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Sahara Uranium-Vanadium Project

Projects

Tabor Lake

Howie Lake

Alto-Gardnar

Sahara Uranium-Vanadium Project

Burnthut

Sahara Uranium-Vanadium Project

Region

Emery County

Metals

Uranium-Vanadium 

Stage

Advanced – Resource Definition – Production

Ownership

Earning 100% Interest

Size

40² Kilometres

Target Style

Shear hosted Quartz Veins

Operator

Ashley Gold Corp

2024 Planned Program

Preliminary Exploration

About the Sahara Property

The Sahara Property is located 12 miles southwest of Green River, Utah and consists of over 400 claims totalling over 10,000 acres.  The region has produced 4,000,000 lbs of Uranium and 5,000,000 lbs of Vanadium with some historical production occuring on the Property until 1980. The Project is located one mile off of the I-70 and is accessed by all weather gravel roads.  Water wells are located on the property and power is located less than a mile away to the northeast. In addition, a nearby telecommunicaions tower and fibre optics at the property provide internet and phone access.

The property has over 900 historical drill holes over  the Sahara, Jessies Twist and Acheson discoveries. Mineralization occurs in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation within fluvial sandstones.  Additional targets have been identified with surficial gamma-ray spectrometry readings across the property.  In addition,  bulk tonnage targets have been identified for drilling as well as the hydrodynamic conditions for roll-front blue-sky potential. 

Historical Highlights

Highlights

  •   eU3O8 grades up to 3.92%*
  •   Thickness of up to 16 feet*
  •   Top Holes Highlighted By (See Figure 1):
    •   5.5 ft @ 0.78% eU3O8*
    •   1.0 ft @ 3.92% eU3O8*
    •   6.5 ft @ 0.58% eU3O8*
  • Includes:
    •   9 holes over 1% eU3O8*
    •   38 holes over 0.5% eU3O8*
    •   162 holes over 0.2% eU3O8*
    •   392 holes over 0.1% eU3O8*

 

  •   Drill density down to 10m, ~100,000m of historical drilling

     

  •   Historical ore reserve of ~500,000 lbs of eU3O8* with modern models reporting non-compliant resource of over 2,240,000 lbs of eU3O8* and almost 4,000,000 lbs of V2O5*
  •   Infill and step-out drilling locations defined for upcoming drill program

 

*Historical drill data currently non-43-101 compliant

Declines and Workings

Figure 1 shows the declines to the ore bodies and underground workings in blue. The original decline running roughly south to north was used to produce ore out of the mine until 1977. Energy Fuels drove an 800m (2,600ft) low angle decline into the deposit in 1979 for higher haulage rates (west-east). The older decline was used for a secondary exit and air circulation. The production operation was put on standby due to the Three Mile Island incident in 1979. Focus was put on expansion of the Sahara reserve in anticpation of Uranium price rebound however this did not occur with prices falling below 20 US dollars a pound for two decades. It is Ashley’s intent to reopen the modern decline in the near future to evaluate the decline and workings.


Historical Drilling

Energy Fuels conducted multiple drill programs over the greater Sahara property 1990 with a total of 776 holes comprising of 325,988 ft (~99,000m). In today’s dollars this represents and expenditure of $15-20 million in exploration drilling. Drill density was as tight as 10m over the reserve area with almost 400 holes exceeding 0.1% eU3O8*. Highlights of the top 30 holes ordered by Grade X Thickness (ft) are outlined in Figure 1. Grade as high as 3.92% eU3O8* were documented as well as several intercepts over 10ft (3m). Additional programs in 2006 and 2009 were also documented and will be outlined in a future release.

*Historical drill data currently non-43-101 compliant


Historical Reserve and First Pass Modelling

By 1987 Energy Fuels outlined a historical ore reserve of almost 500,000 lb of eU3O8* at the Sahara mine. An ore reserve is defined as economically minable ore and represents a high level of confidence. Subsequent modelling in Vulcan as part of a Master’s Thesis reports a non-compliant resource of over 2,240,000 lbs of eU3O8* and nearly 4,000,000 lbs of Vanadium*. As part of Ashley’s due diligence the drill data from the Vulcan model was loaded and modelled in Leapfrog. The modelled bodies look to match the thesis model in size and shape. Infill and step out opportunities for the upcoming drill program are identified and will be used to confirm. Additional historic resources outside of the Sahara Ore-body have been documented within the Property and data for these are currently being digitized to be summarized in future releases.

Sahara Uranium-Vanadium Option Agreement

Option Agreement Terms

Under the terms of the Agreement, Ashley has the right to acquire a 100% undivided interest in the Property through staged cash and share payments, plus minimum work expenditures totaling USD $10 million over a three-year period, as summarized below:

  • 4,500,000 Ashley common shares within 30 days of Ashley completing a private placement financing for first stage earn-in. Terms and conditions of the private placement will be disclosed in a future press release when finalized. Ashley previously issued 500,000 common shares to San Rafael as a deposit upon execution of the letter of intent.
  • 1,000m drill program and completion of National Instrument 43-101 Report on the Property within 30 days of the first anniversary

 

To earn an initial 30% interest to the Property:

  • issue 18,500,000 common shares; and
  • pay USD $100,000 cash to San Rafael.

 

To earn a 50% interest to the Property:

  • issue 20,000,000 common shares; and
  • complete expenditures of USD $3,000,000 on the Property.

 

To earn 100% of the Property:

  • issue to San Rafael, the greater of 36,500,000 common shares and the number of Ashley common shares that would result in the aggregate number of common shares issued to San Rafael pursuant to the Agreement representing 40% of the issued and outstanding common shares;
  • pay USD $1,000,000 cash; and
  • USD $7,000,000 of expenditures on the Property.

 

In addition to the 100% earn-in, Ashley has agreed to issue additional common shares to San Rafael  based on certain economic Uranium Resource identified in a Preliminary Economic Assessment, as follows:

  • 10 million pounds of uranium in Preliminary Economic Assessment – 15,000,000 common shares and USD $500,000; and
  • 30 million pounds of uranium in Preliminary Economic Assessment – 35,000,000 common shares and USD $2,500,000.

 

Upon completion of the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Property, Ashley will grant a 2% Net Smelter Return Royalty (the “NSR”) to San Rafael. Ashley will have the option to buy back 50% of the NSR for USD $2,000,000 prior to the commencement of commercial production.

 

As a prerequisite to executing the Agreement, Ashley has entered in to an investor rights agreement with San Rafael which gives San Rafael the right to participate in future financings on equal terms as well as the right to top up their equity position in any dilutive issuance (i.e., convertible securities) at the average 20-day Volume Weighted Average Price to maintain minimum ownership percentage.  San Rafael shall also have the right to nominate a director to join the Board of Directors as Chairman upon initial earn-in, subject to regulatory approval.

Geology

 

 

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