Fission drilling at Saloon East detects highest radiation outside flagship Triple R

Drilling at Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU; US-OTC: FCUUF) Saloon East target has returned results with the strongest radioactivity yet at its Patterson Lake South (PLS) property outside its main Triple R deposit in northern Saskatchewan, the company says. 

Hole PLS24-684B cut five intervals of anomalous radioactivity over various widths, with the strongest coming from an 11.6-metre wide interval showing a peak of 12,677.6 counts per second (cps) at Saloon East, located about 4 km southeast of Triple R, Fission said Tuesday.

That hole included a 4-metre interval with a peak of 6,737.7 cps, and was among three drilled into Saloon East, in the Athabasca basin’s southwest. Saloon East sits along the multi-kilometre Saloon Shear zone parallel to the zones that host Triple R and NexGen Energy’s (TSX: NXE; NYSE: NXE; ASX: NXG) Arrow deposit. 

“The Saloon Shear Zone continues to deliver extremely encouraging signs associated with high-grade uranium mineralization,” Fission CEO Ross McElroy said in a release. “The exceptional results at the Saloon Main and East areas…give our exploration team a tremendous amount of optimism for the discovery of additional high-grade mineralization.” 

The results come just over 18 months after Fission released a feasibility study for Triple R, the highest-grade at shallow depth uranium deposit in the Athabasca basin that showed the project’s potential to become one of the world’s lowest-cost uranium mines. It’s also just days before shareholders are likely to approve a $1.1 billion takeover by Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN; US-OTC: PALAF). PLS construction may start in 2026 and production in 2029.  

Cheers for Saloon Shear  

Other results from Saloon East include hole PLS24-680 that cut eight intervals of anomalous radioactivity over a total width of 25.9 metres, with the strongest results from a 6.8-metre-wide interval with a peak of 10,428.7 cps and a 1.1-metre-wide interval with a peak of 7,833.6 cps.  

A third hole, PLS24-682, returned six intervals of radioactivity with the best reading from a 5.1-metre-wide interval with a peak of 5,841.8 cps. 

The Saloon East results were among 6,428 metres drilled across 15 holes in the summer exploration program at PLS. Fourteen holes were drilled along 8.8 km of the Saloon Shear zone and one was in the Far West target along the PLG-3B main trend that hosts Triple R. Thirteen holes intersected anomalous radioactivity, Fission said. Another two holes were drilled in the Saloon Shear zone in the winter.  

Upcoming merger vote 

Amid Tuesday’s exploration results, a special meeting of Fission shareholders approaches next Monday, when they will consider the proposed all-stock acquisition of the company by Paladin. Though Fission has already agreed to the merger, it’s still subject to the shareholder vote requiring two-thirds approval. It will also require regulatory approval, including under the Investment Canada Act.  

Last year’s feasibility study outlined a 10-year mine life for an underground operation at Triple R with an initial capital cost of $1.1 billion. The after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount) was estimated at $1.2 billion, and the internal rate of return at 27.2%. Operating costs were pegged at $13.02 per pound. The mine is expected to take three years to build, and turn out life-of-mine production of over 90 million lb. of uranium oxide.

Fission shares were down 1% to 96¢ apiece on Tuesday morning, valuing the company at $824.3 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 70¢ and $1.37.