Valor Resources has identified highly prospective copper and uranium targets during a review of historical data from its Surprise Creek project in Canada’s Athabasca Basin.
Based on the copper results, including rock-chip samples between 0.25 and 5.9 per cent and soil samples up to 3300 parts per million, the company has extended its tenements by 11 square kilometres to the south-west.
The copper targets cover a strike length of 1.5km that Valor says is open to the north and south.
Valor says considering the copper mineralisation, it was logical to peg the open ground and increase its zone.
Historical uranium highlights show a 2.1m intersection going 4.37 per cent uranium oxide including 0.9m at 7.5 per cent that the company described as “noteworthy”.
Other significant results at the Surprise Creek fault target were a 1.5m intersection going 0.1 per cent uranium oxide, a 0.43m intercept at 0.49 per cent and a third 0.15m section reading 0.83 per cent uranium oxide — all from separate holes.
The company says the uranium soil geochemical anomaly was partially drill-tested and remains open in several directions.
Valor Resources Executive Chairman, George Bauk said: “We are continuing to work through the historical exploration data from our eight projects in the Athabasca Basin and will release further results of these reviews in the coming months. The exploration team will commence on-ground work at the Cluff Lake and Surprise Creek projects in July and results of the recently completed airborne gravity surveys at the Cluff Lake, Hook Lake and Hidden Bay projects will be finalised during the current quarter.”
Valor’s historical exploration data dates back to the 1950s through to the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, there has been little uranium or copper exploration in the area.
Athabasca Basin is known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and supplies about 20 per cent of the world's needs.
Valor says it intends to carry out work on the ground to verify aspects of its historical data before advancing targets to the next stage.
The Surprise Creek project covers 3470 hectares, about 25km north-west of Uranium City in Northern Saskatchewan.
Early last month the company discovered seven high-priority uranium targets at its Cluff Lake project, also in the western Athabasca Basin, after an extensive data review.
All recent targets have been identified through detailed geological interpretation of publicly available data by Valor’s geophysics consultant, Terra Resources.
Valor’s Cluff Lake project is 7km east of Orano Canada’s Cluff Lake mine that produced 62.5 million pounds of triuranium octoxide at 0.92 per cent between 1980 and 2002.
Valor Resources says whilst Orano’s deposits were small, they were economically significant because of their high grade.
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By Matt Birney
