Valor unveils new Canadian uranium anomalies

ASX-listed Valor Resources looks to be on a roll in Canada with the budding explorer identifying a wealth of new uranium anomalies across the company’s burgeoning ground holdings in Canada’s famed Athabasca Basin.

A recent radiometric survey over the Hook Lake tenure has highlighted several uraniferous target zones in the northwest of the company’s permits alongside various new targets located outside recognised historical prospect areas.

In addition, the survey confirmed the company’s priority targets within its fertile ground holdings that including the historical Hook Lake uranium occurrence.

Valor commenced a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey over Hook Lake in July, with the radiometrics lighting up a slew of new anomalies across more than 110 square kilometres in the north of the uranium ground.

Valor has now completed an evaluation of the survey with the company’s technical team identifying six tier one targets, more than ten separate tier two targets and a wealth of lesser targets, that require field checking. The survey also identified a previously unrecognised anomaly around 3km along strike from the main Hook Lake target which has quickly moved up the  priority list.

With the summer field season now in full swing, Valor has dispatched its expert geological contractor, Dahrouge Consulting into the Canadian wilderness to begin a field assessment of the new targets. Initial follow up of historical sampling that returned rock chips grading up to an astonishing 68 per cent uranium oxide, is already bearing fruit with the field crew already locating various uraninite-bearing rocky outcrops.

A first-pass assessment of the grab samples from the ongoing field program has returned anomalous levels of radioactivity, validating the previous work across the target.

Valor is utilising a helicopter to speed up its evaluation of the various targets, with recent forest fires also clearing much of the undergrowth through the region resulting in unusual exposure of the outcropping bedrock, further accelerating the mapping and sampling program.

Valor’s Hook Lake project covers around 300 square kilometres of uranium-rich stratigraphy on the south-eastern margin of the Athabasca Basin and sits about 700km north-east of Edmonton in Canada. The project is one of five projects owned by the company across the vast mineral field, where Valor now controls more than 980 square kilometres of prime uranium hunting ground. The region is famous for its high-grade uranium mines which include the Cluff Lake, Uranium City and Rabbit Lake operations.

Arguably the highest profile operation however is Cameco’s Cigar Lake underground mine, where the average ore grade tops an astonishing 15 per cent uranium oxide and the milling operation pumps out around 4,600 tonnes of uranium oxide per annum. The mine’s production positions the operation as one of the mainstays of the global uranium industry and provides an enviable model for ongoing exploration across the terrane.

With Valor’s consultants now in the field at Hook Lake sampling and appearing to already be turning up paydirt, the company’s field season is off to a cracking start and with four new projects having been added to the portfolio in recent weeks, Valor looks to be well positioned in this high-grade uranium jurisdiction as the energy metal climbs in value in the years ahead.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au