Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN) uncovered high grade uranium from four drill holes in its 2023 winter exploration program at the Moon Lake South property.
The program was designed to evaluate the potential to expand the known mineralization at the site by testing conductivity anomalies identified in a 2022 stepwise moving loop electromagnetic survey.
The program consisted of six completed diamond drill holes, totaling 3,301 metres but only four of these holes encountered uranium mineralization.
The most significant results were obtained from drill hole MS-23-10A, which intersected a broad zone of high-grade mineralization grading 1.38 per cent eU3O8 over 8.7 metres, including a sub-interval grading 2.88 per cent eU3O8 over 3.1 metres, located approximately 30 metres above the sub-Athabasca unconformity. This mineralization was associated with strong grey alteration and remains open in multiple directions for future follow-up.
The project lands are located in the southeastern part of the Athabasca basin, approximately 12 kilometres southwest of Denison’s Phoenix deposit, and 30 kilometres northwest of Cameco’s Key Lake Operation. The property is accessible year-round via the Fox Lake tote road, and Denison’s exploration team uses the nearby Wheeler River camp as a base of operations.
Denison Mines is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The Moon Lake South project is a joint venture between Denison Mines Corp., which operates the project and holds a 75 per cent interest in the property, and CanAlaska Uranium (TSXV: CVV), which holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
Read more: Skyharbour adds eight properties to Athabasca Basin portfolio totalling over 490,000 hectares
The program has six complete diamond drill holes
“The discovery of high-grade sandstone-hosted uranium mineralization at Moon Lake South is a very exciting development for Denison, as our company’s recent field testing at the nearby 95 per cent-owned Wheeler River project has illustrated the potential viability of mining high-grade Athabasca Basin sandstone-hosted uranium deposits via In-Situ Recovery (ISR) mining” said David Cates, Denison’s president and CEO.
After the completion of a drill hole, the hole is radiometrically logged using a downhole gamma probe, which collects continuous readings of radioactivity along the length of the drill hole. The gamma-log results provide a preliminary radiometric equivalent uranium value (eU3O8 per cent) for the hole, which is reasonably accurate, except in very high-grade zones. The company reports eU3O8 as a preliminary result and subsequently reports definitive assay grades following sampling and chemical analysis of the mineralized drill core.
Assay sample intervals are typically 50 centimetres long, except where higher or lower-grade mineralization boundaries fall within the interval. In that case, two 25 centimetre samples are collected, and flank samples of 1.0 metre are always collected where mineralization is located.
Systematic geochemistry samples are collected every 10 metres down the hole. All assayed core is split in half, with one half retained and the other sent to the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon for analysis. Control samples are routinely assayed with each batch of core samples analyzed.
The Athabasca basin is home to a number of different competing uranium companies.
Skyharbour Resources (TSXV: SYH) (OTCQX: SYHBF) (Frankfurt: SC1P) recently added eight new uranium exploration properties in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan on Monday.
Meanwhile, NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE) (ASX: NXE) (NYSE: NXE), which operates the Arrow deposit, recently established a 100% Indigenous owned and operated gravel supply company in Northwest Saskatchewan.
Denison shares dipped $0.02 on Wednesday to trade at $1.37 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
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