Building on our popular weekly TNM Drill Down feature ranking the best gold assays of the week, The Northern Miner has compiled the top 10 drill results for major metals year to date. Today, we present the best uranium assays for the year to Aug. 1, 2023. Drill holes are ranked by uranium grade x width, as identified by data provider Mining Intelligence.
F3 Uranium at PLN
The top three uranium oxide (U3O8) drill results of the year to Aug. 1 all come from Canada’s uranium hotspot, the Athabasca Basin, located in northern Saskatchewan.
Leading the list is F3 Uranium (TSXV: FUU) and its Patterson Lake North (PLN) advanced-exploration project in the basin’s southwest. On April 17, the company reported that drill hole PLN23-060 intersected 5 metres grading 26.7% U3O8 from a depth of 243 metres, for a width x grade value of 133.5.
The result was among 12 holes reported from F3’s winter 2023 drill program at PLN, eight of which returned high-grade results. Drilling defined the JR zone at PLN over a total strike length of 105 metres and it and it remains open to the south, at depth and up-dip towards the Athabasca unconformity.
“PLN23-060, cored 60 metres grid south from the discovery hole, intercepted truly impressive grades within the A1 main shear zone,” said F3 president Raymond Ashley. He added that the hole delivered a peak sample grade of 65.2% U3O8 over 0.5 metre at 244.5 metres depth.
JR, located between F3’s Minto and Broach properties was discovered by F3 in November 2022 with drill hole PLN22-035, and intersected off-scale radioactivity associated with massive uraninite mineralization within the A1 main shear zone. Results from the hole returned 6.97% U3O8 over 15 metres, including 5.5 metres of 18.6% U3O8. It is also located about 25 km northwest of Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU; US-OTC: FCUUF) Triple R deposit and NexGen Energy’s (TSX: NXE; NYSE: NXE; ASX: NXG) Arrow deposit.
Uranium Energy at Christie Lake
The second best result comes from Uranium Energy’s (NYSE: UEC) Christie Lake project in the southeast of the basin, located 9 km northeast of Cameco’s (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) McArthur River mine. The advanced exploration project hosts the Paul Bay, Ken Pen, Ōrora, and Sakura deposits.
On March 6, UEC reported that hole CB-183-1 cut 14.3 metres grading 7.9% U3O8 from 417 metres depth, for a width x grade value of 112.97. The hole, which also intersected 3.8 metres of 26.16% U3O8, expanded the footprint of high-grade mineralization at Sakura northeast about 14 metres from hole CB-178-1.
“The continued success at the Sakura zone demonstrates the potential of the Yalowega Trend at Christie Lake to host high-grade uranium mineralization,” said Chris Hamel, vice-president exploration.
While the total size of Christie Lake’s deposits is still being defined, they host an inferred resource of 488,000 tonnes U3O8 grading 1.57% for 16.8 million lb. U3O8.
UEC holds an 82.775% combined direct and indirect interest in Christie Lake in a joint venture with JCU (Canada) Exploration, which itself is 50% owned by UEC’s subsidiary UEX Corp.
Denison and CanAlaska’s Moon Lake South
The third-best result comes from Moon Lake South, a 75%-25%JV between Denison Mines (TSX: DML) and CanAlaska Uranium (TSXV: CVV). On July 26, the partners reported that hole MS-23-10A intersected 8 metres grading 2.46% U3O8 from 418.1 metres depth for a width x grade value of 19.68.
The project is located just southwest of Denison’s Gryphon and Phoenix projects. The mineralization discovered in MS-23-10A is open in all directions and the 3,600-metre winter drilling program confirmed mineralization in several zones over a strike length of 4 km.
“An increase in the high-grade mineralization by 78% over the expected grade based on down-hole radiometric equivalents is an exciting outcome for the Moon Lake South JV and CanAlaska shareholders,” said CanAlaska CEO Cory Belyk. “These results clearly indicate this could be a very significant high-grade uranium discovery in the heart of the eastern Athabasca near all the critical infrastructure of currently producing uranium mines and mills.”
Based on the winter program results, the JV opted to double exploration spending for 2023 for a summer drill program of four to eight holes for a total of up to 4,400 metres, starting in mid-September. Drilling will focus on testing the northeast strike extension of the high-grade mineralization in MS-23-10A.
Be the first to comment on "TNM Drill Down: F3 Uranium’s ‘truly impressive’ grades at Patterson Lake North rank first in our Top 10"