CanAlaska Uranium drilling at West McArthur Joint Venture, Saskatchewan
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. [TSXV: CVV; OTCQX: CVVUF; FSE: DH7] reported the start of drilling as part of the $12.5 million 2025 exploration program on the West McArthur Joint Venture project in the eastern Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.
The winter program will focus on continued expansion and delineation of the ultra-high-grade Pike Zone uranium discovery. Three drills have been mobilized to the project site and drilling has begun on the Pike Zone with all three drills currently focused on delineation within and on strike of the current known high-grade zone.
The West McArthur project, a Joint Venture with Cameco Corp. [TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ], is operated by CanAlaska that holds an estimated 85.79% ownership in the project. CanAlaska is sole funding the 2025 West McArthur program and will further increase its majority ownership in the Project as a result.
The 2025 winter drill program on the West McArthur project will consist of three diamond drills to achieve an estimated 25 unconformity target intersections. To start the winter program, all three drill rigs will be active at the Pike Zone, focused on delineation and extension of the currently understood ultra high-grade zone. The Company will continue to use downhole mud-motor deviation technology for pilot holes and directional offcuts to increase drilling efficiency and target intercept accuracy.
Results from recently completed drill programs indicate that the Pike Zone already has a strike length of uranium mineralization along the unconformity target area of approximately 200 metres that remains open in all directions. Multiple drill fences within the unconformity target area define a high-grade core that remains open and extends for at least 100 metres.
As the winter season progresses, the company plans to continue step outs along the C10S corridor from the Pike Zone to evaluate for additional zones of high-grade uranium mineralization. To the west of the Pike Zone the C10S corridor remains untested for approximately 1,000 metres.
As part of the 2025 exploration program, the company has also started a ground-based electromagnetic survey to investigate the extension of the C10S corridor to the southwestern property boundary. Historical EM coverage will be replaced with modern Stepwise Moving Loop Time Domain Electromagnetics, utilizing the same survey design that led to the discovery of the Pike Zone. Along trend to the northeast, the C10 corridor is host to CanAlaska’s 42 Zone discovery, as well as Cameco and Orano’s high-grade Fox Lake uranium deposit (68.1 million pounds uranium at 7.99% U3O8 average grade). The 15-km-long C10S corridor is sparsely tested outside of Pike Zone and 42 Zone mineralization. Based on the recent positive results and the proven uranium endowment of the C10 and C10S corridors, the company believes there is significant potential for discovery of additional unconformity-related high-grade zones of mineralization.
The company expects to complete the winter portion of the 2025 approved exploration program in April. As part of the approved 2025 exploration program and budget, a summer exploration program is planned for the West McArthur project.
CanAlaska CEO, Cory Belyk, comments, “The start of the 2025 exploration program at West McArthur is an exciting milestone to reach and the CanAlaska team is looking forward to building on the incredible success achieved for our shareholders in 2024 at the Pike Zone discovery. As the three drills start turning, the need for new high-grade uranium discoveries to fuel growing western world clean energy demand has never been more clearly understood. The ongoing geopolitical risk in Kazakhstan and many other uranium production centers elsewhere in the world, and depleting reserve base at tier 1 deposits like Cigar Lake and McArthur River, is challenging the concept of existing and future stable clean energy fuel supply. The discovery of Pike Zone in the worlds best and most stable uranium producing district is well timed to counter this increasing supply risk dynamic.”
The company also granted incentive stock options to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants of the company to purchase up to an aggregate of 6,925,000 common shares of the company pursuant to CanAlaska’s omnibus equity incentive plan. These options are exercisable for two years at $0.77 per share. Pursuant to TSX Venture Exchange policies, 100,000 of these options granted to an investor relations consultant will vest as to 25% on each of 3, 6, 9 and 12 months from their date of grant. All other options are fully vested.
CanAlaska Uranium holds interests in approximately 500,000 hectares (1,235,000 acres) in Canada’s Athabasca Basin focused on exploration and discovery of high-grade unconformity uranium deposits. The company is actively advancing the Pike Zone discovery – a new high-grade uranium discovery on its West McArthur Joint Venture project in the eastern Athabasca Basin.
In addition, the company has several other uranium-focused exploration programs.