Cauldron Energy kicks off drilling at Las Marias uranium project

Cauldron Energy (ASX: CXU) has commenced its first drill program at the Las Marias uranium project, located in the province of San Juan, Argentina.

In total, 500 to 600 metres of HQ core drilling is proposed as an initial program, which is to be followed-up in the second half of the year with further drilling.

Targets include undercover extensions to surface mineralisation that have returned assays of up to 1,305 ppm U3O8 and exploration drilling results are expected to be returned my mid to late June 2010.

Cauldron’s Chairman, Tony Sage, stated “while the company is currently drilling in South Australia and has committed to drilling on its main projects in Australia over the next six months, discretionary exploration programs and budgets subsequent to that are likely to focus more on the overseas projects.”

“At the moment we see benefits to exploring in Argentina and a degree of uncertainty in Australia. We are hoping this will change over the next 12 to 18 months” said Sage.

Earlier in the year Cauldron announced that 13,000 metres of drilling would be completed by the company in 2010. Much of this expenditure was earmarked for Australia.

Argentina has a mature and growing nuclear power generation industry and a local demand for uranium metal. The Federal Government of Argentina has been proactive in building an exploration and mining industry by encouraging foreign investment and providing tax incentives for exploration and project development.

The Las Marias Project is 100% owned by the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Jackson Global Limited (Jackson). The project covers 660km2 and includes areas of historical uranium exploration dating back to the 1970’s.

Jackson has held this area under application since 2006 and in 2010 the main lease was granted, making Jackson the first company to receive environmental clearances for the exploration and bulk testing of uranium in the province of San Juan.

During the March 2010 quarter the company completed surface mapping, rock chip and radon cup sampling. The results of this exploration have yet to be received in full, however preliminary results are being used to target drill holes for this initial program.

Cauldron said drilling will enable the company to assess the stratigraphy of the main project area, enabling the generation of preferred targets for follow-up drilling later in the year.

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