Strategic Uranium Opportunity - Athabasca Basin

RNS Number : 8927L

Power Metal Resources PLC

15 September 2021

 

15 September 2021

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Strategic Uranium Opportunity - Athabasca Basin

Power Metal Acquires by Staking Four 100% Owned Uranium Properties in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin in Canada

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces the acquisition by claim staking of four 100% owned uranium exploration properties (the "Properties") comprising 7 licences surrounding the Athabasca Basin, located in northern Province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

The claim staking was completed through Power Metal's wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, Power Metal Resources Canada Inc ("Power Canada").

The Properties

The four 100% owned Properties cover a combined 10,869-hectares (109km²) giving Power Canada a strong foothold in the prolific Athabasca Basin (for property details see table 1 below).  

The properties include the Clearwater Uranium Property ("Clearwater"); Tait Hill Uranium Property ("Tait Hill"); Thibaut Lake Uranium Property ("Thibaut Lake"); and the Soaring Bay Uranium Property ("Soaring Bay").

The Location

All four Properties are surrounding the prolific Athabasca Basin, in northern Saskatchewan, Canada which is home to some of the world's largest and highest grade uranium mines including Cameco Corporation's Cigar Lake and McArthur River Uranium Mines.

Saskatchewan was recently ranked the 3^rd best mining jurisdiction in the world in Fraser Institute's 2020 rankings.

The Staking Process

The Properties were staked after detailed analysis of several provincial geological databases including airborne magnetics, government bedrock mapping, as well as publically available assessment report files and the mineral deposits index (a database of 6143 unique localities throughout the province with known mineral occurrences, separated by commodity). 

The claims have been registered with the Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan and the total cost of claim staking was C$6,521.  The claims are valid for 2 years and there is no minimum spend commitment required.

As the Properties were acquired through staking, Power Canada will have a 100% interest with no outstanding royalties or encumbrances.

Power Canada Rationale

The acquisition of the uranium exploration interests announced today continues to build upon Power Canada's strategic energy metal business which is currently highlighted with our Authier North project comprising a strategic land holding immediately north of Sayona Mining Limited's Authier Lithium project located in Quebec, Canada.

A further update is expected shortly from our Authier North property with respect to the commencement of an inaugural ground exploration programme.

The Commodity

Uranium is an important global commodity as it plays a crucial role in nuclear power generation, widely considered to be a efficient ultra low-carbon alternative to traditional thermal coal power generation, and there has for some time been a building supply/demand dynamic in the uranium commodity market, meaning a diversified natural resource business such as Power Metal, should consider participation. 

Recent tightening of the spot U₃0₈ futures market has led to a significant increase in spot price up to a high of 44.9$/lb USD, representing a greater than 40% increase compared to mid-August 2021.¹

The recent accelerated interest in the sector caused Power Metal, through Power Canada, to act quickly to secure its strategic position.

¹  https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/uranium-price

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

"Power Metal has been reviewing uranium opportunities across three different continents for some time, and today we make our first important public step into the uranium commodity space.

The Properties have been selected after careful review and are strategically located where there is material evidence of uranium prospectivity as demonstrated by historic exploration reports as well as through various uranium focused government databases.

The acquistion of these uranium properties through staking represents an important building block in Power Canada's growing strategic energy metal business."

PROJECTS OVERVIEW

Figure 1, which highlights the location of Power Canada's uranium portfolio including the Clearwater Uranium Property, Tait Hill Uranium Property, Thibaut Lake Uranium Property, and the Soaring Bay Uranium Property can be viewed on the Company's website through the following link:

https://www.powermetalresources.com/power-canada-uranium-property-map/

Clearwater Uranium Property Overview

· The Clearwater Uranium Property is located approximately 10km northwest of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, near the northwestern border of the prolific Athabasca Basin; it shares an extended claim border with Australian listed 92 Energy Ltd (ASX: 92E).

· Clearwater covers 4,864-hectares (c. 49km²) and is centred around 13 uranium mineral deposit index points which are located along a roughly 20km strike-length of uranium rich mineralistion hosted within uranium (U) - thorium (Th) - molybdenum (Mo) - rare earth element (REE) - rich pegmatites

· Several uranium-rich occurrences have been discovered within Clearwater including channel sampling that averaged 0.34% U₃O₈ over 7.9m, grab samples including 0.55% U₃O₈, as well as several other occurrences that returned very-high scintillometer readings in excess of 15,000 counts per second (CPS) - which is a measure of the radioactivity of a rock.

Tait Hill Uranium Property Overview

· The Tait Hill Uranium Property is located approxiatetly 40km northwest of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan, near the northern border of the prolific Athabasca Basin.

· Tait Hill covers 2544-hectares (c. 25km²) and is centered around 13 uranium mineral deposit index points which are hosted within U-Th-Mo-REE-rich pegmatites.

· A highlight rock sample from Tait Hill include CH158 which returned 0.78% U₃O₈, 895ppm Thorium (Th), 9,235ppb Zirconium (Zr); a soil sampling programme returned exceptionally high results for uranium and zinc which included samples ranging from 460 - 13,200ppb (1.3%) U, and up to 22,700ppb (2.3%) Zinc (Zn).

· Prospecting and ground-scintillometer surveys outlined two main targets at Tait Hill including, 1) low-grade, high-tonnage uraniferous pegmatites, 2) localised high-grade zones with uranium-enrichment located along a contact zone between pegmatites and a biotite-gneiss unit.

Thibaut Lake Uranium Property Overview

· The Thibaut Lake Uranium Property is located approximately 35km northwest of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, near the northwestern border of the prolific Athabasca Basin.

· Thibaut Lake covers 2,206-hectares (c. 22km²) and is centered around 8 uranium mineral deposit index points which are located along a roughly 6km strike-length of uranium-rich mineralisation hosted within pitchblende-rich (uranium-oxide mineral, chemical symbol:U0₂) porphyritic granites.

· Several trenches and rock samples have returned high-grade uranium-rich mineralisation including:

o  A 10.7m long trench returned individual assays up to 7.95% U₃0₈, with an average of 1.09% U₃0₈ along its extent

o  Highlight samples obtained across the showings include assays up to 3.4% U₃0₈, 3.85% U₃0_8, and 2.44% U₃0₈.

Soaring Bay Uranium Property Overview

· The Soaring Bay Uranium Property is located approximately 17km west of highway 914, immediately south of the prolific Athabasca Basin.

· Soaring Bay covers 1,255-hectares (c. 13km²) and is centered around 1 uranium, and 2 base-metal mineral deposit index points which cover a 4km strike-length of uranium mineralisation concentrated along a geological contact zone between a pegmatite unit and granite gneiss.

· Several highlight grab samples returned significant uranium mineralisation including 0.57% U₃0₈, 0.55% U₃0₈, 1.34% U₃0₈, as well as copper and thorium enrichment up to 0.46% Cu and 0.46% Th respectively.

NEXT STEPS

The Company is preparing all available historic data on Properties for publication, and will make an announcement with further details in the coming weeks, which will also include the company's next steps with the newly acquired Properties.

Table 1: Power Metal Canada Inc. Athabasca Basin Property Holdings

Project	Licence ID	Size - Hectare	Granted
Clearwater Uranium Property	MC00015079	1,110	Yes
	MC00015083	563	Yes
	MC00015082	3,191	Yes
Tait Hill Uranium Property	MC00015078	1,576	Yes
	MC00015081	968	Yes
Thibaut Lake Uranium Property	MC00015077	2,206	Yes
Soaring Bay Uranium Property	MC00015080	1,255	Yes

COMPETENT 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 Competent 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 (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 and base 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.

 

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