I think Sydneysiders 4mlb figure is way too low. Vayama, I reckon you are closer with your 35mlbs.
Vayama mentioned BMN's initial resource as an example. BMN’s initial resource was actually 27mlbs, which was released in April 2007. This jorc resource was based on a strike length of only 1.4km long, and 80m deep, but was wider than Firawa. FTE are not far off that with half their drilling going down to 50m, and the other half down to as 80m. Having said that, the latest drilling extended the resource further, & went down to 200m deep, so it looks to me like it will be very similar to the initial Anomaly A JORC … circa 30mlbs, anything above that is a bonus.
FTE’s 2007 results aren’t too shabby either. The resource starts at surface, and in many holes, is mineralized all the way down to the end of hole … 18 of the holes ended in strong mineralization, here are some examples
FRW12: 0 – 50m, 50@250ppm With the last metres yielding 10m@652, (highest grade 1,325ppm) FRW13: 0 – 50m, 50m@163ppm With the last metres yielding 347ppm, (highest grade 599ppm) FRW23: 0 – 40m, 38m@289ppm With the last metres yielding 439ppm FRW23: 0 – 48m, 48m@230ppm With the last metres yielding 387ppm FRW30: 0 – 40m, 40m@235ppm With the last metres yielding 10m@542ppm, (highest grade 1,020ppm) FRW33: 12 – 50m, 38m@439ppm With the last metres yielding 630ppm FRW35: 0 – 77m 77m@268 (highest grade 995ppm)
Now with that in mind, as mentioned, management promptly then programmed the latest drilling to go down to 200m …. Mmmmh!! I wonder why? :)
And of course in January they announced: “In the course of drilling, highly encouraging results … were observed in areas where no mineralization was previously indicated. This resulted in a decision to significantly extend the program by undertaking over 1800m of additional drilling” .. that is an extra 45%. Wow … this is highly significant … not only have they extended drilling depth from around 80m, down to 200m deep, but they have increased the overall program by another 45% after hitting additional uranium outside expected areas.
Some other positives to consider: They say: “Mineralisation was previously only observed in the lateritic clay. However two of the recently completed drill-holes intersected mineralization in fresh bedrock” … they refer to this as an “encouraging view of the mineralisation.” … Only future drilling will know the full significance of this, but that indicates primary uranium to me.
Also, they say: “Drilling at the Eastern end of the target was expected to confirm the end of the mineralized zone. However, good results observed from the easternmost holes indicate that mineralization remains open in this direction.”So the resource is not confined to the 5klm Eastern boundary, it is still open to the East & West, and looks to be larger than the 5 km originally thought.
Everything I have read is indicating that Firawa could be a real “cracker” of a deposit!
Now a change of direction: I just want to throw something out there to you people … Just imagine if FTE, or any other uranium explorer, announced on Tuesday that they had the following drill results from a deposit they were drilling: 166m @ 300 94m @ 300 91m @ 300 77m @ 300 62m @ 300 56m @ 300 44m @ 300 41m @ 300
What do you think those results would do to the share price after that announcement? IMO, in this bullish uranium market, that stock would have a massive run up.
Well those are the equivalent drill results that FTE have at the Bir En Nar deposit in Mauritania. After a very small drilling program there, they hit a narrowish, but very high grade deposit. One that promptly saw Areva move in & take a piece of the action in Mauritania. Of those results: 5.35m @ 9310ppm ……. Equates to: 166m @ 300 1.55m @ 18280ppm ……. Equates to: 94m @ 300 2.35m @ 11250ppm ……. Equates to: 91m @ 300 5.65m @ 4070ppm ……. Equates to: 77m @ 300 2.9m @ 6400ppm ……. Equates to: 62m @ 300 4.6m @ 3510ppm ……. Equates to: 56m @ 300 3.85m @ 3400ppm ……. Equates to: 44m @ 300 1.55m @ 5060ppm ……. Equates to: 41m @ 300
These are significant results, and even though we don’t know the metallurgy, this has the hallmarks of something very exciting! During the last 3 years FTE has been locking up massive tracks of prospective uranium bearing leases in Mauritania, including many with historic exploration. This is a massive land holding in a very uranium rich part of the world, that has seen very little modern-day exploration. Very interesting indeed that within a few months of them obtaining the Bir En Nar results, Areva signs the "Cooperative Agreement" with FTE in Mauritania!! This includes FTE gaining access to Areva’s extensive geological database of Mauritania, including all of FTE’s land holdings, and Bir En Nar itself!!
It also includes provision by Areva of equipment, technical services, and personnel to assist FTE … this is worth gold!! Or in this case Uranium!! It sees them not only gain access to exploration databases on these leases, but technical assistance from the worlds biggest uranium corporation!! The value in this is becoming evident, as they have now programmed an additional 6,000m of drilling to commence at Bir En Nar in July 2009. The drilling program has been "developed in consultation with technical specialists from Areva." They are confident enough about the results to date, and the coming drilling that they say: "Results from this drilling should enable an initial JORC-code compliant uranium resource to be established for Bir En Nar later this year."
The beauty is they also have the benefit of modern airborne geophysical data and modern geological maps conducted in recent times by the World Bank in its “Prism 1” project to assist in African mining development..
Don’t ignore the amazing value & potential that Mauritania represents for FTE.
Last of the drilling is Bohoduo in Guinea Previous ground work targeted a 700m long uranium anomaly at the Bohoduo Prospect. Airborne geophysical data also indicates a 12 km long extension of the anomaly to the east. An initial drilling program was carried out during May 2008, and yet we are still currently awaiting assay results, over 12 months later.
Why so long in getting results? I would have liked to see them announce why it has taken so long, if there was a problem, let the market know! But everything I read indicates that management were very please with the drilling conducted there, and consider it a HOT target.
Just in conclusion, it has to be said that the value of a company equates to more than just the “pounds in the ground” … One of the biggest drawcards a company can have is the quality of the board, and of its register. While there are a good amount of shares on issue, half of those are held by the top 20, and the AIM listing sees quite a few shares leave our shores to trade in London. Along with Lady Barbara Judge as a director & Chairman, who is also currently chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, we can assume that FTE has received some significant coverage in the UK.
Also, we have seen significant buying by directors in the last 6 months or so, including a number of purchase by Lady Judge.
Putting all of the above together, I have no doubt that we are looking at a little uranium junior that is destined for big things. What resource they will announce soon, I have no idea. I am hoping for around 25 to 30mlbs as an INITIAL resource at Firawa, with more to come. IMO they have a potential target of around 70mlbs there.
Then at Bir En Nar, we could see anything with those high grades … certainly Areva are confident of them getting at least 60mlb in the next 18 months. Then of course they have their many other leases targets & anomalies.
In my opinion FTE represents as good a value as MRU, which while it has great prospectivity, currently only has a 39mlb jorc doposit, yet has a MC of over $350million.
Disclosure After putting all this together, I considered the fact that Areva were confident enough to pay 13 cents for their shares in FTE, and yet they were still only trading at around 12 cents!! IMO this had to be a dead set “BUY” at those prices, and so in the last few weeks I have been accumulating FTE shares.
FTE Price at posting:
16.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held