Uranium Energy Corp. is pleased to announce that the Company has closed a purchase agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Inc. (“Rio Tinto”), to acquire a portfolio of exploration-stage projects in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada for $1,500,000 (CAD) (the “Transaction”). The Company has acquired a 60% equity stake in the Henday Lake joint venture (“Henday”), 100% of the Milliken project (“Milliken”), and a 50% equity stake in the Carswell joint venture project (“Carswell”). With this Transaction, UEC has added an additional 44,444 acres (17,986 Ha) of prospective ground in the Athabasca Basin (See Figure 1) to its existing portfolio of 1,091,639 acres (441,771 Ha).
Amir Adnani, President and CEO of UEC stated: “This is our third acquisition in the Athabasca Basin in the last 12-months and builds on the landmark acquisitions of UEX and the Roughrider project. This acquisition represents an important component in our strategy to assemble a premier North American uranium portfolio, featuring near-term US production, Canadian development-stage projects including joint ventures, and a pipeline of exploration projects with excellent growth potential. Since the acquisitions of Roughrider and UEX last year, the Canadian team has issued technical reports on the Roughrider, Horseshoe-Raven, and the Shea Creek deposits. We have also added James Hatley as Vice President Production, Canada to the team to augment the advancement of our Canadian assets towards production.”
The Henday project is 17,801 acres (7,204 Ha) in an area, less than five kilometers north of Roughrider, and like Roughrider is within the prolific Wollaston-Mudjatik transition zone that is host to many of the eastern Athabasca deposits. UEC will acquire 60% of the project and act as the operator of Henday project in a joint venture with Forum Energy Metals, who owns the remaining 40%. The Company’s technical evaluation of the project revealed uranium up to 1,750 ppm associated with altered basement rocks that has yet to be followed up with additional drilling. The project is host to several compelling exploration targets identified by previous operators and the Company’s technical team.
The Carswell project is 16,771 acres (6,787 Ha) and just 1.6 km north of the now mined out Claude Deposit at Cluff Lake. The Carswell project lies within the Carswell Structure, the location of a meteorite impact that has brought the basement rocks and uranium mineralization much closer to the surface than in the surrounding area. Carswell is a project with multiple uranium showings in drill holes, trenches, boulders, and outcrop that together suggest similar controls on the mineralization as seen at the past-producing and now decommissioned Cluff Lake Mine. Some of the mineralization revealed in trenches is described as “radioactive Cluff Breccia veins”3. Exploration in the area dates to 1958, with the nearby Cluff Lake Mine operating from 1981 to 2002 with both underground and open pit mines. UEC will be the operator of the Carswell project and ALX Resources is the other owner with a 50% interest in the project.
