September 2, 2010 (Source: Resource Investor) -- Executives of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. said Thursday that a team of scientists from the US Geological Survey had spent part of August studying the company’s Bokan Mountain heavy rare earth project site in southeast Alaska and is particularly interest in terbium and dysprosium deposits which are militarily important.

The two so-called “heavy” rare earths have been found in what are called “anomalously high grades” in the Bokan area. The mineralogy in the area is believed be the largest historically documented heavy rare earth elements (HREE) deposit in the United States.

China has recently moved to decrease the export of these heavy rare earth elements, increasing interest in securing short and long-term supplies within the U.S., Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Ucore noted in a statement.

“The US government is quite interested in these minerals,” said Anthony Mariano, an international recognized expert on rare earth mineralogy who accompanied the USGS study group. A report on Mariano’s views of the Bokan area has been promised in the near future by Jack Lifton, who also visited the Ucore project last month

The USGS had last year awarded a research grant to geology departments at four Canadian universities for a continuing study of the Bokan deposit, which contains uranium as well as rare earths.

As a result of the studies, the federal bureau is planning to use the Dotsan Ridge area of Bokan to analyze vein-type REE deposits and alternative deposits associated with alkaline-peralkaline complexes, Ucore executives said. REE mineralization of the Bokan-Dotson Ridge property, which is fully owned by Ucore, is structurally controlled in multiple dikes and veins radial to a peralkaline intrusive complex.

The USGS team examined a number of areas in the Bokan complex, also including the Dotson Shear, Geoduck, Wennie and Geiger zones. Also examined was the Sunday Lake zone described as having yielded some of the highest HREE grades on record for a North American deposit. The complex is located about 60 kilometers southwest of Ketchikan, Alaska.

In addition to Mariano, participants in the study visit included resource and geological specialists Bradley van Gosen, Philip Verplanck and Richard Grauch, who supervised the USGS team; James Barker, co-author of the original 1988 US Bureau of Mines study of Bokan and Jaroslav Dostal from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, who is directing the Canadian universities study and is an expert on ore genesis.

“We welcome the involvement of the USGS at Bokan,” said Jim McKenzie, president and CEO of Ucor, a junior exploration company. "Not only will their expertise help us to identify and assess the unusual chemical, mineralogical, and structural aspects of this complex project area, their work will also highlight the significance of Bokan's unusual concentrations of HREE's, to various US policy makers."

Ucore’s share price jumped more than 11% on the TSX Venture Exchange following the company’s statement on the USGS visit but declined later in the trading day.