Athabasca Uranium - Exploration Update

RNS Number : 4428I

Power Metal Resources PLC

02 December 2022

 

2 December 2022

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Athabasca Uranium - Exploration Update

Summer 2022 Exploration Programme Delivers High-Grade Uranium Rock Samples up to 4.70% (47,000 ppm) U₃0₈

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces results from its recently completed 2022 Phase I field programme covering its Thibault Lake, Clearwater and Tait Hill uranium properties located in the Athabasca Basin area in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Following the earlier releases announcing the fieldwork commencement on 10 August 2022, as well as the completion of work on 5 October 2022, full assays results have been received, analysed and compiled by the Company's technical team. The announcements may be viewed in the links below:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/uranium-exploration-update-athabasca-basin/15578933

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/uranium-portfolio-update-athabasca-basin-canada/15659146

HIGHLIGHTS:

· A total of 46 rock samples were collected as part of the 2022 Phase I programme including 29 samples from Tait Hill, 8 from Thibaut Lake, and 8 from Clearwater. All samples were analysed at the Saskatchewan Research Council laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Power Metal employed a uranium-exploration analytical package which includes uranium, various base/trace-metals, as well as a suite of rare-earth elements (REEs).

· Two extremely high-grade samples were returned from Thibault Lake including individual assay results up to 4.7% and 2.4% U₃O₈, with further highly radioactive samples located in close proximity.

· During fieldwork on Clearwater, historical mine shafts and former workings were identified, illustrating the property's overall prospectivity; the Power Metal sampling carried out as part of this programme identified up to 1,120 ppm (0.112%) U₃O₈.

· Work on Tait Hill has supported the potential identification of a target considered to be geologically analogous to the Rössing Uranium deposit in Namibia, with up to 825 ppm Uranium ("U") identified at the Mullis Lake Target which will be one of the focuses of future work programmes.

Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc, commented: 

"We are particularly excited by our Athabasca uranium portfolio, with twelve properties covering some 841km² of footprint in this highly sought-after region for uranium exploration.  Two of our properties, Reitenbach and E-12 are in the process of disposal as previously announced, and we continue to attract interest across the remainder of the portfolio and have

established data rooms for each property to enable us to efficiently engage with third parties.

Notwithstanding this, we intend to retain a number of the properties and to conduct proactive exploration across them.  Today we have announced positive exploration findings from our latest, Summer 2022 phase I work programme covering three properties, and we will be launching additional ground exploration in 2023.

In the meantime, the commercialisation work in respect of our uranium portfolio continues, including both disposal activities and the search for new uranium focused projects to add into the Power Metal business."

Programme Overview

The exploration fieldwork conducted over the Thibault Lake, Clearwater and Tait Hill uranium properties consisted of the ground investigation, gamma-ray spectrometer surveying and rock sampling and over pre-defined target areas.

Both Thibault Lake and Clearwater are considered prospective for both Beaverlodge style vein/shear hosted uranium and pegmatite hosted uranium. Tait Hill is considered prospective for both pegmatite hosted uranium and offers a significant intrusive related target; the 'Mullis Lake Target'.

The results from the exploration programs support these assessments.

Thibault Lake Uranium Property

In the north of Thibault Lake in the vicinity of the West Tazin Lake Target, strongly mineralised samples of sheared, pitchblende infilling structures, typical of Beaverlodge-type uranium mineralisation returned results up to 2.4% and 4.7% U₃O₈ and represents a significant target for future exploration.  

Clearwater Uranium Property

Exploration at Clearwater focussed on two targets including:

1) the Toots Lake Target where samples of folded and foliated gneiss, pegmatites and fracture-controlled veins yielded spectrometer counts per second ("CPS") readings of up to 1,300 CPS, with corresponding sample assay results up to 206 ppm U.

2) The A-6 North Target which is in close proximity to an identified historical mineshaft included a strongly radioactive sample with 'off scale' (i.e. >9,999 CPS) radioactivity, which returned a sample assay of 1,120 ppm U₃O₈.  Additional samples also had anomalous results of between 133 and 322 ppm U₃O₈.

The results from this exploration programme on Clearwater indicates the prospectivity of the property for further examples of Beaverlodge-Style uranium mineralisation.

Tait Hill Uranium Property

In the south of Tait Hill, at the Mullis Lake Target, up to 825 ppm U was returned from an outcrop of a brecciated pegmatite dyke, this sample, in close proximity to a mapped granite and folded gneiss that has been interpreted a significant target. The Mullis Lake Target is considered by the Company to have geological similarities to the setting of the intrusive related Rössing Uranium Mine located in Namibia.  As announced on 10 October 2022, additional land has been staked to secure this target for future work.

Summary

The Company is very pleased with the results obtained from the 2022 Phase I work programme where only a few days of prospecting was spent on each of the three Properties. Several additional uranium occurrences have yet to be prospected by Power Metal, and the data obtained during this and the 2021 work programmes, as well as historic data compiled by the Company, will be crucial in allowing Power Metal to unlock additional value from the portfolio during the 2023 exploration season.

URANIUM PROPERTIES - HOLDING STRUCTURE

Power Metal has a 100%-owned subsidiary Power Metal Resources Canada Inc ("Power Canada"), which acts as the holding Company for certain Canadian project operations. Power Canada has a wholly owned subsidiary, 102134984 Saskatchewan Ltd, which is the holder of the Company's Athabasca uranium portfolio outlined in Table 1.

Table 1: 102134984 Saskatchewan Ltd., Athabasca Basin Property Holdings

Project	Licence ID	Area (Hectare)	Area (km2)
Clearwater Uranium Property	MC00015079	1,110	11.1
	MC00015083	563	5.63
	MC00015082	3,191	31.91
	MC00015151	760	7.6
	MC00015646	761	7.61
	MC00015658	1,541	15.41
Tait Hill Uranium Property	MC00015078	1,576	15.76
	MC00015081	968	9.68
	MC00015153	1,530	15.3
	MC00015152	1,886	18.86
	MC00015647	725	7.25
	MC00015648	1,129	11.29
	MC00016158	3,242	32.42
Thibaut Lake Uranium Property	MC00015077	2,206	22.06
	MC00015659	2,195	21.95
Soaring Bay Uranium Property	MC00015080	1,255	12.55
	MC00015155	3,375	33.75
	MC00015874	748	7.48
	MC00015875	2,529	25.29
Cook Lake Uranium Property	MC00015212	984	9.84
E-12 Uranium Property*	MC00015213	1,323	13.23
Reitenbach Uranium Property**	MC00015214	2,135	21.35
	MC00015474	1,235	12.35
	MC00015655	4,570	45.7
	MC00015656	5,322	53.22
	MC00015657	886	8.86
	MC00015824	528	5.28
	MC00016155	1,333	13.33
Reindeer Lake	MC00015522	3,336	33.36
Porter Lake	MC00015561	5,656	56.56
	MC00015562	5,198	51.98
Old Woman Rapids	MC00015563	4,851	48.51
	MC00015564	5,063	50.63
	MC00015565	3,044	30.44
Durrant Lake	AC00018000	5,866	58.66
Badger Lake	MC00016253	1,671	16.71
Total Licence Holding Area		84,291	842.91km2

*E-12 Property conditionally disposed to Teathers Financial PLC as announced 4 November 2022.

**Reitenbach Property conditionally disposed to Teathers Financial PLC as announced 8 August 2022.

GLOSSARY

Beaverlodge-style: A group of small, but moderate to high-grade uranium deposits found to the northwest of the Athabasca Basin. Such deposits are typically present along faults, fractures or shear zones, generally containing pitchblende, quartz, calcite, chlorite and sulphide minerals; or within a brecciated unit containing pitchblende, galena, quartz, calcite, chlorite, and pyrite.

Pegmatites: Pegmatites are coarse grained intrusive rocks which often carry economic mineralisation, they commonly form 'sheets' of rock close to larger intrusions.

U₃O_{8 :} Uranium oxide,  containing 84.8% uranium.

Uraniferous: Containing uranium

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Qualified Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:

Power Metal Resources plc
Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer)	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat	[phone]
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
Nick Emerson	[phone]
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)
David Cockbill/Jason Robertson	[phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Power Metal Resources plc - Background

Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) is an AIM listed metals exploration company which finances and manages global resource projects and is seeking large scale metal discoveries.

The Company has a principal focus on opportunities offering district scale potential across a global portfolio including precious, base and strategic metal exploration in North America, Africa and Australia.

Project interests range from early-stage greenfield exploration to later-stage prospects currently subject to drill programmes.

Power Metal will develop projects internally or through strategic joint ventures until a project becomes ready for disposal through outright sale or separate listing on a recognised stock exchange thereby crystallising the value generated from our internal exploration and development work.

Value generated through disposals will be deployed internally to drive the Company's growth or may be returned to shareholders through share buy backs, dividends or in-specie distributions of assets.

Exploration Work Overview

Power Metal has multiple internal exploration programmes completed or underway, with results awaited.  The status for each of the Company's priority exploration projects is outlined in the table below.

Project	Location	Current POW %	Work Completed or Underway	Results Awaited
Athabasca Uranium	Canada	100%	Preliminary planning for work in Spring/Summer 2023 is ongoing.	None, results reported within this news release.
Molopo Farms	Botswana	87.71%	Diamond drill programme underway. MLEM surveys planned over additional AEM targets identified.	Drill programme updates and findings from further MLEM survey work.
Tati Project	Botswana	100%	RC drilling and sampling of mine dumps complete.	Mine dumps processing and project commercial and exploration next steps.

Exploration work programmes may also be underway within Power Metal investee companies and planned IPO vehicles where Power Metal has a material interest, the findings from which will be released on their respective websites, with simultaneous updates through Power Metal regulatory announcements where required.  These interests are summarised in the table below:

Company	Status/Operations	Link
First Class Metals PLC	Investment - POW 27.91% Exploration in the Schreiber-Hemlo region of Ontario, Canada	www.firstclassmetalsplc.com
Kavango Resources PLC	Investment - POW 9.85% Exploration in Botswana	www.kavangoresources.com
First Development Resources PLC	Planned IPO - POW 62.12% Exploration in Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia	www.firstdevelopmentresources.com
Golden Metal Resources PLC	Planned IPO - POW 83.13% Exploration and development in Nevada, USA	www.goldenmetalresources.com
New Ballarat Gold PLC	Planned IPO - POW 49.9% Exploration in the Victoria Goldfields of Australia	A new website is currently in development which will be found at www.newballaratgoldcorp.com . In the interim further information in respect of NBGC can be found at: https://www.powermetalresources.com/project/victoria-goldfields/ .
Uranium Energy Exploration PLC	Planned IPO - POW on listing estimated 50-55% Uranium exploration in the Athabasca region of Canada	www.uraniumenergyexploration.com

 

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