The Prästrun uranium-niobium-tantalum prospect in Northern Sweden. Three linear outcrops of mineralized rock have been discovered over a 1400 metre strike length at Prästrun.

The project and is located within the 100%-owned Prästrun nr 2 exploration permit of 1,597.42 hectares.

Prästrun is located 20 kilometres south of the Company's Kläppibäcken uranium project in the county of Jämtland in central Sweden.

Mineralization at Prästrun was discovered during the ground follow up of airborne radiometric anomalies in 1978. Geological mapping, peat geochemistry, ground geophysics and detailed ground radiometric measurements were completed by the Swedish Geological Survey in the late 1970's.

Three linear outcrops of mineralized rock have been discovered over a 1400 metre strike length at Prästrun, the remainder of the prospect being covered by a thin (2-4 metre thick) veneer of glacial till. The north-westernmost outcrop is approximately 20 metres by 30 metres in size, whilst two smaller outcrops are exposed 700 metres and 1400 metres away to the south-east. Exploration on strike between the mineralized outcrops has shown anomalously high radioactivity at up to 8 times background. Two outcrop samples from historic work on the most south-eastern outcrop returned 0.07% and 0.57% of niobium oxide, trace and 0.03% tantalum and 0.01% and 0.12% uranium oxide. No drilling has been completed at the prospect.

Mineralization is present as betafite, a uranium-niobium-tantalum mineral and the target zone is hosted in alkali syenite gneiss or nepheline syenite gneiss within the Seve nappe of the Caledonian tectonic zone. Niobium's main use is as an additive to steel that increases it's tensile strength. Two percent niobium added to steel triples its PSI strength.

World Nuclear Association Brief on Sweden

Ten nuclear power reactors provide approximately 50% of its electricity.

Swedish mining legislation allows exploration for uranium and places no special restriction on mining where the uranium grade is less than 200 ppm or the production is less than 5 kg. When higher uranium grades are present, permitting will follow a process concerning "nuclear technical activity". Such permitting must pass before the Swedish government for decision making.

Sweden has been an enthusiastic supporter of measures to improve world environmental quality. Among many others, Sweden in 1992 committed itself to stabilise carbon dioxide emissions at 1990 levels by 2000, and this was reaffirmed in Berlin in 1995. The fact that those levels in 1990 were only 60% of 1970's was due to nuclear energy replacing most oil for electricity generation.

Both the Energy Commission report and that of an independent economist, W.D.Nordhaus, project that a full nuclear phase-out would increase Sweden's carbon dioxide emissions by about 50% above the 1990 level. This is why European Union proposals for 1997 climate change negotiations allowed for a 5% increase in Sweden's emission levels due simply to the proposed Barsebäck reactor closure.

One problem with closing any reactor is that in the short run the replacement generation or imports would be fossil fuelled. Local back-up capacity is mostly oil-fired, as indicated in the 1996 figures when hydro production was much less than normal.

Sweden has its nuclear waste management well in hand. A dedicated ship moves the wastes from power plants to repositories. Some low-level waste is disposed of at reactor sites, some is incinerated at Studsvik. A final underground repository for intermediate-level waste (SFR) has been operating near Forsmark since 1988. The CLAB interim repository for spent fuel (treated as high level waste) has been operating since 1985 at Oskarshamn, and its 5000 tonne capacity is being expanded to 8000 tonnes to cater for all the fuel from all the present reactors. The spent fuel is stored under water in an underground rock cavern for some 40 years. It will then be encapsulated in copper and stainless steel canisters for final emplacement packed with bentonite clay in a 500 metre deep repository in granite.

The Prästrun project is located close to the Kläppibäcken uranium project. We are encouraged by the initial grades of uranium sampled from three outcrops over an undrilled 1,400 metres. Together with the significant credits of niobium and tantalum, Prästrun represents another quality project for Mawson's expanding portfolio.