ASX listed Valor Resources has finalised the initial evaluation of targets at its Cluff Lake uranium project in Canada and will kick-off a boots-on-ground exploration program in September to further assess the highest priority targets.
Initially, the now padlocked Cluff Lake uranium mine, located 7 kilometres east of Valor’s project within the Athabasca Basin in northwest Saskatchewan, was evaluated utilising geological modelling and geophysical data to provide a targeting signature. The data was then utilised to compare with the geophysical responses across Valor’s Cluff Lake project.
Numerous targets were identified within two discrete areas that exhibited geological settings analogous to that of Cluff Lake Mine. All available geophysical and geological data including airborne magnetics, gravity, radiometrics, specialised airborne geophysics, regional geology and radioactive boulder data was acquired and collated across the project area. Where relevant, geophysical datasets were reprocessed to assist with interpretation. A three-dimensional inversion model of the available magnetic coverage was created to assist with the estimation of depth to basement.
Targets were assessed and ranked in terms of uranium channel radiometric response, presence of radioactive boulders, electromagnetic anomalies and proximity to favourable northeast trending structures.
The highest priority target covers an area 1400m by 700m. Geophysics indicates that the area of interest is approximately 300m below surface and proximal to the contact between the Athabasca Basin sediments and the Archean gneissic basement, which is the same depth that the historic Cluff Lake mineralisation was discovered.
A field-based exploration program has been devised to further assess the priority targets and will include additional ground surveys, detailed mapping and sampling where necessary.
The Cluff Lake mine operated between 1980 and 2002, producing 62.5 million pounds of “yellowcake”. The main feature of the Cluff Lake mineralisation is that all deposits lie close to the basal unconformity between the crystalline basement and the overlying Athabasca Basin sediments and are structurally controlled, commonly within clay-rich shear zones. The principal ore mineral is uraninite with lesser coffinite. Interestingly the area is located within a meteorite impact structure.
The southern boundary of Valor’s project area is within 5km of the recently discovered Shea Creek Deposit operated by Orano Canada. Shea Creek boasts an indicated resource of a whopping 68 million pounds -over 30,000 tonnes- of uranium oxide at an impressive grade of 1.48 per cent uranium oxide.
Historically, the Athabasca Basin region of Canada has produced over 20 per cent of the world’s primary uranium supply. Since 1968, 18 major uranium deposits have been discovered in the Athabasca Basin incorporating
10 of the world’s top 15 highest-grade uranium mines including the world’s largest uranium producer at the McArthur River Mine. Despite over 50 years of intense uranium exploration, major discoveries are still being made, several of them in recent years, which makes Valor’s uranium real estate prime for explorers with an eye for eking out commercial scale deposits. The region is famous for the high-grade uranium mines of Cluff Lake, Uranium City and Rabbit Lake, however arguably the highest profile operation is Cameco’s Cigar Lake underground mine, where the average ore grade tops an astonishing 15 per cent uranium oxide.
ASX-listed Valor Resources is on a roll now in Canada with the company’s flagship Hook Lake project covering around 300 square kilometres of uranium-rich stratigraphy on the south-eastern margin of the Athabasca Basin. Valor now controls more than 980 square kilometres of prime uranium hunting ground and is well-positioned in this corner of the booming energy sector at a time when uranium is starting to come back into vogue.
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By Matt Birney
