Impact: Very Positive
ATHA Energy announced preliminary scintillometer results from the first six holes (representing ~3,000m) from the ongoing 10,000m drill program at its 100%-owned Angilak project in Nunavut. The program is targeting expansion of uranium mineralization along the Lac 50 trend, with drilling beginning in early-June to close out the existing 43.3M lb U3O8 historical resource. All holes successfully expanded the footprints of the Main Zone, Eastern Extension, J4 and Ray Zones, beyond the limits of prior resource estimates. While assays are pending, strong radioactivity suggests we should continue to see high uranium grades, even in the multi-percent range in places. ATHA is approaching drilling somewhat differently than previous owners of this property. The goal is to scale up Angilak’s 43.3M lb U3O8 historical resource to help maximize project economics given that this is a remote project in Nunavut. While management has not stated a deposit target size, we would not be surprised if at least doubling the historical resource to help the Lac 50 trend approach 90-100M lbs U3O8 would be desired. Thus, drilling is taking bigger step outs. Also, geological ideas are changing. The Lac 50 Main zone deposit extends for 1,500m strike to a depth of 340m, with historical resources confined to a single lens. Latitude identified extensive mineralization outside MRE areas, and current interpretation by ATHA suggests that this system is part of a series of stacked lenses associated with brittle faulting within tuff horizons. Targeting tuff horizons has helped pinpoint mineralization. With this understanding, we believe Atha should be able to make the wider drill step outs without reducing chances of hitting uranium. If anything, a new understanding of the controls should help increase its chances to not only expand new zones, but also make discoveries in the various parallel tuff horizons. Finally, with ATHA now comparing the deposit to Athabasca basement-hosted deposits, such as Cameco’s (TSXV:CCO) Eagle Point, we see an increased importance of stratigraphy in relation to mineralization, though structure is important as it is brittle faulting within tuff that appears to be the control on mineralization
