in a statement. "It signifies the need for exploration methodologies to evolve and utilize modern, cutting-edge techniques, such as reflection seismic to find structure -- the key to these deposits."

A week earlier, the company announced that scintillometer analysis of core from hole MWNE-08- 12 indicated about 30 metres of elevated radioactivity -- 1,000 to 1,500 counts per second (cps) -- including highly radioactive zones (5,000 cps to greater than 9,999 cps) that were off-scale.

The Midwest Northeast property, in the northeastern part of the Athabasca, in Saskatchewan, is adjacent to the advanced-stage Midwest uranium project being developed as an open-pit operation by joint-venture partners AREVA, which holds 69.16%, DENISON MINES with 25.17%, and the Japanese group OURD Canada, at 5.67%. Construction is slated to start in mid-2009. The Midwest orebody hosts reserves of 360,000 tonnes grading 4% uranium oxide and is expected to produce roughly 36 million lbs. uranium oxide.

With just over half of the planned 8,000-metre drill program complete, Hathor has finished 14 of a planned 24 holes at Midwest Northeast. TERRA VENTURES holds an 8% carried interest in the project.

A hostile takeover bid Hathor launched for NORTHERN CONTINENTAL RESOURCES in November, which offered 0.4 of a share for each Northern Continental share, expired in late February. The two companies are partners at the Russell Lake uranium project in the eastern Athabasca.

--By The Northern Miner staff