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The Otish Basin Uranium project is located in the Otish Mountain area in central Quebec. The property comprises of 85 contiguous claims covering 4501 hectares in a claim block which lies approximately 4 km west of Strateco Resources' Matoush property, from which Strateco has recently disclosed significant drilling results. The property straddles the margin of the Otish Basin, covering sandstones of the basin in its southern portions and extending northward into basement rocks, both of which in the local region contain structurally controlled and unconformity-style uranium deposits. Exploration results from historical work in the area have now been reviewed and are summarized here.
Historically, Icon's Otish property was explored for uranium in the 1970's as part of a regional program by Uranerz Exploration and Mining (Uranerz), who conducted regional mapping, airborne radiometric and geochemical surveys, and prospecting over the area. In 1978, this work resulted in the discovery of a large uraniferous boulder field in overburden extending over an area of 500 m by 200 m, and which is developed north of the Otish Basin in north-central portions of the property. From this boulder field, Uranerz sampled 49 boulders which returned an average grade of 0.11 % U3O8. Individual boulders within this are reported to include several which contain >0.25% U3O8, including by boulder number, B28 which returned 0.32% U3O8, B40 which returned 0.91% U3O8, B153 which returned 0.28% U3O8, 8BK16 which returned 0.27% U3O8 and 8BK17 which returned 0.46% U3O8. The boulders comprise brecciated biotite gneiss and pegmatite which have negligible thorium content, consistent in mineralization style with the style of known vein and fault hosted deposits in the Otish region. Surficial geology examination by Uranerz suggests local derivation of the angular boulders, possibly from an adjacent fault, but the source was not located at the time.
Mapping by Uranerz also identified a significant north-northeast trending fault which crosses northeastern portions of the property. Topographic and geological lineaments suggest that this fault extends south-southwest through central parts of the property, consistent with the orientation of known mineralized structures in the basin area. It is possible that this or associated structures could control mineralization associated with the boulder field and with the nearby Lac Henri prospect.
Compilation of the property geology and historic exploration information will be conducted shortly in order to plan a summer exploration program. The program is anticipated to comprise an initial phase of surface prospecting and mapping particularly in the vicinity of the uraniferous boulder field and along the fault, followed by drilling in the fall or winter of 2007. Depending on the results of the compilation, various airborne and/or ground geophysical surveys may be considered for all or portions of the property.
The Otish Basin is one of a series of Proterozoic age sandstone basins in Canada which host unconformity type uranium deposits, the most significant being the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The Athabasca Basin is currently the source of approximately a third of the world's global annual uranium production. The Otish Basin has potential for Athabasca style unconformity-type uranium deposits, and Beaverlodge-style fault and vein hosted deposits, the latter which produced much of Canada's early uranium supply from northern Saskatchewan. Known deposits in the Otish basin include Strateco's Matoush deposit, which is hosted by a northerly trending steeply dipping fault zone. Other deposits in the basin area occur both within the sandstone and underlying basement rocks, including the Camie River deposit which is controlled by UEM Inc., a corporation jointly owned by Caeco and AREVA. Many of the deposits and prospects in the area like Matoush are hosted by veins and faults which trend north to northeast. These deposits occur both in the sandstone and basement rocks, the latter often significant distances from the Otish Basin, including the Lac Beaver deposit to the west of the Icon property.
Otish Update January 2008
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