IBC Advanced Alloys inks drilling contract for 2011 program at Utah properties

IBC Advanced Alloys (CVE:IB) reported on Tuesday that it has hired Layne Christensen Drilling to carry out a first phase drill program at its Juab County fluorite-bertrandite project in western Utah.
IBC said that drilling is scheduled to start with a single rig in the fourth week of this month, pending rig mobilization. The planned drill program is expected to cost $1 million.
The drill campaign will consist of up to 35 holes, totalling 5,250 metres of reverse circulation drilling to test target zones in the volcanic tuff and in the underlying Bell Hill Dolomite unit, in the claim area south of the Starvation Canyon Wash.
The mineral explorer also said these holes will test for "the presence and concentration of fluorite-bertrandite replacement of dolomite fragments" near the Materion Spor Mountain mine pits, and penetrate the volcanic tuff layer to test the underlying Bell Hill Dolomite.
Recently, IBC received approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining to initiate the drill program.
Vancouver-based IBC's properties include 371 claims, totalling about 7,630 acres, and are adjacent to the large Spor Mountain beryllium mine.
IBC’s vice president of exploration, Lee Rice, said: "The focus now is to quantify the potential beryllium mineralization we hope will provide a strategic upstream resource underpinning continued downstream manufacturing growth, as well as to support our research and development efforts, such as our nuclear fuels initiative, which has the potential to drive significant future beryllium consumption.”
Aside from its prospective beryllium properties, Vancouver, BC-based IBC makes and distributes rare metal alloys that are used in a variety of industries, including nuclear energy, automotive, telecommunications, and a range of industrial application. It has 80 employees, with production facilities in Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Missouri.
The company, together with Purdue Univeristy and Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a member institution of the Texas A&M University System, has also been engaged in a mission to develop a nuclear fuel enhanced with beryllium oxide, a rare metal, for commercial use in nuclear power reactors.
In an effort to improve the efficiency and safety of the nuclear industry, IBC announced in February that it had completed the first phase of its research and development project on nuclear fuels - with positive results.
Shares of IBC rose 5.13% to trade at 21 cents a share Tuesday afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange.