Jul 4 2013
Alpha Minerals Inc. ("Alpha” or "the Company") and its 50% Patterson Lake South (“PLS”) Joint Venture partner Fission Uranium Corp. are pleased to announce that all necessary permits for a planned $6.95 million summer drill program have been received. Work is expected to start in early July at the PLS property, located in the southwest region of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.
This drill program will use two diamond drill rigs and a reverse circulation (“RC”) drill rig, and follows the successful winter program that discovered high-grade uranium in three separate zones along approximately 840 m strike length of the PL-3B electromagnetic (EM) conductor. The PL-3B EM conductor and other EM conductors within the Patterson Corridor are also flagged by a series of radon anomalies, several of which remain to be tested by drilling.
Program Overview
The equipment combination of a RC drill rig for pre-collaring drill holes and two diamond drill core rigs to drill bedrock will be mounted on barges and used to define further the extent of the R390E and R780E zones as well as testing additional targets in the Patterson Lake Corridor. These additional targets were identified during an extension to the same radon survey that aided with the first discovery holes at the R390E and R780E zones at PLS and include the strongest radon value in water anomaly to date on the property on line 950E (see news release dated May 6, 2013). Further definition drilling of the discovery zone on land, R00E, is also planned.
Bryson Drilling Ltd. and Northspan Explorations Ltd. have been awarded the core drill and RC drill contracts respectively. Barges and core drills have been mobilized to the site and assembled. The remaining equipment is expected to be on site by early July.
Gamma radiometric surveys are planned for completed drill holes. A Mount Sopris 2GHF-1000 Triple Gamma probe will be used for these surveys. This probe can measure the higher radioactivity due to high grade mineralized zones with good precision.
Split core samples from the mineralized sections of core will be taken continuously through the mineralized intervals and submitted to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories (an SCC ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accredited Facility) of Saskatoon for analysis, which includes U3O8 (wt %) and fire assay for gold. All samples sent for analysis will include a 63 element ICP-OES analysis. Assay results will be released after review of data received.
Other additional work during this summer program will include establishing an environmental base line study in order to have independent data recovered over a sufficient time period for future environmental reporting purposes. Sampling for the purpose of characterizing the metallurgy of the zones is being considered.
Key Program Information
- It is anticipated that approximately 11,000 m of drilling (44-hole program) will be accomplished using two diamond-core drill rigs and a RC rig and three barges.
- The priority will be to test for continued expansive delineation of the three high grade uranium mineralized zones discovered in the 2013 winter program.
- Approximately 40 holes testing for the delineation of the 3 high-grade uranium zones (R00E, R390E and R780E)
- 4 holes are proposed for testing other targets along trend both NE and SW of known zones, including recently identified radon anomalies
Summary of Uranium Discovery Zones
The discovery zone, R00E, is located on land at the west side of Patterson Lake. To date 26 drill holes have intersected significant mineralization starting at depths of approximately 60 meters below surface. The R390E zone is located 390 meters east of the R00E zone, and is within Patterson Lake at water depths of approximately 4.5 m. Significant mineralization was intersected in 11 drill holes starting at 61.5 to 77.0 m from the bottom of the lake. The R390E zone lies within a radon anomaly of over 240 m length and 120 m of width that is not fully tested by drilling. The R780E zone lies 780 m east of the discovery R00E zone, and is within Patterson Lake at water depths of approximately 6.0 m. The R780E zone is defined by 3 fenced drill holes with significant uranium mineralization intersected at depths starting at 103.0 to 149.0 m from the bottom of the lake. Currently, the zones are considered separated by approximately 300 m. This is because drilling has only tested a limited part of the radon anomaly targets and further drilling is needed to define these areas.
Patterson Lake South Property
The 31,000 hectare (76,000 acres) PLS project is a 50%/50% Joint Venture held by Alpha Minerals Inc (AMW) and Fission Uranium (FCU). The Joint Venture property is 100% owned with no underlying royalties or vendor payments. Alpha returns as the Operator of the Joint Venture in 2014. The property is accessible by road with primary access from all-weather Highway 955, which runs 74km north to the former Cluff Lake mine, (>60M lbs of U3O8 produced from multiple open pit and underground mines), and passes through the claims covering the UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 58km to the north, currently under active exploration and development.
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 Alpha Minerals Inc, by Garrett Ainsworth, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration, a qualified person.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Alpha Minerals Inc.
“Ben Ainsworth”
President, CEO and Director