Mawson Resources Ltd.
Tresjöarna Uranium Project
Project

The Tresjöarna area is located close to the Company's Klappibacken project. Drilling at Tresjöarna intersected zones of near-surface uranium mineralization with grades up to 0.61% U3O8. The prospect remains open.

Ownership

The project and is located within the 100%-owned Hotagen nr 1 exploration permit of 5,273 hectares.

Location

click on image to view enlarged
Map of the Regional Hotagen nr 1 Permit Area with Airborne Radiometric (Uranium) Grid
 

Tresjöarna lies two kilometres northwest of the Kläppibäcken project, and one kilometre east of the Stensjödalen project.

History

Uranium mineralized outcrops were first discovered at Tresjöarna in 1974, when a 20-metre-square area was excavated by the Swedish Geological Survey ("SGU") during regional exploration of the district. Within the southern part of the excavated area, a 17-metre-by-four-metre wide mineralized zone was uncovered. This area was surveyed with a gamma radiation detector, and as was the protocol at the time, one sample was assayed by the XRF method to calibrate field measurements, which assayed 0.38% U3O8.

Mineralization

Mineralization begins at surface and has been drill-tested to a maximum depth of 70 metres. The project remains open along strike and at depth. At Tresjöarna, uraninite occurs within fractures within a cataclastic granite, and is similar in style to uranium mineralization currently being drill-tested at Mawson's Kläppibäcken project.

The SGU subsequently drilled a total of nine diamond drill holes at Tresjöarna during 1984, testing a 100‑metre by 80‑metre area. Better drill results from this campaign included:

  • TRE84902
  • 4.0 metres for 0.23% U3O8 from 7 metres; and
    2.0 metres for 0.11% U3O8 from 24 metres; and
    9.0 metres for 0.11% U3O8 from 29 metres;
  • TRE84901
  • 5.0 metres for 0.22% U3O8 from 19 metres;
  • TRE84909
  • 0.5 metres for 0.61% U3O8 from 68 metres;

    History

    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.

    Conclusion

    Drilling at Tresjöarna intersected zones of near-surface uranium mineralization with grades up to 0.61% U3O8. Previous exploration of the project ended in the early 1980s, due to the change in public attitude towards the nuclear industry at that time, leaving the potential for mineralization along strike and at depth untested. The proximity of this project to Mawson's Kläppibäcken and Stensjödalen uranium projects highlights the potential for the discovery of further resources in this uranium-rich area.

     
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