History
2008
- Azimut's portfolio contains 48 properties (uranium, gold and nickel) totalling 27,637 claims (or 13,330 km2), representing approximately 10% of the mineral rights granted in Quebec.
- Cumulative total for option agreements and strategic alliances reaches 16.
- Partner agreements cover 64% of the Company's mineral claims, for which the partners can earn (in most cases) a 50% interest and an additional 15% interest with the delivery of a bankable feasibility study.
- Significant exploration also marked 2008, with 18 distinct mineral exploration programs on Azimut's properties across Quebec, including 16 partner-funded programs totalling $10 million.
- Exploration work produced 20,239 line-km of helicopter-borne geophysics, 1,027 lake-bottom sediment samples, and 1,603 rock samples during intensive surface prospecting and mapping.
- Among the major exploration highlights:
- Azimut's discoveries at North Rae (the 2.4-km-long Cirrus zone and a 10-km-long zone with grades up to 3.3% U3O8) and the mineralization identified by AREVA on their Cage property confirm the district-scale uranium potential of the Ungava Bay region where Azimut continues to hold a commanding land position.
- Azimut outlined a 6-km radioactive zone at Daniel Lake, also in the Ungava Bay region, where the 2007 prospecting program had previously uncovered a showing grading up to 0.65% U3O8.
- New radiometric data collected by Azimut and its partner Majescor suggest that additional mineralization may occur along strike of the 30-km prospective corridor on the South Rae property.
- Azimut and NWT Uranium agreed to terminate their option agreements (expected closing date of December 31, 2008) on the North Rae and Daniel Lake properties, allowing Azimut to accelerate its exploration of these two uranium properties.
- In the Central Quebec region, Azimut and Majescor are uncovering regional-scale uranium potential at the West Minto property with grades up to 0.90% U3O8.
- Elsewhere in the Central Quebec region, Azimut and its partners identified major uranium targets on the North and South Minto properties optioned to Rukwa Uranium, the Central Minto property optioned to Abitex Resources, and the Hudson Bay property optioned to Silver Spruce.
- In the James Bay region, Azimut's partners conducted two drilling programs totalling 5,250 m on the Eleonore South and Opinaca A gold properties with encouraging results, including 4.24 g/t Au over 1 m and 0.22 g/t Au over 187 m (including 1.4 g/t over 12 m)
2007
- By the end of 2007, Azimut's portfolio contained 5,093 claims for uranium, gold and nickel properties, representing a minimum of $65 million in required expenditures (and $7 million in payments to Azimut) from its 12 partners over the next three to five years to earn property interests.
- Cumulative (2005-2007) partner-funded exploration expenditures for Azimut's properties reached $13 million.
- Twelve option agreements were signed for Azimut's uranium properties in Quebec, representing an aggregate minimum work commitment of $42 million and about $6.0 million in cash and share payments from partners.
- Two strategic agreements were signed, one regarding the mineral potential assessment of Ecuador with Channel Resources, and the other, the nickel potential of Quebec's geological Grenville Province with Kennecott Exploration Company (Rio Tinto Group).
- Exploration highlights included:
- Extensive uranium mineralization was discovered (up to 3.3% U3O8) on multiple large-scale targets in the Ungava Bay region of Quebec, revealing a potential new uranium district in a territory where Azimut holds a commanding land position.
- Seven mineralized zones with grades up to 3.3% U3O8 and a cumulative length of 10 km were delineated on the North Rae property, optioned to NWT Uranium.
- A 30-km prospective trend with grades up to 0.65% U3O8 is discovered on the South Rae property optioned to Majescor Resources.
- An announcement was released by AREVA Québec Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world's third largest uranium producer, stating it is highly encouraged by exploration results from its Cage property located near Azimut's Ungava properties.
- Many high-quality uranium targets were identified on 11 properties on the North Shore and in Central Quebec using the results of extensive helicopter-borne surveys; follow-up work is planned for 2008.
- Excellent grades were recorded for the North Havre property, optioned to Ressources d'Arianne: up to 0.43% U3O8 and more than 4% rare earth elements.
- Excellent results (up to 0.33% U3O8) were received for the Grenium project, optioned to Kennecott.
- Encouraging gold results of 1.0 to 37.8 g/t Au were recorded for a 600 x 300 m zone on the Eleonore South property in the James Bay region, including channel samples with 1.49 g/t Au over 16 m and 5.33 g/t Au over 8 m.
- Equally encouraging gold results, ranging from 1.0 to 36.0 g/t Au, were received for the 1.3-km long Charles Prospect on the Opinaca A property, optioned to Everton Resources.
2006
- In 2006, Azimut expanded its portfolio by acquiring a large land position for uranium exploration in Quebec.
- The Company also marked a new milestone when it signed its 12th partnership agreement and all existing Azimut partners extended their second-year options - a sign of increasing recognition from the industry in Azimut's ability to generate high-quality exploration targets.
- Among the notable highlights:
- Kennecott extended its strategic agreement regarding uranium exploration
- A letter of agreement was signed with Northwestern Mineral Ventures (now NWT Uranium Corp.) for the North Rae uranium project in Northern Quebec.
- An agreement was signed with Goldcorp and Eastmain for the Eleonore South gold property in the James Bay region.
- 15 exploration programs were conducted on Azimut's Quebec properties with $4.5 million in work commitments.
- Azimut's partner Everton confirmed the 1.7-km long gold-bearing trend on the Opinaca project.
- Azimut and Northwestern's initial discovery of 10 uranium showings revealed regional-scale uranium potential for the North Rae property in Ungava Bay.
2005
- 2005 was a year of new partnerships and exploration for Azimut's properties:
- Partnership agreements were completed for the Opinaca and James Bay projects with Eastmain Resources, Cambior and Placer Dome (now Goldcorp).
- Six gold exploration programs were conducted on Azimut's properties in the James Bay region with a budget of $1.6 million.
- The work led to several discoveries, including:
- a 1.7-km long gold-bearing trend on the Opinaca properties in the James Bay region by Azimut's partner Everton.
- gold targets on the Wabamisk property, also in the James Bay region, by Azimut's partner Placer Dome.
- several significant gold exploration targets on the Opinaca D property and what would later become the Eleonore South property by Azimut's partner Eastmain Resources.
2004
- This year marked the first partnership and strategic agreements for Azimut.
- Two partnership agreements were signed with Everton Resources for four of the six Opinaca projects, which Azimut had increased in size following the Eleonore discovery.
- A strategic agreement was concluded with Kennecott-Rio Tinto, covering 500,000 km2 in Quebec, to generate gold and base metal targets.
2004
- The company was reactivated under the leadership of President and CEO Jean-Marc Lulin with a vision of becoming an industry leader in project generation through regional-scale mineral potential modelling.
- The Company's first mineral potential modelling was completed for the James Bay region, Quebec.
- The company acquired mineral properties in the immediate vicinity of the Eleonore property, which would soon become well-known for its Roberto gold deposit, helping to validate Azimut's approach to project generation.