A partner company of Skyharbour Resources, Basin Uranium, presents an update on current permitting for a wide-ranging exploration and drilling program at the Mann Lake uranium project in the high-volume Athabasca Basin at Saskatchewan.
Mann Lake Uranium Project. Image Credit: Skyharbour Resources.
The Mann Lake project is situated 25 km southwest of the McArthur River Mine, the world’s biggest deposit of high-grade uranium, and 15 km to the northeast along strike of the Millennium uranium deposit at Cameco.
As discussions with local stakeholder groups continue to advance and remain constructive, we look to a swift and expedient conclusion. Concurrent with stakeholder consultation, we have engaged with a number of geophysical and drilling contractors to ensure rapid mobilization once the permitting process is completed.
Mike Blady, CEO, Basin Uranium
Exploration Program Update
As mentioned before, Basin Uranium has hired TerraLogic Exploration and presented its permitting package in December 2021. The government has appraised the planned program and consulted with the local stakeholders and First Nations communities, such as the Ya' thi Néné, to continue to progress.
Basin Uranium is permitting for a geophysical survey comprising electromagnetic (EM) and gravity surveying covering 18 line-km spanning a 3.75 km2 area. The focal point of the exploration will be to properly describe the structural corridors and basement conductors identified earlier, as well as to increase coverage over formerly unexplored zones.
In particular, the survey will encompass the southern extent of the property, in addition to developing extra structural targets for drilling. Inside the property, north-northeast trending structural faults have the most potential as they parallel the trend of identified uranium mineralization regionally in the area of the Athabasca Basin.
Basin Uranium is also permitting for a wide-ranging diamond drill program of nearly 20 holes for 15,000 m to explore current areas of identified mineralization in addition to potentially testing targets detected from the imminent geophysical surveying.
Preparations are ongoing for the fast mobilization upon receipt of all required approvals and permits.
About Mann Lake
Skyharbour has signed an Option Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Basin Uranium in which Basin Uranium has an earn-in option to purchase a 75% interest in the Mann Lake Uranium Project. Based on the Option Agreement, Basin Uranium will provide cash and exploration expenditure consideration equaling CAD $4,850,000 spanning a three-year timeframe (“Project Consideration”).
Regarding the Project Consideration, $850,000 will be made in cash payments to Skyharbour and $4,000,000 will be in expenditures related to exploration on the project. Basin Uranium will also provide to Skyharbour the equivalent value of CAD $1,750,000 in shares of Basin Uranium spanning a three-year earn-in period to fulfill the earn-in.
The Mann Lake Uranium Project is tactically situated 25 km southwest of the McArthur River Mine, the world’s biggest deposit of high-grade uranium, and 15 km to the northeast of the Millennium uranium deposit of Cameco.
The Mann Lake project is also neighboring the Mann Lake Joint Venture run by Cameco (52.5%) with partners Orano (17.5%) and Denison Mines (30%). Denison Mines purchased International Enexco and its 30% interest in the project after a winter drill program in 2014 detected high-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization at this nearby project.
Skyharbour performed a ground-based EM survey in 2014 concentrated on an area where a 2-km long aeromagnetic low overlapped with basement conductors inferred from past EM surveys. This program effectively established the existence of a wide, NE-SW trending corridor of conductive basement rocks which are probably graphitic metapelites.
The Mann Lake Uranium Project has used more than $3 million of former exploration expenditures comprising geophysical surveys and two diamond drill programs covering 5,400 m conducted by Triex in 2006 and 2008.
The geophysical surveys detected graphitic basement conductors and structural corridors comprising reactivated basement faults. These topographies trend onto the neighboring ground run by Cameco.
The diamond drill program in 2006 overlapped a 4.5-m wide zone comprising anomalous boron (with highlight values of up to 1,758 ppm B) in the sandstone directly above the unconformity in drillhole MN06-005.
Boron enrichment is typical at the McArthur River uranium mine, and together with chlorite and illite alteration, is an important pathfinder element for deposits of uranium in the Athabasca Basin.
The same drill hole revealed that altered basement gneissic rocks with copious clay, hematite, chlorite and calc-silicate minerals intersected approximately 7.6 m below the unconformity and held anomalous uranium, comprising up to 73.6 ppm spanning a 1.5-m interval. Background uranium values are usually ranging from 1 to 5 ppm.