Commander's Uranium Properties
Courtesy of Commander Resources Ltd.
”We don’t look at it as a big shift in strategy,” said Ken Leigh, Commander’s President and CEO. “Part of our mission statement is to look at opportunities where we can get in at a reasonable cost and . . . add [value for] our shareholders. The future of uranium is fairly bullish if you believe the future of China and emerging markets. If there is indeed going to be this increased demand and requirement for uranium, exposing our shareholders to a little piece of that is something that we think is worthwhile.”
Investor response to the property was positive. “We’ve had a lot of calls from new investors,” said Leigh. “We got a bit of an increase in our share price for a little while. Our existing shareholders were very supportive. They thought it was a great move.”
The uranium acquisition includes 124 claims at Blue Hills and 114 claims at White Bear. Commander may earn a 100% interest over a four year term by making total cash payments of $82,200, issuing 201,000 shares of Commander and completing $1,000,000 in exploration.
The properties hold several in situ bedrock uranium occurrences and boulder trains carrying highly anomalous uranium values, as well as other uranium showings. They were left idle in the 1980’s when uranium prices took a plunge. Still, says Leigh, “We are comfortable with the fact with the work that’s been done in the past . . . was good quality work and it was verified by the government. The opportunity exists for something that is close to surface and . . . could be fairly high grade. It’s too early to tell in terms of any kind of economics or profitability because it’s never been drilled or there’s no resource to this point. It’s still a very early stage project,” he said.
To verify the historical data, Commander will complete radiometric surveys, geological mapping, prospecting, trenching and sampling. Geophysical surveys will be undertaken where appropriate and, if a significant target is developed, the company will test it by diamond drilling.
“The project on Baffin is a bit seasonal in nature in terms of when you can work,” said Leigh. The Newfoundland uranium project not only increases the chance for discovery but it stretches the exploration season to a full year.
Commander is accustomed to diversity and tenacity. The 14-year-old company survived the market downturn, says Leigh, “by actually discovering a gold deposit and selling that deposit. So we’ve had some history of discovery; we’ve had history of production . . . through that discovery.”
In 2002, the company spun off its Canadian Arctic diamond properties to Diamonds North Resources. “By spinning out the properties, Commander retained an equity position in Diamonds North,” said Leigh. “That provides us with working capital . . . some cash down the road or long term investment position if the market really takes off.”
The company’s focus will remain its Baffin Island Gold Project, discovered in 2003. A new discovery to the area, it may well become an emerging gold district. In other words, said Leigh, “We are actually working on a brand new project whereas others are looking at previously discovered opportunities or project areas that have been explored many times by other companies. We worked on it last year for the first full season and came up with some good high grade gold numbers over a long strike length. So there are a number of project opportunities there. We’re going to be back up there with a big program in 2005.”
Meanwhile, Commander will continue to look to locals for employment and services. “We hire locally as much as possible. At our Baffin Project last year, for example,” said Leigh, “we hired several locals from the communities that are nearby. They are quite far from our property because Baffin Island is very large, but we did hire a few people and they worked out really well. And we will be hiring them again this year. And we try to use as much of the local services as we can in the jurisdictions where we are working.”
Leigh says this working relationship is symbiotic. “It’s good business practice and it makes sense too because if you have perfectly competent people that live nearby then it’s better to use them than flying in people from far away,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to train the locals in exploration, especially in areas of the Arctic where there’s very little other economic input. In Newfoundland, we use Newfoundland prospectors. We use Newfoundland drillers. We make use of the local prospectors for some of our work down there.”
This symbiosis extends to mining in general. “Whether it’s by Commander or whether it’s by another company,” said Leigh, “a new discovery that is of significance will generate a lot of interest for more exploration and more development in Canada and elsewhere. The availability of government grants in places like Newfoundland are very helpful to junior companies and will help us advance our projects in those areas as we go forward,” he said.
It will be a busy year for the exploration company. “We are going to have four drill programs going this year across Canada and maybe more than that if we can get some deals done on our other property,” said Leigh.
As to the future, he said, “We always keep our eyes open for opportunity that we see that could have value for the company. . . . And if we see an opportunity to expand the holdings in Newfoundland if it makes sense to us and the deals are right, then that’s something we’d look at. If there are other opportunities for uranium or other metals that fit our agenda in terms of being able to add value, then we’d certainly look at those as well,” said Leigh.
Commander Resources Ltd. trades as CMD-TSX Venture. For more information, visit www.commanderresources.com.