Uranium stocks could see higher highs in 2023. According to Cameco President and CEO Tim Gitzel, as quoted by World Nuclear News, “Increasing demand for nuclear means increasing demand for uranium, which brings us to the second factor that is driving our growing optimism - demand for uranium is rising at precisely the same time that supply is becoming less certain. We know that utilities have not been replacing what they consume annually under long-term contracts. This has led to a growing wedge of uncovered uranium requirements." That being said, investors may want to keep an eye on uranium stocks, such as Skyharbour Resources (TSXV: SYH) (OTCQX: SYHBF), Cameco Corporation (TSX: CCO) (NYSE: CCJ), Uranium Energy Corporation (NYSE: UEC), Denison Mines Corp (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN), and Energy Fuels (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX: EFR). In addition, “nuclear plants received grants and subsidies in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill and in the Inflation Reduction Act. Much of the support is going toward keeping existing plants online, making sure they don’t close for economic reasons,” as noted by Barron’s.
Look at Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSXV: SYH) (OTCQX: SYHBF), For Example
Skyharbour Resources Ltd. announce that the Company has commenced its inaugural winter drill program at the 73,294 hectare Russell Lake Uranium Project strategically located in the central core of the Eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Skyharbour is planning a minimum of 10,000 metres of diamond drilling in 18 to 20 drill holes over several phases and is fully funded and permitted for the drilling. The geologists and drilling crews are working out of an exploration camp on the Project located on the highway and within five kilometres of Denison Mines’ Phoenix deposit located on the adjacent Wheeler River Project.
Russell Lake Project Location Map:
http://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/SKY-RussellLake-20220325-Inset.jpg
Jordan Trimble, President and CEO of Skyharbour, stated: “The commencement of our first diamond drill program at the Russell Lake Uranium Project is a key milestone for Skyharbour and its shareholders. This fully funded 10,000 m drill campaign will provide ample news flow well into the year as we advance the project using systematic and proven exploration methodologies coupled with new geological models and targeting strategies. We are confident in the discovery potential and exploration upside at Russell Lake given the high-grade mineralization in historical drill holes along with the many highly prospective target areas hosting the geology necessary for high-grade uranium deposition.”
“Skyharbour is also excited to have additional news flow and catalysts from its prospect generator business consisting of seven partner companies advancing some of our other projects throughout the Athabasca Basin. Over the next year, the Company is anticipating the largest combined drilling and exploration programs at its primary projects of Russell and Moore, as well as at its partner-funded projects of East Preston, Hook Lake, Mann Lake, Yurchison, South Falcon East, Wallee and Usam.”
Winter Diamond Drilling Program at Russell Lake:
Skyharbour will conduct a first phase of drilling consisting of 3,000 metres to follow up on notable historic exploration and findings, as well as to test additional targets with the potential to generate new discoveries. This phase of drilling will test previously identified prospective target areas, some of which host high-grade uranium mineralization in historical drill holes. Of particular interest for this inaugural drilling program will be the Grayling Zone located nearby the exploration camp and road. This first phase of drilling will be followed up with several other phases of drilling totalling 10,000 metres in 18 – 20 drill holes.
After extensive compilation and review of the relevant exploration data, special attention has been given to the structural setting of the geological, geochemical and geophysical data at the Grayling Zone for exploration purposes. Wide-spaced drilling at the Grayling Zone encountered an 800 m long discontinuous zone of uranium mineralization in a ~2,200 m section of thrust-faulted conductive basement rocks (i.e. graphitic pelitic gneisses) up to 100 m thick, which lie along the overall >10 km long Grayling-M-Zone conductor trend. Uranium mineralization identified to date includes basement-hosted, unconformity-hosted and perched varieties associated with the nose of a basement thrust wedge (SMDI 2151, 3563, 3564). The best historical drill hole at the Grayling Zone is hole RL-85-07, where a 0.3 m interval grading 3.45% U3O8 was intersected a depth of 363.2 metres, as well as an interval of 0.090% U3O8 over 0.5 m at a depth of 366.4 metres (SMDI 2151). Additional drillholes containing significant uranium mineralization related to the Grayling thrust fault are located along the >10 km long extension of the Grayling conductor trend, both on-property at the M-Zone Extension (SMDI 5540) and off-property at the M-Zone (SMDI 2139, 3569) on Denison Mines’ adjacent Wheeler River property, further highlighting the potential fertility of this major conductor trend.
Significant structural offsets with the potential to act as major traps for uranium mineralizing fluids have been identified at the Grayling Zone. Traps such as these are the setting for high-grade zones of uranium mineralization at Denison’s adjacent Wheeler River Project (Phoenix and Gryphon deposits) as well as Skyharbour’s adjacent Moore Uranium Project (Maverick and Maverick East Zones). The Company’s initial drill program at the Russell Lake project will be focusing on the large gaps between mineralized holes in order to further define the mineralization and controlling structures at the Grayling Zone, as well as testing the down-dip and down-plunge extensions of the Grayling thrust fault into the basement rocks which have seen limited historical drilling. Logistics for this initial drill program will be facilitated by the proximity of the Grayling Zone to the camp at McGowan Lake.
Russell Lake 2023 Winter Drill Program Drill Targets:
https://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/Drill-Targets-2023-Winter-Drill-Program.jpg
The first drill holes will be drilled near RL-00-22A which returned 0.12% U3O8 over 2.2 m at 343.3 m depth, including 0.26% U3O8 over 0.5 m (Assessment File 74H06-0108), to confirm thrust related uranium mineralization in the southeastern most part of the Grayling Zone and track it along the strike extent. These initial holes will be drilled to intersect the Grayling thrust fault at depth. Depending on the results additional holes are planned in the approximately 300 m gap in drilling between holes RL-00-22A and RL-07-05 which returned 0.03% U3O8 over 1.0 m at 366.0 m depth and 0.16% U3O8 over 0.5 m at 389.1 m depth (Assessment File 74H06-0134), and hole RL85-07, the best hole on the property which returned 3.45% U3O8 over 0.3 m at 363.2 m depth as well as 0.09% U3O8 over 0.5 metres at 366.4 m depth (Assessment File 74H06-0091/SMDI 2151).
Additional drill holes for this winter’s program are planned along the Grayling thrust near hole RL-00-20 (returned 0.043% U3O8 over 0.5 m at 335.2 m depth and 0.038% U3O8 over 1.5 m at 336.8 m depth - Assessment File 74H06-0108), hole RL-85-08 (returned 0.7 m of 0.073% U3O8 at 323.35 m depth and 1.0 m of 0.32% U3O8 at 327.0 m depth - Assessment File 74H06-0091), hole RL-08-16 (returned 0.054% U3O8 over 0.9 m at 328.5 m depth and 0.768 % U3O8 over 1.0 m at 331.0 m depth - Assessment File 74H11-0126), and hole RL-87-16 (returned 0.40% U3O8 over 3.75 m at 327.5 m depth - Assessment File 74H06-0102, SMDI 2151). These drill holes will test the strike extent of the mineralization between previous drill hole fences, as well as test the Grayling thrust fault in the nose of the thrust at the unconformity and in the hanging wall of the fault to further determine the relationship between mineralization and the Grayling thrust fault.
Regional Drill Target Refinement at Russell Lake:
There have been numerous geophysical surveys covering the Russell Lake project throughout its history and Skyharbour has contracted Condor Consulting to conduct geophysical and geological compilation and interpretation work. Historical data is being re-examined using modern processing and modeling techniques in order to generate and optimize regional drill targets for future drill programs on the property. Condor’s extensive knowledge of the uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin, world-wide experience, broad client base and advanced technical expertise make them the logical candidate to adequately assess the extensive collection of geophysical data on the property.
Condor has been focusing on the Grayling, Grayling East, Grayling West, Fox Lake Trail, and M-Zone Extension areas (i.e. area of interest “AOI”), where previous drilling has intersected prospective mineralization, alteration, structure, and geochemistry. Condor has stitched together magnetic data from several historical magnetic surveys and performed 3D magnetic susceptibility inversion of the data as required. These inversions are being used to generate various mapping products. Conductors are being picked using existing airborne EM data, and Condor will define conductor axes where possible with additional modeling of the available ground EM data to further aid conductor definition. A pair of airborne gravity surveys over the AOI have been merged, and both the airborne and ground gravity data are being used to generate a number of 2D and 3D target models. Additionally, 2D and 3D DC resistivity interpretations generated by the previous operator Rio Tinto have been used in target assessment. The combined results from this compilation and interpretation work is producing geophysical targets for continued drilling at the Project and it is identifying any data gaps where additional surveying may be required.
Russell Lake Uranium Project Overview:
The Russell Lake Project is a large, advanced-stage uranium exploration property totalling 73,294 hectares strategically located between Cameco’s Key Lake and McArthur River Projects and adjoining Denison’s Wheeler River Project to the west and Skyharbour’s Moore Uranium Project to the east. Highway 914, which services the McArthur River mine, runs through the western extent of the Property and greatly enhances accessibility. Similarly, a high-voltage powerline situated alongside Highway 914. Skyharbour’s acquisition of Russell Lake creates a large, nearly contiguous block of highly prospective uranium claims totalling 108,999 hectares between the Russell Lake and the Moore uranium projects.
There has been a meaningful amount of historical exploration carried out at Russell Lake but most of it was conducted prior to 2010. The Property has been the subject of over 95,000 metres of drilling in over 230 drill holes. The Property’s claims are in good standing for 2-22 years with significant assessment credits built-up from previous exploration programs.
Several notable exploration targets exist on the property including the Grayling Zone, the M-Zone Extension target, the Little Man Lake target, the Christie Lake target, and the Fox Lake Trail target. More than 35 kilometres of largely untested prospective conductors in areas of low magnetic intensity exist on the Property as well.
At the Grayling Zone, drilling in a 2,200 m long section of the >10 km Grayling-M-Zone conductor trend graphitic intersected an 800 metres long discontinuous zone of basement-hosted uranium mineralization with localized perched and unconformity-hosted associated mineralization along a >100 m thick interval of thrust-faulted graphitic pelitic gneisses (SMDI 2151, 3563, 3564). Drill hole RL-85-07 intersected 3.45% U3O8 over 0.3 metres at a depth of 363.2 metres and 0.9% U3O8 over 0.5m at a depth of 366.4 metres (SMDI 2151). This target is prospective for additional high-grade uranium discoveries and is open in several directions.
Historical drilling at neighbouring Denison’s M-Zone along the >10km long Grayling conductor trend intersected basement hosted uranium of up to 0.70% U3O8 over 5.8 metres at a depth of 374.0 metres (SMDI 2139, 3569). Like the Grayling Zone, the mineralization is hosted by a graphitic thrust fault. The northeast extension of the M-Zone-Grayling corridor onto the Property, the M-Zone Extension target, has seen limited drilling, but mineralization was intersected in historical drilling, returning 0.7 metres of 0.123% U3O8 at 619.1 metres depth in hole MZE-11-03 (SMDI 5540).
The Little Man Lake Zone target is 500 metres long, 10 to 15 metres thick, 25 to 35 metres wide, and is a zone of prospective geology associated with an unconformity depression. The last drilling in this area was in 1989, prior to modern uranium exploration models, with historical uranium grades ranging from 0.03% up to 0.1% U3O8 at around 300 metres depth (SMDI 2429).
At the Fox Lake Trail target area, uranium mineralization was intersected in a few historical drill holes. Significant intercepts include 0.0743% U3O8 over 1.0 metres at 525.5 metres depth in hole FLT-08-06 (SMDI 3566), and 0.053% U3O8 over 0.3 metres at 516.9 metres depth in hole FLT-11-14 (SMDI 3565). A prospective quartzite ridge runs through the area along with anomalous geochemistry in faulted basement metasediments. Significant sandstone-hosted sulphides are also found in this area.
The Christie Lake target area contains basement-hosted uranium mineralization with historical drill results returning 0.17% U3O8 over 0.4 metres at 436.4 metres depth in hole CL-10-03(SMDI 5305). A prospective clay altered basement fault system runs throughout this area.
In addition to the aforementioned target areas, there are more than 35 kilometres of untested conductors on the Property underlain by rocks of low magnetic intensity, suggestive of prospective graphitic meta-pelitic basement rocks. The Project has seen limited exploration in the previous twelve years, so minimal modern exploration techniques and methods have been used to expand existing zones of mineralization as well as to make new discoveries.
There is a fully permitted exploration camp on the Project suitable for over forty people located on the highway and within 5 kilometres of Denison’s Phoenix deposit. Skyharbour has an option to acquire an initial 51% interest in the project and can acquire up to a 100% interest in the project from Rio Tinto (see news release dated July 19th, 2022).
Other related developments from around the markets include:
Cameco Corporation will issue its fourth quarter results before markets open on Thursday, February 9, 2023. Cameco invites investors and the media to join its fourth quarter conference call with the company's senior executives on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Cameco will discuss trends in the market and the execution of its strategy before opening the call to questions from investors and the media.
Uranium Energy Corporation announced new uranium mineralization in drill hole CB-178-1 that grades 5.42% eU3O8 over 15.6 metres, including a subinterval that grades 23.2% eU3O8 over 3.4 metres (Table 1). This result expands the footprint of high-grade uranium mineralization at the Christie Lake Project that was initially announced last year (see press release from October 4, 2022). Vertical depth to the unconformity-hosted mineralization at Christie Lake is between 400 and 420 metres (“m”) from surface. This is shallower by about 100 m than McArthur River and at approximately the same depth as Cigar Lake. The McArthur River and Cigar Lake Deposits are the archetypical high-grade Athabasca super-deposits with combined reserves and past production of 985.7 million lb. uranium.
Denison Mines Corporation announced the successful completion of the neutralization phase of the Phoenix in-situ recovery Feasibility Field Test at the Company's 95% owned Wheeler River project. Sampling of monitoring wells around the FFT site has confirmed the successful restoration of the Leaching Zone (defined below) to environmentally acceptable pH conditions, as outlined in the applicable regulatory approvals for the FFT. The neutralization phase was initiated in mid-October 2022, following the highly successful completion of the leaching phase of the FFT (see news releases dated October 17, 2022 and November 22, 2022), and was designed to confirm certain environmental assessment assumptions and verify the efficiency and effectiveness of the neutralization process planned for ISR mining at Phoenix.
Energy Fuels Inc., a leading U.S. producer of uranium and rare earth elements announced that it has been awarded a contract to sell $18.5 million of natural uranium concentrates to the U.S. government for the establishment of a strategic uranium reserve. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, an office within the U.S. Department of Energy, is the agency tasked with purchasing domestic U3O8 and conversion services for the Uranium Reserve. The Uranium Reserve is intended to be a backup source of supply for domestic nuclear power plants in the event of a significant market disruption. Additionally, the Company announced its application for membership in the DOE's newly created HALEU Consortium. Energy Fuels expects to complete the sale of uranium for the Uranium Reserve to NNSA during Q1-2023 and realize total gross proceeds of $18.5 million. The U3O8the Company expects to sell to the U.S. government is currently held in the Company's inventory at the Metropolis Works Conversion Facility, located in Metropolis, Illinois. The sale does not involve the physical movement of material, so the sale and transfer can be completed quickly.
Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement Winning Media has been paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services for Skyharbour Resources Ltd. by Skyharbour Resources Ltd. We own ZERO shares of Skyharbour Resources Ltd. Please click here for full disclaimer.
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