Website Path: Home > Projects > Deep Sands, Utah, U.S.A.
Deep Sands, Utah, U.S.A.
Introduction
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (GWMG) holds a 25% interest in the rare earth minerals located on a vast area of heavy mineral-rich sands in Utah, USA. GWMG has the right to earn up to 100% of the rare earths on the property by completing the exploration work necessary to generate a Preliminary Economic Assessment Report, determining a fair value for the property and entering into a definitive purchase arrangement.
Location
The project area covers 171 sq km (66 sq mi) and is centered approximately 142 km (85 mi) to the northwest of Delta, Utah, and 15 km (9 mi) south of the ranch settlement of Callao. The town of Delta is 182 km (110 mi) and a 2.5 hour drive southwest from Salt Lake City International Airport, via Interstate Highway 80 (west) and State Highways #6 and #36 (south).
See Satellite Image in Google Maps
Geology and Mineralization
The property covers the major part of the Lake Bonneville paleo-beaches. The Lake Bonneville basin, of which the Great Salt lake basin is a post Pleistocene remnant, is part of the US Basin and Range geological province which occupies most of the States of California, Nevada and Utah. The general region of Lake Bonneville has been an inland sea for as much as 15 million years. During most of this time Bonneville Basin has been occupied by inland lakes of various sizes, at times reaching one thousand feet deep and covering 20,000 square miles. The detrital deposits on the property relate directly to three of the highest recorded lake levels. During the 130,000 to 10,000 year period of pronounced glaciations and inter-glacial flooding, erosion of the Deep Creek granitic highlands, west and adjacent to the paleo-shorelines, provided detrital feed for the paleo-beaches of Bonneville Lake basin. Granite grit, containing magnetite and associated heavy minerals, including rare earth-bearing minerals, became feed for the beaches. This erosional debris was distributed, worked and re-worked as the shorelines advanced and receded.
Exploration and Development
Iron and rare earth mineralization have been known to exist on the property for at least 20 years, but there has been very little systematic exploration carried out. GWMG personnel as well as independent consultant E.D. Black carried out limited random sampling of the surface material and obtained assay results ranging from 0.14% Total rare Earth Oxide (TREO) to 0.80% TREO from samples at various locations within an area of 85 sq km (33 sq mi).
Potential
In his independent report E.D. Black states: "—the tonnage potential of these deposits could be huge. As an example, the Upper Bench , which averages approximately two miles wide by ten miles long (within the Property)—includes an area of approximately 12,800 acres (20 Sections each 640 acres)—this area alone, taken to an average depth of 100 feet, could contain in the order of 223,000,000 tons of material per Section, or a gross of about 4.5 billion tons of material. If we include the Middle and Lower Benches, which appear to be 150 feet thick, and possibly equally as extensive, the potential resource could reach 15 billion tons (15BT)."
Current Work
During 2008, the Company completed an extensive drill program on the Deep Sands property. Two drill rigs were deployed on this program. A truck mounted rig capable of drilling holes to 50 metres in depth completed 76 holes for a total of 1753 metres. In addition, a track mounted rig completed 903 holes for a total of 5,504 metres. This was a program of shallow holes designed to sample the upper 6 metres of the targeted area.
In 2009, analyses of drill core was continued. Utilizing X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology to estimate REE concentrations and a magnetic susceptibility meter to indicate iron concentrations, the Company's staff tested a total of 3,527 PVC tubes, containing the mineralized sands recovered using the Geoprobe Direct Push Drills. The PVC tubes were split length-wise and the mineralized material analyzed directly over the length of the tube with the XRF instrument. At regular intervals samples were taken from the PVC tubes and submitted to independent laboratories for confirmatory analysis.
Results from the program and the QA/QC samples are expected in the first quarter of 2010. In addition, a differential GPS unit was used to survey the collar locations of holes from the Deep Hole drilling program in 2008. This will aid in stratigraphic correlations of enriched horizons and will be utilized in deposit evaluation.
Outlook
Once the above analysis is completed, the Company will review the results to determine the appropriate program for the remainder of 2010. It is anticipated that subsequent to an additional work program, the process will provide sufficient data to complete a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate, suitable for a Preliminary Assessment Report and move toward a feasibility study. It is expected that if this project continues to move forward, then the feasibility study will require three phases of drilling, permitting, and extensive metallurgical testing, over a period of 2-4 years.
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.
Mailing Address: 226 Cardinal Crescent Saskatoon, SK S7L 6H8 Canada |
Less Common Metals Ltd.
Mailing Address: Valley Road Business Park Birkenhead, CH41 7ED United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 151 652 9747 Fax: +44 (0) 151 652 9748 Email: general@lesscommonmetals.com Web Site: www.lesscommonmetals.com |
Great Western Technologies Inc.
Mailing Address: 1826 Northwood Drive Troy, Michigan 48084 USA
Phone: 248-293-3200 Fax: 248-362-3879 Email: info@greatwesterntech.com Web Site: www.greatwesterntech.com |