IsoEnergy and Purepoint post assays up to 5.4% UΓéâOΓéê from initial drill holes at Nova discovery on the Dorado JV, Saskatchewan
IsoEnergy Ltd. [NYSE American: ISOU; TSX: ISO] and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. [TSXV: PTU; OTC: PTUUF] reported that initial assays from the first two discovery drill holes completed at their joint venture Dorado Project’s Nova Discovery in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin have confirmed the presence of high-grade uranium mineralization.
Strong assay results from PG25-04 and PG25-05, based on select samples rushed through the lab, validate the significance of the mineralization encountered at the Q48 target. The PG25-05 sample returned 1.0 metre grading 2.2% UΓéâOΓéê, including 0.3 metres at 5.4% UΓéâOΓéê, while PG25-04 samples returned 0.6 metres grading 1.0% UΓéâOΓéê. Assays from PG25-07, which intersected a much thicker mineralized interval and recorded the strongest radioactivity readings to date (peaking at 110,800 counts per second (CPS) from the downhole probe), are still pending and expected in the coming weeks.
Highlights: Partial assay results received from two of eight diamond drill holes (DDH) completed during the summer program; additional program details are provided below.
Select samples from hole PG25-05 averaged 2.2% UΓéâOΓéê over 1.0 metre, including 5.4% UΓéâOΓéê over 0.3 metres. Select samples from hole PG25-04 averaged 1.0% UΓéâOΓéê over 0.6 metres.
Assays validate the mineralization first intersected at Q48 hosted in a steeply dipping, brittle basement fault that remains open to the northeast. Complete assays on all holes will be processed and disclosed in due course.
Follow-up drilling to extend the mineralized trend northeast is planned for the winter, when frozen ground enables land-based access.
“These assays validate the significance of the mineralization first intersected at Q48,” said Chris Frostad, President & CEO of Purepoint Uranium. “The grades confirm what we observed in the core and the strong radioactivity readings, establishing Nova as a robust uranium-bearing structure. With PG25-07 still to be assayed, we are continuing to build on the early success of this program.”
“Each new hole is giving us a clearer picture of the mineralized system at Nova,” said Philip Williams, CEO and Director of IsoEnergy. “The assays from PG25-04 and PG25-05 confirm the strength of the mineralization and reinforce the importance of this discovery. With PG25-07 delivering the highest radioactivity readings so far, we believe its assays will provide valuable insight into how this discovery is evolving.”
Drill hole PG25-03 tested the Eastern Q48 conductor approximately 800 metres southwest of historic hole GG22-32. The clay alteration encountered above the unconformity is similar to PG25-06, which is spatially associated with known mineralization, and is considered to warrant follow-up drilling this winter.
Drill hole PG25-04 targeted the Q48 conductor located approximately 800 metres northwest of IsoEnergy’s 2022 drill holes. Reddish-brown altered radioactive gouge seams, intersected between 386.3 and 386.9 metres, were hosted by a chloritized pegmatite and returned an average of 1.0% U3O8 over 0.6 metres. The deeper radioactive intercept of 0.15% U3O8 over 0.4 metres starting at 409.1 metres was also hosted by a chloritized pegmatite.
Hole PG25-05 was collared 44 metres in front of PG25-04 and drilled using the same azimuth of 295 degrees and dip of -60 degrees. This hole intercepted the radioactive structure approximately 40 metres up-dip of PG25-04. The hole encountered the unconformity at 309 metres, paleoweathered granitic gneiss and pegmatites to 371 metres, then garnet-rich pelitic gneiss, locally with pyrite and graphite, to the completion depth of 498 metres. The central mineralized structure was hosted in a sheared / brecciated reddish-brown altered granitic gneiss that returned 1.0 metre of 2.2% U3O8 between 328.9 and 329.9 metres and included 0.3 metres of 5.4% U3O8.
Drill hole PG25-06 targeted the brittle fault associated with mineralization at the unconformity approximately 20 metres northeast of PG25-05. This drill hole, collared with an azimuth of 310 degrees a dip of -64 degrees, encountered Athabasca sandstone to a depth of 316 metres. Clay alteration was encountered for 12 metres above the unconformity.
Projection of the Nova Discovery zone mineralization suggests the radioactive sandstone interval of 1,040 CPS over 2.3 metres in the downhole gamma probe, which occurs within core lost between 312.4 to 314.0m, is related to the primary mineralized structure.
Hole PG25-07A, collared from the PG25-04 drill pad using an azimuth of 310 degrees and dip of -61 degrees, was a 70-metre step out to the northeast of the PG25-05 mineralized intercept. The unconformity was intersected at a depth of 322 metres and the drill hole intercepted the radioactive structure approximately 40 metres up-dip of PG25-04.
The PG25-07A Nova zone mineralization starts within granitic gneiss at 382.3 metres and extends into pelitic gneiss to a depth of 396.3 metres returning an average of 11,100 cps over 14.0 metres. A primary mineralized structure of the Nova zone is hosted in sheared, reddish-brown altered granitic gneiss with pitchblende that returned an average of 82,300 cps over 0.6 metres with a peak of 110,800 cps. A second strongly mineralized interval occurs within lost pelitic gneiss core and returned an average of 46,000 cps over 0.4 metres.
PG25-01 was a 320-metre step-out along strike to the northeast of historic drilling and approximately 2.9 km northeast along the same conductor on which 3.7% U3O8 over 0.6 metres was returned from hole HL-50. PG25-01, collared with an azimuth of 135 degrees and dip of -60 degrees, intersected the unconformity at a depth of 217 metres then paleoweathered pelitic gneiss to 246 metres followed by unaltered sillimanite-rich garnet biotite pelitic gneiss to 297 metres.
The conductor was explained by a 15-metre-wide zone with observed fine disseminated graphite and pyrite hosted within a weakly chloritized pelitic gneiss with localized weak shears between 297 metres and 312 metres. Unaltered pelitic gneiss with variable amounts of garnet was intersected to 330 metres, followed by unaltered granitic gneiss to 359 metres. The hole was completed at a depth of 359 metres with no anomalous radioactivity being encountered.
PG25-02 was designed as a 390-metre step-out along strike to the northeast from PG25-01, to test an interpreted break and offset in the Q2 Grid conductor. PG25-02, intersected the unconformity at a depth of 219 metres. A 1-metre-wide zone of elevated radioactivity that starts in the sandstone above the unconformity and continues into the paleoweathered basement hosts the highest down hole gamma peak of 2,530 CPS.
The hole failed to explain the conductor and is interpreted to have been collared too far forward. Drilling is currently progressing within the Turaco Target Area.
Dorado is the flagship project of the IsoEnergy-Purepoint 50/50 joint venture, a partnership encompassing more than 98,000 hectares of prime uranium exploration ground. The project includes the former Turnor Lake, Geiger, Edge, and Full Moon properties, all underlain by graphite-bearing lithologies and fault structures favorable for uranium deposition.
Recent drilling by IsoEnergy east of its Hurricane Deposit has intersected strongly elevated radioactivity in multiple holes. The anomalous radioactivity confirms the continuity of fertile graphitic rock package and further highlights the opportunity for additional high-grade discoveries across the region.
The shallow unconformity depths across the Dorado property-typically between 30 and 300 metres-allow for highly efficient drilling and rapid follow-up on results.
IsoEnergy is a leading, globally diversified uranium company with substantial current and historical mineral resources in top uranium mining jurisdictions of Canada, the U.S. and Australia at varying stages of development, providing near-, medium- and long-term leverage to rising uranium prices.
IsoEnergy is currently advancing its Larocque East project in Canada’s Athabasca basin. IsoEnergy also holds a portfolio of permitted past producing, conventional uranium and vanadium mines in Utah with a toll milling arrangement in place with Energy Fuels. These mines are currently on standby, ready for rapid restart as market conditions permit, positioning IsoEnergy as a near-term uranium producer.
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. has a portfolio of advanced projects within the Athabasca Basin. Highly prospective uranium projects are actively operated on behalf of partnerships with industry leaders including Cameco Corporation, Orano Canada Inc. and IsoEnergy Ltd.
Additionally, the company holds a promising VMS project currently optioned to and strategically positioned adjacent to and on trend with Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay project.