Athabasca Basin - Uranium Portfolio Update

RNS Number : 3620Q

Power Metal Resources PLC

20 February 2023

 

20 February 2023

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Athabasca Basin - Uranium Portfolio Update

Power Metal Acquires via Staking Hawkrock East and Hawkrock West Uranium Properties, Haresign Bay Property Size Reduced

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces an update in relation to its uranium property portfolio focused on the Athabasca Basin area in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc, commented: 

"There is significant competition for high quality uranium ground in and surrounding the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. As outlined below, there were other uranium companies also lodging applications over the Haresign Bay Property which we announced on 2 February 2023 and which has reduced the amount of ground we were able to secure at that project.

The interest in the Athabasca Basin is noticeably increasing meaning we must accelerate the acquisition of additional ground. By moving quickly, the Power Metal technical team has already taken action by staking an additional two properties located within the Basin.

Given the recognition of uranium as a key commodity for future power generation we are also accelerating our efforts to secure projects in other regions as quickly as possible to build our exposure.  The level of interest in uranium exploration extends across many high-profile regions globally and there is no time to waste on this."

HIGHLIGHTS:

§ All claims were acquired by direct mineral claim staking by the Power Metal technical team. They were acquired through the Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan ("MARS") electronic registry system on 15 February 2023. The staking acquisitions represent significant additions to the Company's uranium portfolio. Further information on the staking process can be found in the Further Information section below.

§ The newly acquired Hawkrock East and Hawkrock West uranium properties (collectively the "Properties") cover a total combined area of 4,280-hectares (42.80km²) within the prospective Snowbird Tectonic Zone ("STZ") in the northeastern corner of the Athabasca Basin.

· Historical exploration completed covering the Hawkrock East property identified elevated radon, uranium and methane-in-groundwater coincident with largely untested electromagnetic ("EM") geophysics conductors. Previous drilling completed by the Saskatchewan Mineral Development Corporation ("SMDC") in 1981 identified major faulting and pelitic geology which is considered by the Company to be comparable to many Athabasca basin unconformity-related uranium deposits.

§ The Hawkrock West property, located 12km to the west of Hawkrock East, is centred around multiple EM conductors which are coincident with elevated uranium pathfinder elements (incl. As, Co, Ni, Th and Pb) in lake sediment sample assays. Previous drilling completed by D.F Exploration Ltd in 1997 returned elevated uranium, thorium and radiation counts-per-second ("CPS") readings of drill core in close proximity to the Athabasca sandstone and basement unconformity.

§ Due to a correction following concurrent competing applications within the MARS electronic claim registry, Power Metal's previously staked Haresign Bay Property has been reduced in size from 3,189-hectares (31.89km²) to 165-hectares (1.65km²) with two other uranium focused companies securing the balance. The Kernaghan Property was unaffected and remains as previously announced.  This reduced the staking cost of Haresign Bay Property to CAD$300 from CAD$1,913.51.  Both Haresign Bay and Kernaghan properties come with a two-year term with no minimum spend requirement and which can then be extended for subsequent years by spending an aggregated minimum of CAD$72,623 per annum.

§ With the addition of the Properties, as well as the reduction of the Haresign Bay Property, the Power Metal Athabasca uranium portfolio now consists of sixteen properties, including two conditional disposals^1,2, with a combined total area of 965.73km².

FURTHER INFORMATION

Geology

The Properties are located in the northeastern corner of the prolific Athabasca Basin and within the STZ. The STZ is a 200km wide structural zone which crosses the Athabasca Basin in a northeast-southwest orientation. On the other side of the basin, the STZ is host to the Centennial unconformity related uranium deposit owned by a joint venture between Orano SA and Cameco Corp., where drilled intersections include up to 34m @ 8.8% U₃O₈.³

Mineral Claim Staking Process

The mineral claims constituting the Properties were acquired directly through the Mineral Administration Registry Saskatchewan ("MARS") electronic claim registry system.

Where a previous claim owner is unable to satisfy the claim maintenance requirements, that ground is reopened to third party staking. The total cost of staking the Properties was a combined CAD$3,340.75. The newly staked licences come with a two-year term with no minimum spend requirement and which can then be extended for subsequent years by spending an aggregated minimum of CAD$83,519 per annum.

The Properties staked are pending licence grant which is expected shortly.

Next Steps

The Company is preparing fact sheets which will include further information and maps for newly acquired staking. These will be released to the market once ready. Furthermore, detailed data rooms are being prepared.

URANIUM PROPERTIES - HOLDING STRUCTURE

Power Metal has a 100% subsidiary Power Metal Canada Inc ("Power Canada"), which acts as the holding Company for certain Canadian project operations. Power Canada has a wholly-owned subsidiary, 102134984 Saskatchewan Ltd, which is the holder of the Company's Athabasca uranium portfolio.

Table 1: 102134984 Saskatchewan Ltd., Athabasca Basin Property Holdings

Project	Licence ID	Area (Hectare)	Area (km2)
Clearwater Uranium Property	MC00015079	1,110	11.1
	MC00015083	563	5.63
	MC00015082	3,191	31.91
	MC00015151	760	7.6
	MC00015646	761	7.61
	MC00015658	1,541	15.41
Tait Hill Uranium Property	MC00015078	1,576	15.76
	MC00015081	968	9.68
	MC00015153	1,530	15.3
	MC00015152	1,886	18.86
	MC00015647	725	7.25
	MC00015648	1,129	11.29
	MC00016158	3,242	32.42
Thibault Lake Uranium Property	MC00015077	2,206	22.06
	MC00015659	2,195	21.95
	AC00018709	1,982	19.82
Soaring Bay Uranium Property	MC00015080	1,255	12.55
	MC00015155	3,375	33.75
	MC00015874	748	7.48
	MC00015875	2,529	25.29
Cook Lake Uranium Property	MC00015212	984	9.84
E-12 Uranium Property1	MC00015213	1,323	13.23
Reitenbach Uranium Property2	MC00015214	2,135	21.35
	MC00015474	1,235	12.35
	MC00015655	4,570	45.7
	MC00015656	5,322	53.22
	MC00015657	886	8.86
	MC00015824	528	5.28
	MC00016155	1,333	13.33
Reindeer Lake	MC00015522	3,336	33.36
Porter Lake	MC00015561	5,657	56.56
	MC00015562	5,199	51.98
Old Woman Rapids	MC00015563	4,851	48.51
	MC00015564	5,063	50.63
	MC00015565	3,044	30.44
Durrant Lake	MC00016142	5,866	58.66
Badger Lake	MC00016253	1,671	16.71
Haresign Bay	MC00016910	100*	1.00*
	MC00016911	33*	0.33*
	MC00016912	33*	0.33*
Kernaghan	MC00016760	4,566	45.66
Hawkrock East	MC00016968	2,345	23.45
Hawkrock West	MC00016967	3,220	32.20
Total Licence Holding Area		96,573	965.73km2

*Resulting licence area after reduction

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1:  The E-12 Property, currently included as one of the 16 uranium portfolio properties, is subject to a conditional disposal to Teathers Financial PLC for a consideration of £250,000. Work is ongoing to complete that transaction. See Company announcement released on 4 November 2022.

2:  The Reitenbach Property, currently included as one of the 16 uranium portfolio properties, is subject to a conditional disposal to Teathers Financial PLC for a consideration of £360,000. Work is ongoing to complete that transaction. See Company announcement released on 8 August 2022.

3:  Jiricka, D.E., and Witt, G., 2008, The Centennial deposit-an atypical unconformity-associated uranium deposit: Calgary, Mining Forum, April 2008.

Glossary:

Electromagnetic Conductors: In the Athabasca Basin area, uranium mineralisation is often associated with graphitic fault conductors within the crystalline basement. Graphite and faults are more conductive than the surrounding rocks, and thus offer a proven geophysical target for future exploration.

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:

Power Metal Resources plc
Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer)	[phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker)
Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat	[phone]
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)
Nick Emerson	[phone]
First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)
David Cockbill/Jason Robertson	[phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

Power Metal Resources plc - Background

Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) is an AIM listed metals exploration company which finances and manages global resource projects and is seeking large scale metal discoveries.

The Company has a principal focus on opportunities offering district scale potential across a global portfolio including precious, base and strategic metal exploration in North America, Africa and Australia.

Project interests range from early-stage greenfield exploration to later-stage prospects currently subject to drill programmes.

Power Metal will develop projects internally or through strategic joint ventures until a project becomes ready for disposal through outright sale or separate listing on a recognised stock exchange thereby crystallising the value generated from our internal exploration and development work.

Value generated through disposals will be deployed internally to drive the Company's growth or may be returned to shareholders through share buy backs, dividends or in-specie distributions of assets.

 

END

 

 

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