Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. announced today that the proposed 2018 Hook Lake JV exploration program with a budgeted cost of $4,000,000 has been approved by the JV partners. Situated within the Patterson Uranium District, the Hook Lake JV is a project owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (21%), and is on trend with recent high-grade uranium discoveries including Fission Uranium’s Triple R deposit and NexGen’s Arrow deposit.
Highlights:
- An exploration budget of $4,000,000 has been approved by the Hook Lake JV partners for 2018;
- The proposed 2018 exploration program includes 9,000 metres of diamond drilling, approximately 16 holes utilizing two drills, and a geophysical survey;
- The 2018 diamond drilling will continue to test high-priority targets along the Patterson Corridor;
- A ground gravity survey is scheduled to be conducted over the Derkson Corridor early 2018;
- The 2017 program has now re-commenced with 4 to 5 holes scheduled to be drilled before year-end;
- Purepoint is currently fully funded through to the end of the 2018 exploration program.
The 2018 exploration program plans for 16 diamond drill holes, approximately 9,000 metres of drilling, and a geophysical survey. Drilling will follow-up on the early success at the Dragon Zone and continue testing high-priority Patterson Corridor targets while advancing towards the northeast. A ground gravity survey is also planned for the Derkson Corridor (east of the Patterson Lake Corridor) that will cover the historic mineralized hole DER-04.
Current mobilization of camp and drill equipment is complete and drilling has now commenced. The remaining 2017 budget is expected to allow for 4 to 5 drill holes prior to the end of the year (Purepoint press release September 28, 2017). The initial hole will be collared at the Spitfire Zone to test for mineralization approximately 50 metres northeast of NexGen’s Harpoon hole HP-16-20 that intersected 13.5 m at 3.9% U3O8 (NexGen press release of Mar. 23, 2017).
Spitfire/Harpoon Discovery
The Spitfire high-grade uranium mineralization has been correlated with NexGen’s Harpoon discovery by Purepoint and both a long section and plan map are available on the Purepoint website. No drilling has yet been conducted by Purepoint during 2017 proximal to the Harpoon discovery. The initial Spitfire drill hole this fall will test for mineralization near the Hook Lake southern claim line, approximately 50 metres northeast of NexGen’s Harpoon hole HP-16-20 that intersected 13.5 m at 3.9% U3O8 including 2.5 m at 20.9% U3O8.
Dragon Zone
One of the two diamond drills mobilized this month will start within the Dragon target area and test the same location where hole HK17-75 was lost earlier this year. Drill Hole HK17-75 was a follow-up to the favourable alteration and radioactivity encountered by HK17-72 (see Purepoint PR, Apr. 13, 2017) and was spotted by moving the drill 200 metres southwest along strike from the HK17-72 collar location. Unfortunately, the hole was lost at a depth of 204 metres within a pressurized sand seam similar to those present within the Spitfire Zone.
Derkson Corridor
A ground gravity survey is scheduled to be conducted along the Derkson Corridor early in 2018. Historic exploration efforts in the area focused on the Derkson Corridor, where SMDC encountered uranium mineralization near the unconformity averaging 0.24% U3O8 and 1.35% Ni over 2.5 metres in 1978. Drill holes along this trend encountered very encouraging clay basement alteration but were typically completed only 30 to 40 metres past the unconformity. Based on the geologic setting of the Patterson Corridor mineralization, it is considered that the historic shallow drilling along the Derkson Corridor did not properly test for basement-hosted uranium deposits.
Hook Lake JV Project
The Hook Lake JV project is owned jointly by Cameco Corp. (39.5%), AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (39.5%) and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (21%) and consists of nine claims totaling 28,683 hectares situated in the southwestern Athabasca Basin. The Hook Lake JV is considered one of the highest quality uranium exploration projects in the Athabasca Basin due to its location along the prospective Patterson Lake trend and the relatively shallow depth to the unconformity.
Current exploration is targeting the Patterson Lake Corridor that hosts Fission’s Triple R Deposit (indicated mineral resource 79,610,000 lbs U3O8 at an average grade of 1.58% U3O8), NexGen Energy’s Arrow Deposit (indicated mineral resource 179,500,000 lbs U3O8 at an average grade of 6.88%) and the Spitfire Discovery by the Hook Lake JV.
About Purepoint
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. is focused on the precision exploration of its seven projects in the Canadian Athabasca Basin. Purepoint proudly maintains project ventures in the Basin with two of the largest uranium producers in the world, Cameco Corporation and AREVA Resources Canada Inc. Established in the Athabasca Basin well before the initial resurgence in uranium earlier last decade. Purepoint is actively advancing a large portfolio of multiple drill targets in the world’s richest uranium region.
