The markets are taking a beating recently and proponents of the old "Sell-in-May-and-walk-away" mentality are grinning at the moment, but die-hard traders just look at the dips as chances for plays to set up for a ritual bounce. Metals which have been sizzling upwards like a geyser firing steam are taking a breather, but don’t be fooled about a slide backwards at the moment.
The overall economic condition is better (to say the least), but globally, things are still on somewhat shaky ground. Resources should continue to rise and the whole scare from the catastrophe in Japan will fade, paving the way for uranium not to yield such a global scour at the thought of the mineral.
After all, there are still over 400 nuclear power reactors operating in 31 countries that generate 16% of the world's electricity, and over 500 more nuclear reactors being used for a multitude of purposes including powering ships and submarines, conducting scientific research and for the production of medical and industrial isotopes. Uranium demand will remain strong.
JNR Resources, Inc. (TSX-Venture:JNN) is a Saskatoon-based junior resource company, engaged in the exploration and development of mineral properties in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. The primary focus of the Company’s portfolio is interest in various uranium properties in the resource-heavy Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan where JNR controls a 100% interest in six properties totaling 193,965 hectares and an additional eight properties totaling 146,232 hectares in which Denison Mines Corporation has the option to earn varying interests.
Additionally, JNR also holds a 50% interest in the 44,352-hectare South Fork uranium property located in the Cypress Hills area of southwestern Saskatchewan, with JV partners Titan Uranium Incorporated and Mega Uranium Ltd as well as two other JV holdings in Newfoundland.
Today, JNR reported that the 10-hole, 2,590-metre 2011 winter diamond drilling program has been completed on its 100%-owned Way Lake uranium project, located 55 kilometres east of the Key Lake uranium mine in the Athabasca Basin. The program was focused on several ancillary structural targets related to the Fraser Lakes Zone B. Anomalous radioactivity with low-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization and key geological features were intersected by drilling within a new area, Fraser Lakes North, northeast of Fraser Lakes Zone B.
The core recovered from the two holes on Fraser Lakes North shows evidence of major structural reactivation, significant clay alteration, uranium remobilization, and basinal brine fluid circulation. These features are all prominent characteristics of the most significant basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, such as the Eagle Point, Millennium, P-Patch, and the Roughrider Zone.
New drill holes from the east-northeast end of Fraser Lakes Zone B have extended the mineralized area to approximately 1,200 metres long -- at a minimum depth of 175 metres -- with the zone remaining open to the southwest and east-northeast. One of the holes has provided additional evidence for the presence of major east-west and north-south structural corridors that intersect the main northeast-trending EM conductors.
All of the samples have been delivered to the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, a Standards Council of Canada (CCRMP) certified analytical laboratory. Final geochemical results are anticipated by early June, and will be integrated with ongoing studies to plan the next phase of drilling.
The combination of the significant uranium and metal endowment in the Fraser Lakes district, and the lack of sandstone cover and shallow depth to mineralization, allows for efficient and timely exploration of these targets.
Investors may be taking note of JNR as the value of a share is a mere 15 cents, which is approaching seven-year lows. The cost of a share of V.JNN dipped to 13 cents in July 2010, at which point, after a bit of sideways movement, a five-month climb took shares on a ride to 52 cents. Uranium may have a bad name at the moment, but as time heals the wounds, JNR may be poised to ride the wave as mining developments progress.
