Dec 12 2015
FISSION 3.0 CORP. ("Fission 3" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the addition of nine new properties and expansions to eight existing properties, by staking in the Athabasca Basin, Canada.
Fission 3.0's continued objective is to stake areas with potential for hosting high-grade uranium deposits then utilize the specialized techniques that led to the successful high-grade discovery at Fission Uranium Corp's PLS project. These techniques include its innovative approach to radon surveys, underwater spectrometer analysis and Fission 3.0's patent-pending radiometric airborne survey - the same technology used to identify Fission Uranium's high-grade boulder field at PLS.
The company now has a total of 27 projects, comprising a total of 343,116 ha. Twenty-six of the projects are in the Athabasca Region and one in Peru.
The newly acquired properties and additions to existing properties are all in Saskatchewan and are all located in geologically prospective areas either outside and marginal to the Athabasca Basin or within but near the basin edge. This is relevant because it means that they have the potential to host shallow near-surface high-grade uranium mineralization. These 9 new properties are referred to as: Wales Lake, Black Birch, Dixon Island, American Lake, Minor Bay, Kendel Island, McDonald Creek, Run Lake and King Lake.
Ross McElroy, President, COO, and Chief Geologist for Fission, commented,
"Following extensive evaluation and highly targeted staking, Fission 3.0 has further enhanced its already-strong exploration portfolio in the Athabasca Basin region. Our award-winning technical team is also making good progress with early-stage exploration work on a number of the company's high-priority projects as we explore for near-surface uranium mineralization in the world's leading high-grade uranium district."
New Property Update
Wales Lake: The property comprises 21 claims on four separate blocks covering 20,800 ha. The property is located just west of Highway 955, outside the south-west margin of the Athabasca Basin approximately 25km southwest of Fission Uranium's flagship Triple R uranium deposit and occupies the same stratigraphic position within the Clearwater Domain. The Triple R deposit is a large, shallow, basement hosted, structurally controlled high-grade uranium deposit with a recently completed PEA study showing it to be a potentially robust, low cost producer. Discovery of the Triple R deposit has opened-up a new uranium camp in the south-western Athabasca Basin region and demonstrates the potential for finding other such deposits in this area.
Black Birch: The Black Birch property consists of 18 mineral claims totaling 49,059 ha and is located on the outside edge of the southern Athabasca Basin. The property covers prospective ground proximal to the Virgin River Shear Zone (VRSZ). The Virgin River trend is considered an under-explored region of the Athabasca with similarities, including hosting high-grade uranium, to the near-by Wollaston-Mudjatic Transition Zone (WMTZ) which hosts the majority of the known Athabasca Basin associated uranium deposits. The Virgin River trend hosts Cameco's Centennial uranium deposit and Dufferin Lake uranium showing 25km and 10km to the north-east respectively of Fission 3's Black Birch property. The Centennial deposit has returned assays from drilling up to 8.78% U3O8 over 33.9m at the unconformity between the Athabasca sandstones and the Virgin River basement rocks (Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Assessment Work File: 74G12-0061, Cameco Corp., 2009, DDH VR-031W3). Dufferin Lake hosts numerous intervals of uranium mineralization within sandstone and in the basement, up to 1.73% over 6.5m (Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Assessment Work File: 74G05-0068, UEX, 2004, DDH SW-019) and less than 300m from surface. Historic surveys have identified prospective looking long strike length electromagnetic (EM) conductors that public records show have never been followed up by further surveys nor drill testing.
Dixon Island: The Dixon Island property consists of four mineral claims totaling 2,637 ha. The property overlies several islands within Cree Lake on the southern edge of the Athabasca Basin, approximately 25km east of the Black Birch property. Dixon Island is located within 5 km of the Cable Bay Shear Zone (CBSZ), a lithostructural transition between the Virgin River and Mudjatic geological domains and is a prospective and favorable environment for uranium mineralizing events. Within 1 km west of the property are pitchblende and niccolite pods in diabase dykes that assayed up to 3.2% U3O8 (SMDC 1978 - Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index record# 2060), and 1 km east JNR Resources drilled 18 metres of strongly mylonitized, pyritic, graphitic semi-pelite basement rock below the unconformity. This basement rock is the prospective lithology and structural setting for hosting high-grade uranium. The unconformity depth ranges from 0 to 200m across the property.
American Lake: The American Lake property consist of 20 mineral claims totaling 5,284 ha. The property is located just outside the southern edge of the Athabasca Basin, approximately 10km east of the Dixon Island property and lies along the Liberty conductor trend. Historic drilling to the north on this trend returned 224 ppm U3O8 within a chlorite and hematite altered graphitic gneiss, and 41 ppm U3O8 with 5,400 ppm Co within sandstone near a diabase intrusion just above the unconformity (Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Assessment Work File: 74G07-0022, SMDC-Uranerz-Eldor Resources Ltd., 1979, DDH LE-1 and DDH LE-14). Several boulder samples in the area have returned anomalous REE's and uranium. For example a 1m x 3m sub-angular quartz diorite boulder assayed 12,106 REE's and 250 ppm uranium (Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Assessment Work File: 74G02-0005, Thunder Sword Resources Inc., 2007).
Minor Bay: The Minor Bay property consists of 6 mineral claims totaling 5,981 ha. The property is located just outside of the eastern Athabasca Basin, 22 km south of the Rabbit Lake uranium mine, and 14 km east of the West Bear uranium deposit. The West Bear deposit occurs 15-26 metres below the surface, above and below the Athabasca unconformity, making it the shallowest identified uranium deposit in the basin. UEX Inc. reported reserves in 2009 of 85,300 tonnes grading 0.843% U3O8 using a 0.04% U3O8 cut-off (UEX Corporation, Report on Preliminary Feasibility Study of the West Bear Deposit, Hidden Bay Project, Saskatchewan, February 24, 2010). Long strike length basement electromagnetic conductors trend along the north edge of the property, wrap around Burman Island just off the east edge of the claims, and trend back onto the east end of the property. Burman Island, just east of the claims, is host to a 1.3 km long radioactive frost-heave boulder train comprised of graphite schist boulders that contain up to 0.27% U3O8. The boulder train axis is sub-parallel to brecciated, sheared graphitic schist fault zones that returned a drill intersection of 0.053% U3O8 from 17.5m - 17.9m (Wyoming Mineral Corp. 1977 - Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index record# 1905, DDH BUR-1).
Kendel Island: The Kendel Island property consists of 7 mineral claims totaling 2,399 ha. The property is located 35km to the north-east of the past-producing Collins Bay uranium mine and on the same pelitic metaseditment and conductor trend within the Wollaston Domain. Uranium has been found locally up to 0.495% U3O8 in feldspathic pegmatoids (Minatco Ltd., 1984).
McDonald Creek: The McDonald Creek property consists of 5 mineral claims totaling 18,887 ha. The property is located approximately 50 kilometres within the northeast margin of the Athabasca Basin, within the western portion of the Mudjatik lithologic domain, and 30 km east of the Virgin River Domain - Black Lake Shear Zone, which hosts the past-producing Nisto Uranium Mine and the nearby Middle Lake uranium occurrences. The property is intersected by Saskatchewan Hwy 905, which connects Points North landing with the community of Black Lake. The property is underlain by approximately 450 metres of Athabasca Basin sandstone of the basal Manitou Falls Formation.
Run Lake: The Run Lake property consists of 14 mineral claims totaling 26,183 ha. The property is located just outside the north-west margin of the Athabasca Basin, 20km northwest of Uranium City, within the Zemlak geological domain of the Hearne Province. Property straddles a regional northeast trending magnetic low that is host to a number of uranium and base metal mineral showings. A regional northeast trending structural lineament termed the Charlot Fault that was active during deposition of the Fair Point sediments, and is host or very near to the Maurice Bay uranium deposit, continues through the Run Lake property. One of the more interesting occurrences within the property is copper and pitchblende mineralization within faults/fractures in a mylonitic rock that are splays off of the Charlot Fault. Trench samples returned up to 5.43% Cu and 6.36% U3O8, while historic drilling returned 1.24% U3O8 over 6.7 metres (Cons. Van-Tor Resources Ltd DDH VT-20 1968). Other mineral occurrences to the west include trench samples assaying up to 4.83% Cu in sheared, hematitic paragneisses and conglomerates, and pitchblende and uraninite as fracture fillings (North American Rare Metals Ltd. 1969 - Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index record# 1495).
King Lake: The King Lake property consists of 1 mineral claim totaling 1,205 ha. The property is located 20 km outside of the north-west margin of the Athabasca Basin, 35km northwest of Uranium City. Similar to Run Lake, it is situated within the Zemlak geological domain of the Hearne Province. At least 15 uranium occurrences are recorded within the property, which is underlain by paragneiss with lenses of amphibolite. Radioactivity is found mostly within fracture zones that are up to 146m long with continuous radioactivity for up to 30m, containing grains and veinlets of pitchblende. Trenching on one of these occurrences returned averaged assays of 1.75% U3O8 across 0.3m for 20m continuous length (New Mylamaque Explorations Ltd 1953 - Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index record# 1536).
Exploration Update
Regional exploration was carried out on 5 Athabasca Basin projects (Black Birch, Cree Bay, Manitou Falls, McDonald Creek and Perron Lake) during the 2015 summer-fall season. Work consisted of airborne surveys using Fission 3's advanced patent pending high-resolution airborne radiometric and magnetic survey system as well as ground prospecting and mapping. These exploration efforts will assist the team towards evaluating these early stage properties to prioritize areas for future advanced work, such as drill targeting, with the ultimate goal to lead to high-grade uranium discoveries.
Black Birch: From September 3 to September 13 a 4,744 km high resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey was completed on the property. A compilation of radiometric anomalies is in progress, and a magnetic interpretation report is pending.
Cree Bay: From August 19 to August 25 a 4,214 km high resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey was completed on the property. A compilation of radiometric anomalies has been completed, and a magnetic interpretation report is pending.
Perron Lake: From August 7 to August 25 a 9,182 km high resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey was completed on the property. A magnetic interpretation report and a compilation of radiometric anomalies has been completed. Between September 16 and September 30, the Company completed a 15 day ground prospecting program to follow up on known radiometric anomalies. Final report is pending.
Manitou Falls: Between July 22 and August 1, the Company completed a 9 day ground prospecting program to follow up on known radiometric anomalies. Final report is pending.
McDonald Creek: On July 27-28 the Company completed a prospecting program to follow up on a linear radiometric anomaly at the McDonald Creek property. Recent prospecting confirmed the presence within the property of a 2 kilometre long northeast trending uranium anomaly that is coincident with a streambed and frost-heaved sandstone cobbles within a large sandstone dominated boulder field. Hand held spectrometer measurements of the sandstone cobbles ranged from 9.8 to 75.5 ppm uranium with 3.2 to 9.1 ppm thorium. Uranium concentration increased toward the water level of the stream. Further investigation is warranted. Final report is pending.
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geol., Chief Geologist and COO for Fission 3.0 Corp., a qualified person.