European Uranium wraps up metallurgical drilling program at Kuriskova

European Uranium Resources (CVE:EUU) said Tuesday it has completed its 3-hole drilling program at its Kuriskova Uranium deposit in Slovakia to obtain samples for further metallurgical testing.

The miner said preliminary analysis shows that the program was "successful" in obtaining sufficient sample weight at an "appropriate grade" for testing, as part of the ongoing feasibility study.

The first drill hole was reported last month, with data from the final two holes, LE-K-74 and LE-K-75, announced today.

Hole LE-K-74 intersected 2.9 metres at 0.478% Uranium (eU3O8), including 0.5 metres at 1.847% eU3O8. The company said the two nearest historic holes showed intersections of 3.6 metres at 0.143% eU3O8 and 1.2 metres of 0.519% U3O8.

Meanwhile, hole LE-K-75 hit 2.6 metres at 0.468% eU3O8, including 0.8 metres at 1.212% eU3O8. Two nearby historic holes showed intercepts of 3.0 metres at 1.454% U3O8  and 4.8 metres of 1.453% eU3O8.

The indicated resource from the project, as of April 2011, consists of 28.5 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 0.555% U3O8 contained in 2.3 million tonnes.

The property also holds an additional inferred resource of  12.7 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 0.185% U3O8 contained in 3.1 million tonnes.

European Uranium said it is continuing to advance "critical" aspects of a feasibility study and environmental impact study for the Kuriskova deposit.

The metallurgical samples collected from the continuing drill program will be tested by French nuclear giant AREVA, a significant shareholder of European Uranium, later in the summer and fall, as part of a technical services agreement between the two parties.

The aim is to optimize the process flow sheet as released in the preliminary feasibility study, which gave Kuriskova a pre-tax internal rate of return of 30.8 percent, and a net present value of $277 million at an eight percent discount rate.

The company is also continuing to conduct surface exploration work on targets within the Kuriskova license area, with the objective of defining drill targets that could lead to an expansion of the current resource.

The company noted that Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, elected in March, continues to publicly reinforce the message that nuclear power will be a main source of energy for the region in the future.

Construction of Slovakia's fifth nuclear power plant is expected to be completed and operational by 2020, the miner said.

European Uranium is in discussions with regards to securing a production off-take agreement with Slovakia for its project, or a partnership with a Slovak entity.

The company also said Tuesday that work programs for its recently acquired Swedish and Finland Uranium prospects have been designed and will be conducted in late summer and fall of this year.