February 9, 2023
NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX:NXE, Not Rated, David A. Talbot) has commenced an expanded 2023 exploration program at its 100%-owned Rook I uranium project in the Athabasca Basin. The program is designed to test for Arrow-type mineralization on high priority targets within the SW1, SW2, and SW3 trends, as well as to follow up on positive 2022 drill results. These areas are part of a large and highly prospective land package in the SW Athabasca Basin, which has seen limited exploration since the early days of the Arrow discovery. NexGen’s goal is to discover new major basement hosted uranium deposits in proximity to Rook I, one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, hosting P&P mineral reserves of 4,575k t grading 2.37% U3O8 for 239.6M lb U3O8 (~11-year mine life). With three rigs in operation, the company plans to drill nine conductive trends over 22,500m, mainly targeting the prospective SW2 (seven trends) and SW1 corridors (two trends, including along strike of the F3 Uranium’s (TSXV:FUU, Not Rated, David A. Talbot) new discovery on the PLN property; see map of SW1 here & SW2 here). Importantly, the company has also planned a significant 2023 geophysical program focused on the SW1, SW2, and SW3 trends (see exploration area here). This includes a novel method of cosmic ray muon tomography, which was first conducted in 2022, to test for high priority areas on the Patterson corridor. With C$137M in cash, NexGen is well capitalized to continue its exploration campaigns and project advancements at Rook I, which, in the near-term includes 1) completion of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) studies (ongoing), 2) detailed engineering (Q1/23), and 3) submission of EIS (Q1/23). We believe that the Rook I project should incrementally expand once development begins, as the deposit is the right size to begin production, and drilling would be more efficient from underground. We note that basement hosted uranium deposits often occur in clusters, and a new discovery could be significantly impactful to NexGen’s valuation. Read more
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NexGen Energy Ltd. – TSX:NXE – 1,2
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