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Compass looking at uranium
Kate Hayc*ck
Thursday, 15 February 2007

ASSAYS from the Browns East prospect, less than a kilometre from its developing Browns base metals oxide mine in the Northern Territory, have returned uranium intercepts as well as copper hits, Compass Resources reported today.

Compass Resources' Browns polymetallic deposit, Northern Territory

Two additional holes were drilled to follow up on an isolated uranium intercept the company recorded during drilling for copper in 2005, and the follow-up assays have indicated "good grades" for both.

Uranium intercepts at the holes included 1m at 3030 parts per million from 74m, and 10m at 1283ppm from 180m a including 1m at 5819ppm from 183m from. Copper hits included 10m at 2.59% copper from 74m and 21m at 2.55% copper from 39m.

"We were chasing base metals at the area, and now we're interested in uranium," Compass exploration manager Max Boots said.

"It's the same as the ore treated at the area in the 1950s and 1960s [at the Whites deposit and mine] and we're optimistic we can expand it quickly. It's within 1km of our Brown's deposit, where we're going to begin mining soon, and this is just a strike to the northeast of that."

Compass said it would follow up the results with further drilling this year.

The company's Browns copper, cobalt and nickel mine has a projected mine life of 10 years with production anticipated at 10,000 tonnes per annum copper cathode and 1000tpa cobalt and 700tpa nickel.

Shares in the company reached an early morning high of $5.69 but settled down to $5.55c by midday, up 5c or 1% from yesterday's close.