Gold and copper explorer Havilah Resources said it had formed...

Gold and copper explorer Havilah Resources said it had formed subsidiary Curnamona Energy to explore for uranium in South Australia's northeast.


Chairman Bob Johnson said the time was right to explore the tenements Havilah had acquired over the past two to three years. "We knew the uranium was there but the price was poor," he said.

The price of uranium had risen from $US7 per pound to about $US20 in the past year.
Havilah's exploration tenements include more than 100km of paleochannels ¨C or sandy river courses cut into the bedrock 20-30 million years ago ¨C which act as channels for soluble uranium. Dr Johnson said the company had engaged a consultant to analyse geo-physical data to map where the paleochannels went.

The company now has to drill to find exactly where the uranium deposits lie.

***He "wouldn't even call this speculative" exploration, Dr Johnson said. "It's a matter of finding where it is along the channel," he said.

Dr Johnson said the exploration area was close to the Southern Cross Resources's Honeymoon uranium project and both Southern Cross and a French company had also been exploring nearby.

SA now has two uranium mines, at Olympic Dam and Beverley. Dr Johnson said Curnamona would list on the stock exchange at some time next year and Havilah would retain a controlling interest.



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Sydney - Monday - September 27: (RWE Australian Business News) -
Havilah Resources has formed a new 100%-owned subsidiary, Curnamona
Energy Pty Ltd, that will hold 100% of Havilah's Tertiary uranium
exploration interests in its Curnamona Craton tenements.
This initiative has been prompted by several factors:
1. The expected continuing escalation of the uranium price,
largely in response to increasing demand and a growing belief that
nuclear power offers the only realistic method of meeting the world's
future energy needs without contributing to global warming.
South Australia already has a substantial uranium mining
industry, with the largest uranium producing mine, and largest uranium
resource in the world at Olympic Dam, and a second substantial uranium
producer in the Beverley Mine.
2. The high uranium exploration potential in the more than 100
kilometres of Tertiary palaeochannels lying within Havilah's Curnamona
Craton tenement block. The palaeochannels are buried Tertiary age sandy
river courses cut into the bedrock and subsequently covered by younger
sediments. The earlier discovered Oban uranium prospect lies within
Havilah's tenements, while Southern Cross Resources's Honeymoon uranium
deposit lies in the Yarramba palaeochannel just south of Havilah's
tenement boundary.
A more than 60 kilometre section of virtually unexplored
Yarramba palaeochannel extends northwards from Honeymoon into Havilah's
tenements.
The numerous subsidiary streams of the Yarramba palaeochannel
drain a bedrock characterised by numerous weathered uranium-rich "hot"
granites that provide an ideal primary source for the uranium that is
later trapped in reducing sections of the buried stream channels.
3. The desire to maximise the value of the uranium interests for
the benefit of Havilah shareholders, but without detracting from
Havilah's current successful copper-gold and lead-zinc exploration
programs.
Formation of Curnamona Energy is the first step in realising the
presently unrecognized value in Havilah’s uranium exploration interests.
In due course it is proposed that Havilah will sponsor the
public listing of Curnamona Energy and retain a majority controlling
interest.
Curnamona Energy will employ independent management skilled in
uranium exploration, development and marketing.
This will create a new public vehicle suitable for those
investors who have a positive view on the future of uranium as an energy
source, and who wish to participate in exploration of the world class
Curnamona Craton uranium province.
ENDS