In November, 2009 the Company entered into an agreement with the HB syndicate to acquire seven cateos covering approximately 14,000 hectares located in the La Rioja province of Argentina that demonstrate strong potential for hosting uranium mineralization. In addition, the agreement extends to any other uranium properties identified by the HB syndicate within Argentina over the next two years that, with Western's agreement, merit acquisition.
The Cateos cover areas that are similar geologically to the producing basins in the Western United States that have been mined and have produced hundreds of millions of pounds of uranium. In Argentina, the sedimentary basins that host uranium mineralization developed along the eastern front of the modern day Andes. These sedimentary basins, consisting primarily of sandstone and tuffaceous sediments overlie older granite and metamorphic rocks. The granite and metamorphic rocks, both with high background uranium concentrations are the source of the uranium now concentrated in the basins of La Rioja. The uranium forms tabular shaped roll front deposits similar to those found in the Western U. S.. Faulting has repeatedly brought the favorable zones near the surface resulting in numerous and widespread targets. These areas have not been subjected to the intense level of exploration or mining by the private sector as in the United States and the provincial government of La Rioja recently rescinded negative mining regulations and the infrastructure and access are good. The company believes this represents a sound business opportunity to continue uranium exploration in an area of high prospectivity, which will position Concordia well as the uranium sector revives.
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