UEX Corporation (UEX:TSX) (“UEX” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the 2018 drilling program on the Christie Lake Project (the “Project”) is set to commence.
Winter Program Underway
The winter 2018 exploration program is underway, with the goal of expanding the uranium resources on the Yalowega Uranium Trend (the “Trend”). The $1.5 million program consists of approximately 4,500 m of drilling in 9 holes. The program will focus on testing targets located along strike and northeast of the Ōrora Deposit (see Figure 1).
The Ōrora Deposit was discovered during the winter 2017 exploration campaign. Highlights from the 2017 winter discovery program includes hole CB-109, which intersected 22.81% U3O8 over 8.6 m from 475.1 to 483.7 m, and hole CB-116A, which returned 20.00% U3O8 over 8.5 mfrom 471.0 to 479.5 m. The 2017 summer drill program expanded the length of the Ōrora Zone to at least 150 m and mineralization remains open along strike both to the southwest and to the northeast.
The winter program will test unconformity targets located northwest and up-dip of modest basement-hosted uranium mineralization drilled by the previous operator in the 1990s (Figure 1). Testing up-dip of similarly mineralized holes by UEX in 2017 led to the discovery of the Ōrora Zone.
I continue to be very optimistic about the opportunity to make additional discoveries along the Trend. The 2017 exploration program at the Christie Lake Project brought great success with the Ōrora Zone discovery. I am excited about the targets we will be testing this winter and eagerly look forward to seeing what the exploration team will achieve in the coming months.
- Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO
UEX has mobilized a crew to re-open the camp, confirm the thickness of lake ice in the planned drilling areas, and if required take steps to thicken the ice. Drilling operations are expected to commence by the end of the week.
The winter program will be a major step towards UEX earning a 60% interest in the Christie Lake Project. The Company continues to work with a consulting firm to complete the maiden NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate for the Christie Lake Project.
About the Christie Lake Project
UEX currently holds a 45% interest in the Christie Lake Project and is working under an option agreement to earn up to a 70% interest. The Project is located approximately 9 km northeast and along strike of Cameco’s McArthur River Mine, the world’s largest uranium producer. The P2 Fault, the controlling structure for all of the McArthur River deposits, continues to the northeast beyond the mine. UEX believes that through a series of en-echelon steps the northeast strike extension of the P2 Fault not only crosses the Project but also controls the three known uranium deposits on Christie Lake, the Ōrora, Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits.
The Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits are estimated to host a combined 20.87 million pounds of U3O8 at an average grade of 3.22% U3O8 and were discovered in 1989 and 1993 respectively. This is a historic resource estimation which does not use resource classifications consistent with NI 43-101. The historical resource estimate was presented in an internal report titled Christie Lake Project, Geological Resource Estimate completed by PNC Tono Geoscience Center, Resource Analysis Group, dated September 12, 1997. The historical resource was calculated using a 3 D block model using block sizes of 2 m by 2 m by 2 m, and block grades interpolated using the inverse distance squared method over a circular search radius of 25 m and 1 m height. Specific gravities for each deposit were averaged from specific gravity measures of individual samples collected for assay. UEX plans to complete additional infill drilling on the deposits during the option earn-in period to upgrade these historic resources to indicated and inferred. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historic estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. UEX is not treating the historic estimate as current mineral reserves or mineral resources and the reader is advised not to rely upon this historical estimate as a resource estimate.
Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX’s President and CEO and Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., UEX’s Exploration Manager, who are each considered to be a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About UEX
UEX (TSX:UEX, OTC:UEXCF.PK, UXO.F) is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in fifteen exploration projects in Saskatchewan. Fourteen of these projects are focused on the exploration and development of uranium, including three that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (“AREVA”) that is 90.1% owned by UEX and is under option to and operated by ALX Uranium, as well as eight joint ventures with AREVA, one joint venture with AREVA and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by AREVA, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX.
Through its 100% owned subsidiary CoEX Metals Corporation, the Company is also conducting cobalt exploration and development activities at the West Bear Property, which hosts both the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect and the West Bear Uranium Deposit.
The fifteen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world’s richest uranium belt, which in 2015 accounted for approximately 22% of the global primary uranium production. UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project (located 50 km north of Fission’s Triple R Deposit and Patterson Lake South Project, and NexGen’s Arrow Deposit) the Horseshoe and Raven deposits located on its 100%-owned Horseshoe-Raven Development Project and the West Bear Uranium Deposit located at its 100%-West Bear Property.
About JCU
JCU is a private company that is actively engaged in the exploration and development in Canada. JCU is owned by three Japanese companies. Amongst these, Overseas Uranium Resources Development Co., Ltd. (“OURD”) acts as the manager of JCU. JCU has partnerships with UEX, AREVA, Cameco, Denison and others on uranium exploration and development projects in the Athabasca Basin of Northern Saskatchewan including Millennium and Wheeler River and the Kiggavik project in the Thelon Basin in Nunavut.
Source: UEX Corporation
