Denison and partners reports high-grade uranium at Waterfound, Saskatchewan
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Denison Mines Corp. [DML-TSX; DNN-NYSE American] and its partners reported the discovery of multiple new high-grade intercepts of unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization in the final three drill holes completed during the winter 2022 exploration program on the Waterfound River property in northern Saskatchewan.
The results were highlighted by drill hole WF-68, which returned a broad zone of uranium mineralization, including a peak interval of 5.91% eU3O8 over 3.9 metres (0.05% eU3O8 cut-off) with a sub-interval grading 25.30% eU3O8 over 0.7 metres, located approximately 800 metres west, along the La Rocque Conductive Corridor, of the previously discovered high-grade mineralization (including 4.49% U3O8 over 10.53 metres) at the Alligator Zone. Denison has an effective 24.68% ownership interest in the Waterfound River Joint Venture of which Orano Canada Inc., Denison, and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company, Limited are participants. Orano Canada has a 62.42% interest in the Waterfound JV and is the project operator.
Andy Yackulic, P.Geo., Denison’s Director, Exploration, commented, “We are excited to see additional high-grade mineralization discovered within the La Rocque corridor, which also hosts Cameco’s La Rocque Lake Zone and IsoEnergy’s Hurricane Zone. Not only has the drilling at Waterfound intersected high-grade uranium, but the mineralization remains open along strike in both directions.”
David Cates, Denison’s President and CEO, added, “Denison is appreciative of the efforts of Orano Canada to breathe new life into Waterfound. Denison has a unique partnership with Orano – as joint owners of the McClean Lake mill and the nearby Midwest project. This discovery at Waterfound is well situated relative to the McClean Lake mill and has the potential to translate into a further important source of future mill feed for the McClean Lake joint venture. Waterfound is also a good example of the significant, but often underappreciated, discovery potential associated with Denison’s well situated and prospective exploration property portfolio.”
Drill holes WF-67, WF-68, and WF-68-1 were all drilled on line 4000E, approximately 800 metres along strike to the west of the Alligator Zone, to test the potential for uranium mineralization along the up-dip projection of a graphitic structure intersected at depth in historical drill hole WF-50. All three drill holes successfully identified high-grade uranium mineralization, highlighted by hole WF-68, which returned 5.91% eU3O8 over 3.9 metres. The mineralized intersections are illustrated in Figure 1 and summarized in Table 1 below.
The 2022 exploration program was designed to test for the potential expansion of previously discovered mineralization in the Alligator Zone, as well as to test for new mineralization in the surrounding area along the La Rocque conductive corridor. The program was planned to occur during both the winter and summer drilling seasons with approximately 7,400 metres of diamond drilling in an estimated 12 drill holes. Six diamond drill holes, totalling 3,175.4 metres, were completed as part of the winter drill program.
The first two drill holes of the winter program (WF-64 and WF-65) were completed on the eastern end of the property to test the D-1 conductor, located within the La Rocque conductive corridor. While each of these holes encountered elevated radioactivity at the unconformity, no mineralization above a 0.05% eU3O8 cut-off was identified. WF-66, the third drill hole of the winter program, was drilled to test the D-1 conductor approximately 500 metres west of the Alligator Zone. WF-66 failed to intersect significantly elevated radioactivity. The final three drill holes (WF-67, WF-68, and WF-68-1), as described above, were successful in intersecting significant uranium mineralization associated with the D-1 conductor, which lies within the La Rocque conductive corridor. This newly identified mineralization remains open along strike in both directions. Additional drilling to test the extent of mineralization is expected to be completed during the planned summer exploration drilling program.
The Waterfound River property is located within the eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, approximately 40 km northwest of Denison’s 22.5%-owned McClean Lake mill.