UEX Corporation (UEX:TSX) (“UEX” or the “Company”), through its 100%-owned subsidiary, CoEX Metals Corporation (“CoEX”) is pleased to announce the fourth tranche of assay results have been received for the final fifteen holes from the Phase 1 winter drilling program on the 100%-owned West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect, located in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan.
The Company completed 41 holes totaling 4,457 m on its West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect located on the West Bear Project (the “Project”) with the objective of expanding the size of the cobalt and nickel mineralized zone. Phase 1 drilling activities at West Bear have now been concluded.
With the addition of this fourth tranche of assay results, CoEX now has complete assay data from all 41 holes drilled this winter. The assay results of the first twenty-six holes were previously announced in UEX’s News Releases on April 9, 2018, April 19, 2018, and April 25, 2018 which included intersections of 4.90% Co and 2.08% Ni over 8.0 m from 77.0 to 85.0 m in WBC-012 and 2.00% Co and 1.26% Ni over 10.5 m from 46.0 to 56.5 m in hole WBC-001.
Hole WBC-032 intersected 0.74% Co and 0.48% Ni over 5.0 m from 43.5 to 48.5 m within a wider interval of mineralization that assayed 0.16% Co and 0.13% Ni over 28.0 m from 43.0 to 71.0 m.
Hole WBC-029 encountered cobalt and nickel mineralization over the widest interval to date, as a 52.6 m interval assayed 0.07% Co and 0.09% Ni starting at a depth of only 19.4 m and extending to 72.0 m. A subinterval assayed 1.20% Co and 0.91% Ni over a core length of 1.6 m from 19.4 to 21.0 m.
Wide zones of cobalt and nickel mineralization were intersected in several additional holes:
- WBC-030 intersected 0.07% Co and 0.22% Ni over 37.9 m from 51.1 to 89.0 m including 0.79% Co and 0.90% Ni over 1.0 m from 61.0 to 62.0 m.
- WBC-031 intersected 52.5 m of mineralization averaging 0.03% Co and 0.04% Ni from 27.5 to 80.0 m that included 1.0 m that assayed 0.55% Co and 0.45% Ni from 29.0 to 30.0 m.
- WBC-027 returned mineralization over 17.5 m from 32.0 to 49.5 m that averaged 0.03% Co and 0.11% Ni.
- WBC-028 assayed 0.04% Co and 0.11% Ni over 20.0 m between 38.5 and 58.5 m.
UEX’s winter program at West Bear has certainly exceeded our hopes and expectations. Even after expanding the deposit, mineralization remains open for expansion. The western end of the deposit is defined by high grade cobalt mineralization that has yet to be drill tested to the west. The winter program defined a high-grade trend of mineralization that is still untested in the south-east direction.
– Roger Lemaitre, President & CEO
The winter drill program has been successful at growing the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect which now has a strike length of over 250 m and a dip length of over 100 m (see attached figure) and still remains open for expansion in all directions.
The table below summarized the assay results from the fourth tranche of samples.
Table 1 – Results from the Fourth Tranche of Assay Samples – West Bear Co-Ni Prospect
Based upon the dip of the mineralization and dip angle of the drill holes, true widths are expected to be 90-95% of core lengths.
Sample Collection and Compositing
Samples are selected using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (“XRF”) Spectrometer to aid in the identification of mineralized intervals. Selected drill core is then split in half sections on site and one half is collected for analysis with the other half core remaining on site for reference. Where possible, samples are collected at a standardized 0.5 m interval through zones of mineralization but respect geological units and intervals.
The samples are shipped to the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council (“SRC”) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Analysis at the SRC laboratory for Cobalt, Nickel, Lead, Zinc, and Arsenic (wt %) was completed using the ICP-OES method with an Aqua Regia digestion. The SRC Geoanalytical Laboratory is an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited facility (#537) by the Standards Council of Canada.
Assay intervals were composited using a cut-off grade of 0.01% Cobalt. All depth measurements and sample intervals reported are down-hole measurements from drill core. True thickness of the ore zones has yet to be determined and is estimated at 90-95% of core thickness.
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 seventeen uranium projects, including seven that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with Orano Canada Inc. (“Orano”) that is 90.1% owned by UEX and is under option to and operated by ALX Uranium, as well as eight joint ventures with Orano, one joint venture with Orano and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by Orano, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX.
The company is also involved in one cobalt-nickel exploration project located in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The West Bear Project was formerly part of UEX’s Hidden Bay Project and contains the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect and the West Bear Uranium Deposit. The seventeen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world’s richest uranium belt, which in 2016 accounted for approximately 23% 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%-owned West Bear Project.
Source: UEX Corporation
