While some companies slow down at the end of each year, Valor Resources spent December building its lithium and uranium portfolio and also added a cool $1 million to its coffers through a successful placement.
The first move the company made in the last month of 2023 was to enter into an exclusive option agreement to pick up 100 per cent of three lithium projects in the Canadian province of Ontario. Adding a total of about 188 square kilometres of tenure, the Frazer Lake, Morrison River and Jesaulenko projects form a complementary addition to Valor’s existing portfolio of high-quality uranium projects in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.
Frazer Lake has already revealed some intriguing results from previous exploration, including significant rock chip assays of 7.26 per cent, 7.02 per cent and 6.42 per cent lithium oxide. Recent channel sampling at the site returned 44m grading 0.54 per cent lithium oxide including 3m at 1.27 per cent lithium oxide and 1m going 1.76 per cent lithium oxide.
Management says it has highlighted about a 30m outcrop of spodumene-bearing pegmatites at the 83sq-km operation that is open along strike and is yet to be drill-tested. Further channel sampling along strike is set to be conducted during the option period.
Morrison River covers 55sq km, where mapping has defined five white pegmatite dykes in a 13km strike length. It sits about 150km north-east of Frontier Lithium’s PAK lithium project that has an open pit resource of 5.96 million tonnes at 1.18 per cent lithium oxide and an underground resource of 2.07 million tonnes at 2.37 per cent lithium oxide.
The Jesaulenko project is just 25km from Frazer Lake, with a tenure of about 46sq km. Satellite imagery interpretation has defined extensive areas of outcrop at the operation, which is set for immediate field investigation. Valor says the outcrop provides the potential to rapidly evaluate the lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT)-type pegmatites within the project area.
Valor successfully raised the $1 million through a share placement designed to support evaluation and exploration activities following the company’s three option agreements for the Ontario lithium projects. The raise followed the allotment of 250 million new shares at 0.4 cents each. Shareholder approval is still required for the acquisitions.
In addition to its lithium projects, Valor completed a transaction in December to expand its strategic exploration footprint in the area around Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin.
The portfolio includes the 160sq-km Pring Lake tenements that adjoin the Surprise Creek ground to the north-west. It is known as the Athlodge claim, which is 20km north of Uranium City and the 198sq-km SYME claim package that lies to the south of the Athabasca Basin.
Management says the mineral claims represent an important strategic addition to the company’s extensive portfolio in the Athabasca Basin, which hosts some of the biggest and highest-grade uranium deposits in the world, including McArthur River, Cigar Lake and Arrow.
Valor Resources executive chairman George Bauk said: “This year is looming as a pivotal one for Valor Resources after completing the acquisition of the lithium portfolio and with drilling already planned. Our main focus will be the lithium assets in the Thunder Bay region, where we are looking to uncover the potential of the 30m-wide outcrop of spodumene-bearing pegmatite at Frazer Lake. It is no doubt a big year ahead for Valor.”
The Athabasca Basin is the world’s highest-grade source of uranium, with an average grade of 2 per cent diuranium pentoxide – more than 10 times the global average.
In August, the company entered into a binding agreement with ASX-listed Firetail Resources to offload an 80 per cent interest in its Peruvian copper assets for an upfront cash payment of $750,000 and a package of 15 million shares and 20 million performance rights in the junior explorer.
The placement will earn Valor more than 20 per cent ownership of Firetail and will also give Bauk a seat at Firetail’s boardroom table. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s uranium hunt in the Athabasca Basin at a time of rising uranium prices and surging investor interest.
The company already holds an impressive Athabasca portfolio, consisting of four projects with three drill-ready targets, is in an area ranked in the top 10 global mining investment jurisdictions in the world. The basin has produced 20 per cent of the world’s primary uranium supply during a 60-year mining history.
Valor recently pegged the 5.76-square-kilometre Beatty River heavy rare earths and uranium project that contains assays of up to 8.75 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO), with up to 1.15 per cent dysprosium oxide from historic trench samples. The company says the dominant rare earths mineral is xenotime, with heavy rare earths consistently comprising more than 90 per cent of the TREO.
It expects to start drilling one of its Athabasca uranium projects, Hidden Bay, this quarter. The project is about 20km south-west of the historic Rabbit Lake Mine, which was the longest-operating uranium mine in North America. In more than 41 years, the mine produced more than 203 million pounds of uranium concentrates before entering care and maintenance in 2016.
The Valor board has also resolved to undertake a share capital consolidation on a 25-for-1 basis and to seek shareholder approval for a change of name to Thunderbird Resources. Management says the consolidation is proposed to provide the best structure for continued growth and a capital structure that is more in line with companies of a similar scale.
The two proposals will be put before shareholders at a general meeting expected to be held in March.
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By Michael Philipps
