Quarterly Report

RNS Number : 3448R

Berkeley Resources Limited

29 April 2009

 



Quarterly Activities Report

For the Quarter Ended

31st March 2009

Key Developments

Corporate

• Shareholders approved the Co-operation Agreement with ENUSA, which was then submitted to the Spanish Council of Ministers for approval.

• A placement of 10m shares and 5m options to Polo Resources Limited was agreed. Mr Stephen Dattels will join Berkeley's board at completion.

• A parallel placement to major institutional shareholders and a 1:20 rights issue to shareholders, on the same terms, will potentially bring the total funds raised to around A$10m, sufficient to fund the ENUSA deposit and feasibility study.

Exploration

• A revision of Berkeley's exploration ground holdings was completed, with an overall reduction of about 40% by area.

• A representative sample of mineralised drill core from Retortillo was subject to a range of metallurgical and processing testwork, including size distribution, comminution, radiometric sorting and column leaching. Results were generally encouraging for ongoing testwork.

Enquiries -    Managing Director:      Matt Syme           Tel: [phone]     

                   RBC Capital Markets:     Martin Eales        Tel: [phone]

Corporate

Shareholder Meeting

On 19 January, shareholders of the Company approved the Co-operation Agreement with ENUSA, as set out in the announcement of 10 December 2008. The Agreement was then submitted to the Spanish Consejo de Ministros (Council of Ministers) for approval.

Share Placements and Rights Issue

On 23 March 2009, Berkeley advised that it had reached agreement on 2 placements of new securities to raise approximately A$7m, along with a proposed rights issue to raise a further A$3m, as follows:

1. A placement to Polo Resources Limited of 10m shares at A$0.50 each, along with 5m free attaching options, exercisable within 4 years at $0.75 each. Polo's Chairman, Mr Stephen Dattels, will be invited to join the Berkeley Board at completion. Mr Dattels was a founder of Uramin Inc, a uranium exploration and development company which was sold to Areva for US$2.5bn in 2007;
   
2. A placement of 4m shares and 2m options on the same terms to existing major shareholders; and
   
3. A 1 for 20 rights issue to shareholders on the same terms, representing up to 5,879,584 shares and 2,939,792 options.

The issues are subject to the approval of the Spanish Council of Ministers to the Co-operation Agreement, which was received on 24 April 2009. They also require partial approval of shareholders at a meeting to be held on 6 May 2009.

The capital raisings secure Berkeley's funding for the deposit payable to ENUSA (€5m) and also the costs of the feasibility study which Berkeley will undertake.

  Exploration

The principal focus this quarter has been initial planning and preparation for the evaluation drilling phase of the  impending feasibility study on the Salamanca Uranium Project. Historic information held by Berkeley, and  generated exclusively by the Spanish State during intermittent exploration and evaluation campaigns between the 1950's  and late 1990's, has been compiled and interrogated. This process has been assisted by the experience of assessing equivalent data for Berkeley's Retortillo, Cristina and Caridad deposits during the last two years.

In addition, an extensive review of the Company's exploration tenements, described in the December quarter,  was completed. It resulted in a reduction of about 40% by area with the number of granted licenses and licenses under application being reduced from 71 to 52, totalling 296,162 hectares. 

This reduction process included ground radiometric screening of extensive areas with little or no historic data and geological assessment of resulting anomalies. As a result some anomalies resulting from sources other than uranium mineralisation were downgraded and the areas relinquished. 

Metallurgical Testwork: Retortillo 

In December 2008 two representative samples of mineralization from the Retortillo deposit, totaling 800kg, were sent to SGS Lakeside Oretest Pty Ltd in Perth, with the aim of determining a variety of work indexes, and assessing the potential for establishing a heap leaching operation. In addition, 84 individual core samples of mineralization and host rock, in the size range 20-50mm were sent to Ultrasort Pty Ltd in Australia to determine the potential for radiometric sorting of Retortillo mineralisation.

The two representative samples were selected from 7 diamond drill holes and divided into two composites, 'Top' and 'Bottom' on the basis of weathering and clay content. At the end of March, the following test work had been completed and the results are reported below:

• Uranium Distribution by Size.

• Comminution Tests

• Bottle Roll Tests

• Agglomeration and Percolation Tests

Following the successful outcome of the agglomeration and percolation tests a leach column was established for each composite. The 60 day leaching tests are based on 4m columns, 100mm in diameter, with each containing 60 kg of mineralization crushed to 80% passing 10mm. 

• Uranium Distribution by Size

The material as received was crushed to -50mm, sized and Uranium analysis completed on each size fraction. Results from the 'Bottom' composite material indicated that the + 25mm fraction contained 30.5% of the Uranium in 44.6% of the mass; In contrast, the more friable 'Top' composite contained only 2.5% of the mass in the >25mm fraction and 0.7% of the Uranium.   

2.  Comminution Testwork

This crushing and grinding testwork included:-

• Apparent Relative Density (ARD)
• Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS)
• Bond Rod Mill Work Index (BRMWi)
• Bond Ball Mill Work Index (BBRMWi)
• Bond Abrasion Index (Ai)
• Bond Impact Crusher Work Index (ICWi)

The results are summarized below:  

Table 1: Top and Bottom Composite Results

Test Description	Units	Top Composite		Bottom Composite
		Sample No		Sample No
		1	2	1	2
Apparent Relative Density (ARD)	kg/m3	2,142	2,008	2,660	2,467
Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS)	Mpa	5.9	6	8.2	22.3
Bond Rod Mill Work Index (BRMWi)	kWh/t	7.14	-	12.97	-
Bond Mill Work Index (BBMWi)	kWh/t	10.2	-	13.1	-
Bond Abrasion Index (Ai)	-	0.037	-	0.037	-
Bond Impact Crusher Work Index (IC wi)	kWh/t	2.8	-	7.4	-

 The results are encouraging and indicate that the Retortillo mineralisation requires relatively low energy to crush and grind and will be amenable to a standard crushing and grinding circuit.

3.   Bottle Roll Tests

Forty eight hour bottle roll tests were carried out on three size ranges for each composite, -50mm, -25mm and -10mm, using 1 -2 g/l H2S04  and 2 -3 g/t Fe 3+.  Results for the 'Top' composite  samples  indicated  Uranium  extractions in the range 95 -97%, whereas extraction from the  'Bottom'  composite  samples ranged between 80 - 90%. 

These results indicated that the levels of Uranium extraction under relatively mild conditions were sufficiently encouraging to justify leach column testwork.

4.   Agglomeration and Percolation Tests

Agglomeration tests indicated satisfactory results with simple acid addition for the 'Bottom' composite. The finer sized and more friable 'Top' composite required the addition of a small amount of binder, in addition to acid, to achieve acceptable agglomeration. The subsequent percolation tests indicated that satisfactory percolation rates would be achieved in a leaching column. 

 5.    Progress Results From the Leaching Columns 

Column leaching commenced on 9 March and at the end of the quarter recoveries were in the range of 43-46% for the two samples. This encouraging progress has continued and by mid April recoveries have increased to about 83% for the 'Top' composite and 80% for the 'Bottom' composite. It should be noted that Uranium extraction is only indicative at this stage and that accurate calculation of recoveries will require completion of the 60 day tests, dismantling of the columns, analysis of the residue, and determination of the mass balances. It will also require satisfactory recovery of the dissolved Uranium from the pregnant liquor, following additional test work.

Both columns exhibit minimal slump, and encouraging levels of acid consumption (in the range of 11-12 kg/tonne at mid April). 

6.      Radiometric Sorting

The 84 core samples were individually assessed for their radiometric characteristics on the Ultrasort test rig then returned to SGS in Perth for individual analysis for Uranium. 

The combined results were then incorporated into the Ultrasort assessment model, which simulates the algorithm used by the radiometric sorters. Although there is significant scatter in the correlation between grade and radiometric response, which would result in some accept material being rejected and vice versa, the algorithm used in the model indicates good potential for upgrading with minimal losses of Uranium to the waste stream. More detailed test work is justified. 

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on information compiled by Dr James Ross, who is a Fellow of The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a consultant to Berkeley Resources Limited. Dr Ross has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Dr Ross consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

 Appendix 1: Berkeley Tenements - Spain

Province	License Type	Tenement Name	Status (31st March 2009)	Hectares
GUADALAJARA	P.I.	POBO	SUBMITTED	5,237
	P.I.	COBETA	SUBMITTED	2,367
	P.I.	ARAGONCILLO 1	SUBMITTED	4,932
	P.I.	ARAGONCILLO 2	SUBMITTED	7,532
	P.I.	PINARES 1	PENDING	3,112
	P.I.	PINARES 2	PENDING	2,538
	P.E.	BERKELEY 3	SUBMITTED	14,325
	P.E.	BERKELEY 5	SUBMITTED	12,787
	P.E.	BERKELEY 6	SUBMITTED	13,054
	P.E.	BERKELEY 7	SUBMITTED	10,953
	P.E.	BERKELEY 8	SUBMITTED	14,630
	P.E.	BERKELEY 9	SUBMITTED	13,058
	P.E.	BERKELEY 10	SUBMITTED	13,057
	P.E.	BERKELEY 11	SUBMITTED	13,063
	P.E.	BERKELEY 15	SUBMITTED	13,090
	P.E.	BERKELEY 16	SUBMITTED	14,656
	P.E.	BERKELEY 17	SUBMITTED	12,561
SALAMANCA I	P.I.	CASTAÑOS 2	GRANTED	2,895
	P.I.	PEDRERAS	GRANTED	2,722
	P.I.	ABEDULES	GRANTED	2,893
	P.I.	ALISOS	GRANTED	2,894
	P.I.	ALCORNOQUES	GRANTED	2,835
	P.I.	BARDAL	PENDING	3,709
	P.I.	BERZOSA	PENDING	2,864
	P.I.	HERRADA	PENDING	3,301
	P.I.	LASANTA	PENDING	781
	P.I.	SANTALUCÍA	PENDING	2,025
	P.I.	TRES CUARTOS	SUBMITTED	2,602
	P.I.	ESPINERA	SUBMITTED	2,977
	P.I.	LAS ERAS	SUBMITTED	2,083
	P.I.	BOGAJO	SUBMITTED	2,747
SALAMANCA II	P.I.	BARQUILLA	GRANTED	2,988
	P.I.	CIERVO	PENDING	3,454
	P.I.	DEHESA	PENDING	3,399
	P.I.	HORCAJADA	PENDING	3,483
	P.I.	MIMBRE	PENDING	4,097
	P.I.	OÑORO	PENDING	3,574
	P.I.	ABETOS	SUBMITTED	1,479
	P.I.	FUENTEGUINALDO	PENDING	2,913
SALAMANCA V	P.I.	MAILLERAS	SUBMITTED	2,794
	P.I.	EL ÁGUILA	SUBMITTED	2,879
	P.I.	CAMPILLO	SUBMITTED	2,792
CÁCERES III	P.I.	OLMOS 1	GRANTED	8,373
	P.I.	OLMOS 2	SUBMITTED	1,386
	P.I.	OLMOS 3	SUBMITTED	2,389
	P.I.	ZAFRILLA	SUBMITTED	5,017
CÁCERES VI	P.I.	IBOR	SUBMITTED	4,702
	P.I.	ALMENDRO	GRANTED	8,635
TOLEDO	P.I.	LUCENA	PENDING	4,025
CÁCERES VII	P.I.	TIÉTAR	SUBMITTED	5,948
BARCELONA	P.I.	SOL	SUBMITTED	6,779
	P.I.	LUNA	SUBMITTED	6,779
				296,162

 

END

 

 

MSCIIFLDSAIAFIA