NYSE American: UEC
- Expanding High-Grade Footprint: UEC intersects
additional high-grade uranium mineralization with CB-183-1, at the
Christie Lake Project ("the Project"). This intersection expands
the footprint of the high-grade mineralization at the Sakura Zone,
that was first reported in October last year.
- Premier Location: Christie Lake is nine km northeast of
McArthur River, the world's largest high-grade uranium mine, and
along the same geological trend (see Figures 1 & 2). The Sakura
Zone, discovered in August 2022, is
along the Yalowega mineralized corridor (see Figure 3).
- Infrastructure Advantage: The Project straddles the
Eastern Athabasca High Grade Uranium Corridor, representing a
19,576 acre land package in close proximity to the existing
infrastructure of the uranium operations of McArthur River and
Cigar Lake.
- Synergies with Roughrider Project: Christie Lake is one
of the key projects in UEC's Eastern Athabasca Hub strategy and has
excellent synergy potential with the Roughrider and Horseshoe-Raven
Projects.
- Ongoing Exploration: These intercepts represent the
continuation of the 3-month winter campaign. More holes are
anticipated to be reported over the winter, leading to an update of
the Christie Lake resource in 2023.
CORPUS
CHRISTI, Texas, March 6,
2023 /CNW/ - Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC)
(the "Company" or "UEC") is pleased to announce
uranium mineralization in drill hole CB-183-1 that grades 7.90%
eU3O8 over 14.3 metres, including a
subinterval that grades 26.16% eU3O8 over 3.8
metres (Table 1). This result expands the footprint of high-grade
uranium mineralization at the Sakura Zone at the Christie Lake
Project to the northeast approximately 14 metres from CB-178-1.
Chris Hamel, Vice President
Exploration, Canada stated: "The
continued success at the Sakura Zone demonstrates the potential of
the Yalowega Trend at Christie Lake to host high-grade uranium
mineralization. We are eager to continue with exploration along
this trend in the 2023 program. The Yalowega Trend is the northerly
extension of the McArthur River fault system onto the Christie Lake
Project and gives UEC the opportunity to explore along this
uniquely well-endowed mineralized trend that only Cameco and Orano
otherwise have access to."
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 lbs. of uranium.
Additional follow up with drill hole CB-183-2 also encountered
uranium mineralization at the unconformity that grades 0.21%
eU3O8 over 2.2 metres. This hole is
interpreted to lie along the southern periphery of the Sakura Zone,
defining the southern extent of the mineralization in that
area.
UEC plans to drill at least 17,000 metres in 2023 through the
Christie Lake winter and summer drill programs. To date, the
company has drilled 7,500 metres in the winter program that is
designed to continue through March. The summer program is planned
to commence after the snow melt.
Table 1: Christie Lake Radiometric Equivalent Grades rom
CB-183-1
Hole
|
From
(m)
|
To
(m)
|
Width (m)
|
Grade
(% eU3O8)
|
Cut-off Grade
(% eU3O8)
|
CB-183-1
|
|
417.9
|
432.2
|
14.3
|
7.90
|
0.05
|
incl.
|
421.8
|
428.8
|
7.0
|
15.94
|
1.0
|
|
incl.
|
423.2
|
427.0
|
3.8
|
26.16
|
10.0
|
CB-183-2
|
|
423.6
|
426.2
|
2.6
|
0.19
|
0.05
|
|
Incl.
|
423.9
|
426.1
|
2.1
|
0.21
|
0.1
|
Notes
|
1.
|
True widths of the
mineralization reported in Table 1 is anticipated to be 90-95% of
core length but cannot be verified at this time.
|
2.
|
eU3O8 refers to
radiometric equivalent grade U3O8, and it
determined using calibrated down-hole radiometric probes, a process
further discussed in the section "About Radiometric
Grades".
|
Figure 1 - UEC's Athabasca
Basin Projects
About Canada's Athabasca Basin
The Athabasca Basin is a
world-class uranium district in the northern portion of the
provinces of Saskatchewan and
Alberta in Canada, occupying an area of about 100,000
square kilometres. The unique geology of the Athabasca Basin deposits can result in deposit
grades that exceed the world average of uranium deposits of 0.2%
U3O8 by up to 100 times.
All of Canada's current uranium
production occurs from the mines located in the Athabasca Basin. According to the World
Nuclear Association, the Athabasca
Basin was responsible for producing 9.7% of the world's uranium
production in 2021.
Uranium mineralization in the Athabasca Basin occurs in fault structures
that penetrate the interface between the sandstone and underlying
basement rocks, known as the unconformity. Uranium can be found at
the interface, known as the unconformity, or can occur several
hundreds of metres below the unconformity surface in the underlying
basement fault structures. .
The uranium concentrations from holes presented above from the
radiometric equivalent uranium grade ("REG"), denoted as
eU3O8, which is determined in-situ within the
drill hole. For more information on REGs please see the "About
Radiometric Equivalent Grades" section below.
The core recovery from parts of the mineralized zone in hole
CB-183-1 is estimated at approximately 60%. The portions of the
core recovered from the interval confirm the presence of very
high-grade uranium mineralization. Thus, the Company believes that
assay results collected from the mineralized interval may not be
representative of the true concentration of uranium present and
that the REG presented above will be a more accurate estimate of
grade.
About Radiometric Equivalent
Grades
The eU3O8 grades were estimated in-situ
within the drill holes using calibrated down-hole radiometric gamma
probes which are lowered down the hole, a method commonly used by
uranium explorers and miners in the Athabasca Basin. The probe records the amount
of radioactivity present in the rock adjacent to the probe as it
moves up and down the hole.
The probes were calibrated prior to the commencement of the
current drill program at the Saskatchewan Research Council's
("SRC") test pit facility in Saskatoon. Using down-hole probes to calculate
radiometric equivalent grades is a common practice by uranium
mining companies in the Athabasca
Basin. Down-hole probes can accurately measure uranium
concentration by measuring the light flashes that occur every time
the probe's scintillator is struck by a gamma radiation particle
emitted from uranium crystals. The number of light flashes are
'counted' by a photomultiplier tube. Sometimes within high-grade
intervals, a process called 'saturation' occurs when light emitted
by the probe's scintillator overwhelms the photomultiplier tube's
ability to 'count' individual light flashes. In this case, it can
be difficult to accurate determine radiometric equivalent
grades.
Samples from all holes have been collected for assay analysis to
confirm these equivalent grades. The samples will be analyzed at
the SRC's Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with results expected
in the coming weeks.
About the Christie Lake
Project
UEC holds an 82.775% combined direct and indirect interest in
the Christie Lake Project which is a joint venture with JCU
(Canada) Exploration Company,
Limited, a company that is 50% owned by UEC's wholly owned
subsidiary UEX Corporation. UEC's direct ownership in Christie Lake
is 65.5492% and indirect ownership through its 50% ownership in JCU
is 17.2254%
The Christie Lake Project is located in the eastern Athabasca Basin (see Figures 1 & 2)
approximately 9 km northeast of Cameco's McArthur River Mine, the
world's largest and highest-grade uranium mine. The controlling
structure of the McArthur River Mine deposits, the P2 fault,
continues to the northeast beyond the mine and trends into the
Christie Lake Project. Our technical team believes that, through a
series of en-echelon steps, the northeast strike extension of the
P2 Fault not only crosses the Christie Lake Project but also
controls the three known uranium deposits on Christie Lake: the
Ōrora, Paul Bay and Ken Pen Deposits
as well as the newly discovered Sakura Zone.
Figure 2 - Christie Lake Project Location
Figure 3 - Sakura Zone Mineralization - preliminary zone
boundaries
Qualified Persons and Data
Acquisition
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed
and approved by Chris Hamel, P.Geo.,
UEC's Vice President Exploration, Canada who is considered to be a Qualified
Person as defined by S-K 1300.
About Uranium Energy
Corp
Uranium Energy Corp is the fastest growing supplier of the fuel
for the green energy transition to a low carbon future. UEC is the
largest, diversified North American focused uranium company,
advancing the next generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly
In-Situ Recovery ("ISR") mining uranium projects in the
United States and high-grade
conventional projects in Canada.
The Company has two production-ready ISR hub and spoke platforms in
South Texas and Wyoming. These two production platforms are
anchored by fully operational central processing plants and served
by seven U.S. ISR uranium projects with all their major permits in
place. Additionally, the Company has diversified uranium holdings
including: (1) one of the largest physical uranium portfolios of
North American warehoused U3O8; (2) a major
equity stake in Uranium Royalty Corp., the only royalty company in
the sector; and (3) a Western Hemisphere pipeline of resource stage
uranium projects. The Company's operations are managed by
professionals with decades of hands-on experience in the key facets
of uranium exploration, development and mining.
Twitter: @UraniumEnergy
Stock Exchange Information:
NYSE American: UEC
Frankfurt Stock Exchange Symbol: U6Z
WKN: AØJDRR
ISN: US916896103
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