Purepoint Uranium begins first drill program along Groomes Lake conductive corridor, Smart Lake JV Project, Saskatchewan
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. [TSXV: PTU; OTCQB: PTUUF] has begun a first-pass drill program along the high-priority Groomes Lake Conductive Corridor at the Smart Lake Joint Venture (JV) project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. The program will include four drill holes, totalling approximately 1,400 metres, to test the conductive belt of rocks refined by the 2024 ground electromagnetic (EM) survey.
The Smart Lake Project is a joint venture between Cameco Corp. [TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ] (73%) and Purepoint (27%) and is located approximately 60 km south of the former Cluff Lake uranium mine and 18 km west-northwest of Purepoint’s Hook Lake JV project.
“We are excited to launch this next phase of exploration at Smart Lake,” said Chris Frostad, President and CEO of Purepoint Uranium. “While Smart Lake has seen previous drilling, this is the first time we are targeting our high-priority Groomes Lake conductors that were refined by the recent ground EM survey. Given the project’s geological similarities to other major uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, we believe this program has the potential to advance Smart Lake’s exploration story significantly.”
Highlights: Targeting recently refined high priority Groomes Lake Conductive Corridor; four diamond drill holes planned, totaling 1,400 metres; strong exploration partnership with Cameco enhances project development; building on historical drilling success that confirmed basement-hosted uranium mineralization.
The Groomes Lake Conductive Corridor will be targeted by the 2025 drill program and builds on Purepoint’s late-2024 stepwise-moving loop and fixed loop time domain electromagnetic (EM) survey conducted by Diaz Geophysical. The survey outlined three discrete, parallel EM conductors for over 2.2 km. The three EM conductors are approximately 100 metres apart, lie within a magnetic low response and are conformable with interpreted geologic contacts. Airborne geophysics show the conductors continue westward onto NexGen’s neighbouring SW1 Project for an additional 2 km.
The historic vertical hole SAM-13 failed to explain the conductor source and is now assumed to have stopped approximately 45 metres short of the intended target. Inversion of the Groomes Lake conductivity results suggest the conductors continue to depth and present an excellent opportunity for a basement hosted ‘Arrow’-style discovery.
Previous drilling at Smart Lake intersected anomalous uranium within faulted and altered basement rocks, with drill hole SMT08-05 returning 147 ppm U over 15.4 metres (153.0 to 168.4 metres) from a hematite breccia and faulted sheared zone. The current drill program will test conductors in a structurally complex setting that has demonstrated the potential to host significant uranium mineralization.
The Smart Lake Project spans 9,860 hectares within the Athabasca Basin, an area renowned for hosting the world’s highest-grade uranium deposits.
Initial exploration at Smart Lake established the presence of graphitic shear zones, hydrothermal alteration, and anomalous radioactivity. The favourable geological indicators, combined with its strategic location and extensive geophysical data, position Smart Lake for uranium exploration success.