Pioneer busy at Riou Lake

Exploration work at the Riou Lake uranium project, operated by Pioneer Metals (PSM-T), has uncovered little mineralization. However, the company remains optimistic that its technical successes are narrowing down the search for an unconformity-type uranium deposit on the property in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.

Pioneer sank three drill holes on the project this summer — two on its wholly owned claims and one on the PM block, which is joint-ventured with Cameco (CCO-T). The three holes totalled 2,522 metres.

Hole D12, on the Pioneer ground, tested a conductive body detected in an earlier electromagnetic (EM) survey. The conductor, in an area of low magnetism, was thought to be a possible graphite horizon, and therefore a favourable trap for uranium mineralization.

The hole reached the unconformity between the Athabasca sandstone and the basement rocks at a depth of 767.8 metres, where it intersected chlorite-altered basement rocks that contained 0.014% uranium, a low but anomalous grade. The rocks also held anomalous amounts of nickel and boron, both of which are frequently associated with uranium deposits in the Athabasca basin.

Hole D13 tested another EM conductor in an area where radioactive groundwater seeps were discovered in 1999. The hole cut a 15-metre length of altered rock at the unconformity but did not encounter any significant uranium mineralization.

On the Pioneer-Cameco claims, hole D14 intersected a 40-metre graphite zone in the basement rocks, about 80 metres below the base of the Athabasca sandstone.

The company had some success with surface prospecting on the property in the summer. A field of uranium-bearing boulders was discovered on the south shore of Little Lake, 2.5 km southeast of a previously discovered boulder field on Riou Lake.

In the area where several springs with uranium decay products (dissolved radium and radon gas) had been discovered in 1999, Pioneer found five more springs with similar chemistry. The company believes the groundwater discharging from the springs flowed through areas of mineralization, likely on the unconformity.