Orano earns 51% stake in Skyharbour, Dixie uranium project
Skyharbour Resources Ltd. [SYH-TSXV, SYHBF-OTCQB] on Friday March 26 said Orano Canada Inc. has completed the first earn-in option of a 51% interest in the Preston uranium project located in the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan.
Orano (formerly AREVA Resources Inc.) is a unit of France’s largest uranium mining and nuclear fuel company. It previously held an option to acquire the interest through an option deal entered into with Skyharbour and Dixie Gold Inc. [DG-TSXV]. Orano exercised the earn-in option by completing $2.8 million in staged exploration expenses and making $200,000 in cash payments over the previous there years. That money was divided equally between Skyharbour and Dixie Gold
Orano has now spent $4.8 million on the project so far, resulting in the formation of a joint venture that aims to advance and develop the project, which is now held 51% by Orano, with Skyharbour and Dixie each holding 24.5%.
Skyharbour shares advanced on the news, rising 2.7% or $0.01 to 38.5 cents, and now trade in a 52-week range of 50 cents and $0.095. Dixie was unchanged at 26 cents and trades in a 52-week range of 40.5 cents and $0.085.
Overall, the Preston Project is one of the largest tenure land positions in the Paterson Lake region (covering 74,965 hectares) and
It is located near NexGen Energy Ltd.‘s [NXE-TSX, NYSE] high-grade Arrow deposit, Fission Uranium Corp.‘s [FCU-TSE] Triple R deposit and the Spitfire high-grade discovery on the Hook Lake project, which is owned jointly by Cameco Corp. [CCO-TSX, CCJ-NYSE], Orano Canada, and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. [PTU.V-TSX].
Orano can earn a 70% interest in the central portion of Preston, covering 49,645 hectares, by spending $8 million over six years.
Exploration at Preston has consisted of ground gravity, airborne and ground electromagnetics, radon, soil, silt, biogeochem, lake sediment and geological mapping surveys, as well as exploration drill program.
Over a dozen high-priority drill target areas associated with multiple prospective exploration corridors have been successfully delineated through these methodical, multi-phased exploration activities, which have culminated in an extensive, proprietary geological database for the project area.