Target Exploration bottle roll tests 90% U extraction

2009-02-05 09:28 ET - News Release

Mr. Stewart Wallis reports

TARGET EXPLORATION & MINING CORP.: INITIAL TEST RESULTS INDICATE GREATER THAN 90% URANIUM RECOVERY

Target Exploration and Mining Corp. has completed preliminary bottle roll leach tests on three samples from the Bootheel project in southern Wyoming. Two of these samples indicated uranium extraction of greater than 90 per cent after five days based on the calculated head grade. Another sample attained a total uranium extraction of 80 per cent, under different leaching parameters. It is believed that the 90-per-cent extraction is more representative of the ultimate uranium recovery whereby fresh sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) lixiviant is regularly introduced into the solution.

"It is encouraging to verify recoveries of over 90 per cent," says Stewart Wallis, president of Target. "Historical testwork carried out in 1979 and in 1994 indicated recoveries of 87 per cent or better using sodium bicarbonate, and, in fact, a column test conducted in 1994 indicated 98 per cent recovery in only 16 days."

The preliminary results suggest that the mineralization has the potential to be recovered using in situ recovery (ISR) techniques. ISR techniques are more environmentally friendly and less capital intensive than conventional mining methods. There are currently several ISR projects in Wyoming that are planning production, some with as little as five million pounds of uranium.

The samples consisted of core from three holes selected to be representative of the mineralization found in the Sundance formation, which ranged in grade from 0.021 per cent to 0.051 per cent U3O8. The core was logged on site before being transported to the laboratory. There it was crushed to natural grain size, composited and placed in hard plastic bottles containing water and sodium bicarbonate. The bottles were rolled continuously with samples of the solution analyzed at one day intervals. Sample 3, which had a lower assay and a lower recovery rate, was leached for seven days before washing the tails, adding water and additional lixiviant for an additional two days of leaching. The other two samples described were leached for five days with 50 per cent of the lixiviant replaced each day. Results from these samples indicate a uranium recovery of 92 per cent and 94 per cent, respectively. Hazen Research Inc. in Denver carried out the testwork and is certified by various state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This laboratory has been carrying out analyses and metallurgical research for over 40 years.

Target has also received the loan from Crosshair Exploration & Mining as per the news release in Stockwatch dated Jan. 7, 2009, titled "Crosshair & Target agree to combine to create a solid North American uranium asset base." Crosshair loaned Target approximately $784,000 in order to acquire the final data set for the Bootheel Project LLC, as well as to complete a National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate in the second quarter of 2009. The data set is currently being compiled by Target's geological team and will be combined with the results from over 50,000 feet of drilling completed by Target at Bootheel in 2008.

The Bootheel property, together with the Buck Point property, is located within the Shirley basin in southern Wyoming and makes up the Bootheel Project LLC. Target and Ur-Energy Inc., through a wholly owned subsidiary, are the members of the Bootheel Project LLC. The project holds 100-per-cent mineral interest on 6,684 gross acres and a 75-per-cent mineral interest in 2,516 gross acres. Target is currently earning a 75-per-cent interest in the project.

Mr. Wallis, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and is responsible for the technical information contained in this news release.

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