March 20, 2005-- Toronto, Ontario --Vena Resources Inc. (TSX.V : VEM) announces that it has begun an aggressive exploration and confirmation field campaign on its 14,000 hectare uranium concessions in Peru which are controlled 100% by Vena.
Peru is well known for the variety and high grades of its mineral wealth and much of the country has scarcely been explored.
“Given the strong support from the investment community oversubscribing to the last financing round, we are encouraged to fast track and mobilize three exploration teams at once to explore all 14,000 hectares over the next months. These confirmation and exploration campaigns across all 78 target areas lead by IPEN scientists will enable us to make more appropriate strategic announcements in a short term”, said Juan Vegarra, Chairman and CEO of Vena. About IPEN
The Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN) is a decentralized public institution in the energy and mining sector with the fundamental mission to promote, manage and supervise the development of nuclear energy www.ipen.gob.pe .
Peru has a history of Uranium exploration dating back to 1950s under the authority and control of IPEN. Exploration efforts were halted due to budget constraints in the early 90s. During the three decades of exploration efforts, IPEN identified 78 target areas which were classified as high, medium and low priority
Vena Program
Figure-1 (shown on page 2) shows four districts that constitute the first field exploration campaigns: Macusani, Lagunillas, Munani and Rio Blanco. Ing. Jacinto Valencia, a respected scientist who has been with IPEN for more than 18 years will lead the exploration efforts, supported by VENA geologist and field personnel, including Ing. Manuel Delgado who worked for IPEN for many years.
The Macusani district is the most studied area in southern Peru, IPEN historical reports from Sept. 1983 refer to the areas of Chapi, Corani, Tantamaco, Huiquiza, Calvario, Concha Rumio, Huachanne, Chilcuno, Chacaconiza and the surrounding area to the town of Macusani potentially having in the order of 200,000 tons of Uranium carrying ore with average grades from 0.2% to 12% of U3O8 (Bulletin 71 – Peruvian Geological Society – Sept 1983)
IPEN had done extensive field work on the two districts of Lagunillas and Santa Rosa, including chip/channel sampling and ground radiometric surveys, but no overall historical estimate was determined other that the determination of dozens of important targets meriting further work.
The data reported is based on IPEN’s historical reports and such estimates should not be relied upon or considered a defined resource according to NI 43-101.
Macusani District
– Geology and Metallogeny
The petrographic, mineralogical and tectonic characteristics of the uranium occurrences of Macusani, 150 km to the NNW of Lake Titicaca in Puno, are such that these mineralizations are unique among Uranium deposits associated with pyroclastic rocks although similar to the mineralized systems in Lakeview (Oregon), McDermitt (Nevada), Marysvale (Utah), Makkovik (Labrador), Rexpar (BC), Mount Pleasant (New Brunswick) and Maureen (Quensland) in Australia.
The studies performed by IPEN showed that:
1. The Uranium ores are found principally at higher levels of the volcanic sequence;
2. The enclosing rocks are Plio-Quaternary rhyolitic and rhyodacitic ignimbrites formed by quartz, sanidine, oligoclase, biotite, and occasionally muscovite and andalusite, in a particular devitrified vitreous matrix containing numerous lutite clasts;
3. Biotite, smoky quartz and andalusite are very abundant in the mineralized levels;
4. The metallic ores consists almost exclusively of massive pitchblende more or less transformed into gummites, phosphates and silicates of uranium, and very sparse Fe sulphides
5. The pitchblende fills fractures between a few centimeters and several meters long and between 1 and 100 mm wide. Some of these fractures are sub-vertical and are due to the contraction which gave rise to the columnar disjunction. Others are subhorizontal and parallel to a system of conjugate ductile shear formations produced by compaction and settling of the pyroclastic materials containing the mineralization.
Recent exploration of the Macusani area by third parties have found significant outcrops of the uranium mineral autunite in small fractures in many areas. Autunite contains 51% uranium by weight and converts into 60% - 65% U3O8.
About Vena Resources Inc.
Vena Resources (TSX.V : VEM) is dedicated to building capital appreciation and creating long term shareholder value by developing the mineral and social capital of Peru. This will be done by deploying its financial resources so that its uniquely “Peru savvy” management team can aggressively acquire and advance high quality projects and people throughout the country.
Vena currently has a portfolio of projects currently encompassing 30,000 hectares of strategically located and highly prospective ground in all regions of the country. A key risk mitigation strategy is to maintain the corporate development portfolio open to all types and classes of mineral wealth and keep the new project “pipeline” full.
The Aucapampa copper-gold property is in planning for a second drill campaign; the Las Princesas gold property is completely encircled by Barrick Gold and PanAmerican Silver claims and is immediately adjacent to Barrick’s Alto Chicama property; the Aurora property is a large copper-molybdenum system that is going thru a confirmation study; a pre-feasibility study of the Azulcocha zinc-manganese property is soon to be completed; and the company has recently announced a technical joint venture with the Peruvian atomic energy commission for the exploration of the extensive Vena uranium concessions.
For further information please visit the Company website at www.venaresources.com
John Cullen, Director (416) 364-7739 or by e-mail jcullen@venaresources.com
Denis Clement, Director (416) 364-1909 or by e-mail dclement@venaresources.com
IR Canada: Renmark Financial Communications Inc.
T: (514) 939-3989 F: (514) 939-3717
Tina Cameron - tcameron@renmarkfinancial.com
Henri Perron - hperron@renmarkfinancial.com
IR Europe: Vicarage Capital
T: +44-20-8715-3271 or +44-(0)-7880-787-080
Martin Wood - martin@vicaragecapital.com
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.
Statements in this press release regarding the Company’s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
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