Uranium Portfolio Update - Athabasca Basin, Canada

RNS Number : 8692B

Power Metal Resources PLC

05 October 2022

 

5 October 2022

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Uranium Portfolio Update - Athabasca Basin, Canada

Exploration Update, Expansion of Existing Interest and New Property Acquisition

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces an update in respect of its uranium property portfolio in the Athabasca Basin area in Saskatchewan, Canada.

HIGHLIGHTS:

· New property added to Power Metal uranium portfolio. Badger Lake Uranium Property ("Badger Lake"), acquired through claim staking, covers an area of 16.71km² within the prolific Athabasca Basin. Badger Lake is surrounded by claims held by uranium focussed companies including Orano SA, Hathor Exploration and NexGen Energy Ltd.

· Power Metal Athabasca uranium portfolio now consists of twelve properties, including a conditional disposal¹, with a combined total area of 829.58km².

· Exploration programme over the 100%-owned Thibault Lake, Clearwater and Tait Hill properties (announced on 10 August 2022 ¹) has completed successfully, resulting in:

o  Multiple locations of anomalous radioactivity noted across all three properties with rock sample assay results currently awaited.

o  Tait Hill property expanded by 32.42km² to 110.56km², based on work results and to include the full extent of the Mullis Lake Target as well as an anomalous lake sediment result.

· Following the acquisition of the Reindeer Lake, Old Woman Rapids and Porter Lake Uranium properties in July 2022 ², historical data compilation has now been completed. Fact sheets are being compiled highlighting the findings of this work which will be published on the Company's website in due course.

· A hyperspectral remote sensing review has been completed on the Cook Lake and E12 uranium properties, aiding in the development of targets for future exploration.

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

"Power Metal is currently engaged on drilling large-scale conductors at the Molopo Farms Complex Project in Botswana, targeting a major nickel discovery or discoveries. That important and potentially transformational work continues.

Alongside its Botswana operations the Company has a broad portfolio of interests, many offering district scale potential, including notably our Athabasca uranium interests.

As readers of this announcement will see, we have been particularly active in the development of our Athabasca properties, furthering ground exploration and analysis, expanding the key Tait Hill property and securing a new property, Badger Lake.

We view the uranium portfolio of Power Metal to be a key part of our Company, seeing us uniquely well positioned for what we expect to be a significant increase in the level of interest in junior resource companies offering uranium exposure. 

Being listed in London, where there are few uranium investment opportunities, the building of our uranium portfolio in the Athabasca, and globally, is even more significant.

Shareholders can expect more developments from Power Metal's current and potential future uranium interests over the balance of 2022 and into 2023."

Thibault Lake, Clearwater and Tait Hill Exploration Programme Overview

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

The field team successfully identified multiple locations of anomalous radioactivity across all three properties and collected a total 46 rock samples for assay. Notable findings in each property include:

· Clearwater uranium property: a historical mine associated with anomalous radioactivity was located and investigated;

· Thibault Lake uranium property: additional mineralised fault zones were encountered, expanding previously defined target areas mapped during the 2021 exploration programme; and

· Tait Hill uranium property: multiple occurrences of anomalously radioactive granites and pegmatites were mapped in the southwest of the property. This zone, named the 'Mullis Lake Target', is considered to have geological similarities to the setting of the Rössing Uranium Mine located in Namibia. The Tait Hill uranium property has been expanded by 32.42km² in order to cover the entire extension of the Mullis Lake Target which was not previously held within the property boundary.

All samples collected during the 2022 field programme are currently in transit to Saskatchewan Research Council laboratories for multi-element assay analysis including uranium, REE's and base metals. Full comment, discussion and analyses of the results of this fieldwork will be released upon completion of the analytical testing in the coming months.

Phase I exploration on the three properties has successfully contributed to the development and refinement of uranium focused exploration targets, with the intention of eventually progressing the highest priority targets to a drill-ready stage. 

Further information in respect of the Phase II programme for Soaring Bay will be provided in due course.

A map highlighting the new Tait Hill property footprint may be viewed in Figure 1 below and through the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/tait-hill-uranium-property/

Figure 1 - Tait Hill Uranium Property Map: A map of the Tait Hill Uranium Project, including the locations (and counts per second or 'CPS'  - a measure of radioactivity) of samples collected during 2022, the geology of the southwest of the property and location of the Mullis Lake, and North Western Targets.

Historical Data Compilation and Digitisation

Old Woman Rapids Property Overview

-  The Old Woman Rapids uranium Property ("Old Woman Rapids") covers a total of 129.58km² and is located 29.5km from the companies Soaring Bay uranium Property, approximately 120km southwest of the prolific Athabasca Basin.

-  Old Woman Rapids covers one Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI) occurrence ³ of a radioactive pegmatite which returned assays of 0.43% and 0.57% U₃O₈, and also contained appreciable quantities of lead and zinc.

-  Historical work has highlighted elevated U-in-lake sediment results within the western part of the property, including 97^th percentile results of 23.3 ppm U, and further elevated results of 21 and 31 ppm U. Near the Old Woman Rapids western claim boundary there are multiple north-south trending radiometric anomalies over an area of 800 x 600 m (>20 counts per second).

Porter Lake Uranium Property Overview

-  The Porter Lake uranium Property ("Porter Lake") covers an area of 108.54km² and is located approximately 100km south of the Athabasca Basin edge and 4km from the Old Woman Rapids uranium Property.

-  Porter Lake is centred around two SMDI uranium occurrences which were discovered during previous exploration campaigns conducted by previous operators. SMDI 1055 ⁴, is highlighted by rock samples taken near to the western claim boundary which returned up to 0.084% U₃O₈ as well as 0.14 oz./ton silver (Ag), 0.13% copper (Cu) and 0.14% nickel (Ni). Near to the eastern claim boundary; SMDI 1056 ⁵, is highlighted by rock samples that returned between 0.1% and 0.2% U₃O₈ over 0.6 to 1.4m at shallow (<70 m) depths from drilling.

-  Historical work has highlighted an anomalous U-in-lake sediment result of 30 ppm U near to the western claim boundary, and multiple greater than 85^th percentile results between 8.5 to 11.5 ppm U.

-  Near the eastern claim boundary, historical work has outlined multiple electromagnetic ("EM") geophysical conductors which are coincident with airborne radiometric anomalies ⁶. While in the west, a radiometric anomaly is in close proximity to an elevated U-in-lake sediment result.

Reindeer Lake Uranium Property Overview

-  The Reindeer Lake Uranium Property ("Reindeer Lake Property" or "Reindeer Lake") covers an area of 3,336-hectares (circa 33.36km²) located approximately 120km southeast of the prolific Athabasca Basin edge.

-  The property is centred on one SMDI uranium occurrence, the Ghana Lake Radioactive Pegmatite Dyke, which returned assays of up to 1.9% U₃O₈ and 0.09% ThO₂.

The Old Woman Rapids, Reindeer Lake and Porter Lake uranium properties are considered prospective for pegmatite-hosted uranium or rare earth element ("REE") mineralisation.   A map highlighting results from the historical data compilation completed on the Old Woman Rapids and Porter Lake Properties are below in figures 2 & 3, and on the two links below:

https://www.powermetalresources.com/old-woman-rapids-uranium-property/

https://www.powermetalresources.com/porter-lake-uranium-property/

Figure 2 - Old Woman Rapids Uranium Property Map: A map of the Old Woman Rapids Uranium Project, including the locations of the radioactive pegmatite (SMDI 1057), elevated U in lake sediment results and coincident faulting and radiometric anomalies.

Figure 3 - Porter Lake Uranium Property Map: A map of the Porter Lake Uranium Project, including the locations of the two SMDI uranium occurrences, U in lake sediment results - including the anomalous result of 30 ppm U. In addition, in the west of the property, electromagnetic (EM) conductors are coincident with airborne radiometric anomalies

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Review on Cook Lake and E-12

At the Cook Lake uranium property, the hyperspectral remote sensing data compilation and processing study has highlighted multiple northeast to southwest trending anomalies which have elevated levels of helium and hydrogen (produced as a result of radioactive decay of uranium).  Many of these helium/hydrogen anomalies are spatially related to radiometric anomalies determined through previous exploration and elevated U-in-lake sediments

On the E12 uranium property, the hyperspectral study has indicated potential expansions to areas of interest associated with boulder fields in the north of the property and highlights a spatial relationship with observed EM geophysics conductors.

The acquired hyperspectral data on these two properties is a valuable input to Power Metal's comprehensive data rooms and will aid in future exploration.

The Badger Lake Property

Mineral Claim Staking Process

The Badger Lake uranium property ("Badger Lake") was acquired directly through the Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan (MARS) electronic registry system. Where a previous claim owner is unable to satisfy the claim maintenance requirements, that ground becomes reopen to third party staking at a set time each month. At reopening, areas of high uranium prospectivity are typically highly contested due to their prime positions within the prolific Athabasca Basin, as was the case with the Badger Lake uranium property. The cost of staking was Canadian $1,002.43, and the newly staked licence comes with a two-year term with no minimum spend requirement and which can then be extended for subsequent years by spending a minimum of Canadian $25,065 per annum.

The Badger Lake Uranium Property Highlights

The Badger Lake is surrounded by ground held by major uranium operators and explorers including Orano SA, Hathor Exploration (owned by Rio Tinto; LSE: RIO) and NexGen Energy Ltd (TSX: NXE). The property is located 30 km east from the Patterson Lake Trend which hosts such deposits as Fission Uranium's Triple R Project (reported Mineral Resource of 2.69 Mt @ 1.94% U₃O₈ Indicated) and Nexgen's Arrow Project (reported Mineral Resource of 3.754 Mt @ 3.1% U₃O₈ Measured & Indicated and 4.399Mt @ 0.83 U₃O₈  Inferred). A private maintained road runs through Badger Lake, providing easy access for future field and drilling campaigns.

Property Geology

Geological reports highlight that the Badger Lake property is underlain by around 200-350m of sandstone that sits unconformably over crystalline basement. A single historical drillhole (BP-07-01) ⁷ is located on the property. Drill logs show this hole intersected 325m of Athabasca sandstone, which included brecciation, clay and hematite alteration, and vuggy quartz - textures which are typical of alteration within the Athabasca Basin. Below the geological unconformity contact (within the basement rocks) BP-07-01 intercepted meta-sedimentary rocks with 20m of hematite alteration. In addition, a common accessory mineral to uranium deposits, calcite, was reported to coat fractures.

The unconformity contact between the sandstone and the underlying crystalline basement lithologies is the main target for uranium exploration in Saskatchewan, and deposits such as McArthur River (416 Mlb at 15% U₃O₈) , Cigar Lake (152.4 Mlb at 7.55% U₃O₈ ), Hurricane and Phoenix (60 Mlb at 19.1% U₃O₈) are located at, or in close proximity to this geological contact zone.

Historical geophysical analysis ⁸ indicates the presence of a northeast to southwest trending conductor (which BP-07-01 was drilled in the vicinity of) which runs between two EM geophysical anomalies. This conductor has never been drill tested.  

A map highlighting the newly staked Badger Lake property may be viewed in Figure 4 below and on the following link: https://www.powermetalresources.com/badger-lake-uranium-property/

Figure 4 - Badger Lake Uranium Property Map: A map of the Badger Lake Uranium Project, highlighting the location of the electro magnetic anomaly and the inferred conductor in the in the centre of the property, and the location of the historical drillhole in the east of the property.

URANIUM PROPERTIES - HOLDING STRUCTURE

Power Metal has a 100%-owned subsidiary Power Metal 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
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		82,958	829.58 km2

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

**Newly staked Property

***Additional staked ground

****Previously shown in error as 8.56km²

GLOSSARY

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

Reference Notes:

1  Power Metal Resources PLC company announcement, Uranium Exploration Update - Athabasca Basin: 2022 Phase I Field Programme Underway Targeting Clearwater, Thibault Lake and Tait Hill Uranium Properties, dated 10 August 2022:
( https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/power_metal_resources/news/rns/story/xjjon1x ). Note: the programme

2  Power Metal Resources PLC company announcement, Uranium Acquisitions - Athabasca Basin Canada, dated 26 July 2022:
( https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/power_metal_resources/news/rns/story/xz023lr )

3   https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1057

4   https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1055

5   https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/Apps/ECON_Apps/dbsearch/MinDepositQuery/default.aspx?ID=1056

6  Kennedy E.G., 1981, Final Report on the Mudjatik Lake and Complex Lake Projects- Mineral Prospecting Permits 1043 and 1111 and Containing Mineral Claims HUS 1-10 and S94793 to 94795 and S94799 and S9480 (74B06-0032).

7   Titan Uranium, 2008, 2007 Diamond Drill Program Meanwell Lake, Bishop I & Bishop II Projects (74F10-0049)

8  COGEMA, Laurie Project Cluff Lake Area, Saskatchewan Electromagnetic Maps (74F10-0035)

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 internal exploration programmes completed or underway, with results awaited, as outlined in the table below.

Project	Location	Current POW %	Work Completed or Underway	Results Awaited
Athabasca Uranium	Canada	100%	Ground exploration programme complete at 3 properties.  Preliminary planning for work in Spring/Summer 2023 is ongoing.	Assay result from samples collected during fieldwork.
Authier North Lithium	Canada	Earn-in to 100%	Property Evaluation Report completed.	Update covering exploration plans for target areas identified during the Evaluation.
Molopo Farms	Botswana	53%#	T1-6 conductor target drilling underway and MLEM surveys over T1-6, T1-14, T1-3 and T2-3 completed. Further 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.	Review of mine dumps sampling and results from RC drill programme.

^# subject to completion of acquisition announced 18.5.22 interest will increase to 87.71%

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 28.19% Exploration in the Schreiber-Hemlo region of Ontario, Canada	www.firstclassmetalsplc.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
Kavango Resources PLC	Investment - POW 14.03% (subject to completion of Kanye Resources disposal announced 8.7.22) Exploration in Botswana	www.kavangoresources.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 40-55%	www.uraniumenergyexploration.com

 

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