Tim Mersoi Basin Applications, Niger
Ownership: 100% Aura Aura’s wholly owned Tim Mersoi Basin applications are located in Northwest Niger and cover 1500 km2. The Tim Mersoi Basin area is one of the world’s major uranium producing areas. Niger is the world’s fifth largest uranium producer, producing approximately eight million pounds of U3O8 per year, all from the Tim Mersoi Basin. The Niger government actively encourages uranium exploration and mining, with two new mines under development. All production is from sandstone hosted deposits within sediments of the Tim Mersoi Basin which are adjacent to and overlie rocks of the Air Massif. At least thirteen individual uranium deposits are known. The Tim Mersoi deposits have attractive uranium grades typically grading 0.3 to 0.6% U3O8. The abundance of uranium in the district, the attractive grades, and the relative paucity of exploration clearly make this area an attractive exploration target. The Aura application areas (known as Ebadargene 1, 2 and 3) lie close to and south of the Air Massif. The Aura areas contain a swarm of east-northeast fault structures that further to the west contain uranium and associated copper. Therefore, the application areas appear to contain extensions to known mineralised structures. It is clear that fault structures, particularly east-northeast and north-south trending faults, have been influential in transmitting the mineralising ground waters within the Tim Mersoi Basin. A number of uranium deposits and occurrences lie within these structures. As far as Aura is aware the areas have had no meaningful previous exploration. An airborne radiometric and magnetic survey has recently been flown under European Aid funding over the Air Massif. The survey covers much of Aura’s northern application area. |
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