Patterson Lake discovery triggers junior uranium frenzy

VANCOUVER — Nothing draws Canadian explorers quite like an emerging mineral discovery that looks to have district-scale potential. This is proving to be the case with Fission Energy (FIS-V) and Alpha Minerals’ (AMW-V) Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium joint-venture, which lies outside the southern boundary of the Athabasca basin in Saskatchewan.

Fission and Alpha have been hard at work at PLS for nearly two years, but the market really began to take notice in late 2012, when the partners released a series of impressive drill results. Since late October Alpha has skyrocketed $4.63 per share to close at $4.88 at press time, while Fission has gained 83¢ per share, en route to a $1.18 press-time close.

When combined with a renewed interest in the uranium space since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, the Patterson Lake discovery is proving a serious draw for junior explorers.

Things began rolling in mid-January, when Forum Uranium (FDC-V) moved into the Patterson Lake neighbourhood, staking 99 sq. km over three claims southwest of the PLS discovery. Forum is exploring its wholly owned Key Lake Road project near Cameco’s (CCO-T, CCJ-N) Key Lake processing facility, and has a series of regional joint-venture agreements with majors Rio Tinto (RIO-N, RIO-L) and AREVA.

Forum dubbed its acquisition the “ClearWater” project, and by early February the company had compiled data from a historic sediment-sampling program at its Patterson Lake site. Forum also reported that regional airborne magnetics were indicative of an Archean granite-gneiss complex on the west side of its claims — contact between Archean rocks and younger Proterozoic rocks that host graphitic conductors has proven to be a favourable zone for uranium mineralization in the region.

Next up was Yellowjacket Resources (YJK-V), which completed a strategic review to start the year after falling to 52-week lows at 4¢ per share in mid-February. The company’s previous focus had been its Yellowjacket gold project located 9 km east of Atlin, B.C.

This changed when Yellowjacket acquired around 1,300 sq. km in the Athabasca basin on Feb. 28., with 95% of its property package sitting in the Patterson Lake district. The company followed up on March 18 when it acquired another 248 sq. km over eight claim groups near PLS.

The acquisitions resulted in a spike in Yellowjacket’s equity price, with shares having jumped roughly 6¢ since Feb. 27, en route to a 9.5¢ press-time close.

Another company looking to use uranium as a catalyst to bounce off 52-week lows was Lakeland Resources (LK-V), which fell to 3¢ per share in late February. Lakeland had been focusing on a number of precious metal properties, with the most extensive work at its Midas gold project in Ontario.

Lakeland entered an agreement to acquire 1,900 sq. km in the Athabasca basin on March 1, with the deal subject to a technical report on the property package. The two projects Lakeland has earmarked as the “most promising” lie in the PLS district.

The Kelic Lake project occupies 170 sq. km of real estate 60 km east of PLS, while the 250 sq. km Davidson River concession lies just 18 km west of the Fission-Alpha discovery. Lakeland was trading at 7.5¢ at press time.

Acquisitions in the region rolled into late March, with Ashburton Ventures (ABR-V) picking up 14 sq. km on the northern boundary of PLS, and another 11 sq. km to the southwest. Canadian International Minerals (CIN-V) grabbed 250 sq. km in the district on March 19, adding to a diverse property portfolio that includes everything from gold to iron ore.

Skyharbour Resources (SYH-V), which had previously focused on gold exploration in Ontario’s Red Lake district, rolled out two large acquisitions in the Patterson Lake area on March 27. Skyharbour announced it had purchased a 100% interest in 1,570 sq. km regional to PLS, including the South Patterson project 15 km south of the Fission-Alpha property, and the West Patterson property 18 km southwest of PLS.

Uranium mineralization around PLS has been noted as carrying similar traits to high-grade uranium deposits in the prolific eastern portion of the Athabasca basin, similar to Cameco’s Cigar Lake and McArthur River mines. Mineralization tends to occur in structurally disrupted, clay-altered, commonly graphitic pelites and metapelites, with narrow felsic segregations.  Sulphides are usually tied to mineralization, along with anomalous levels of cobalt, nickel, molybdenum and boron.