Purepoint Uranium drills 0.47% U3O8 over 0.9 metres at Red Willow, Saskatchewan
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. [PTU-TSXV; PTUUF-OTCQB] has completed the fall, 2022, drill program at the 100%-owned Red Willow and Turnor Lake projects within the eastern uranium mine district of the Athabasca basin, northern Saskatchewan, Canada. A total of six drill holes were completed on these two projects and one hole was lost for a total of 2,080 metres.
“To date, the Red Willow drilling has been advancing in large 400-metre step-outs to define the extent of the known Osprey uranium mineralization. With the completion of this four-hole program, we are ready to conduct refined follow-up drill testing during the cost-effective winter months,” said Chris Frostad, president and cCEO. “Our first two holes along Turnor Lake’s Serin conductor were designed to test for mineralization and understand the geologic setting of the uranium-rich LaRocque corridor as it extends across the northern portion of the property. Drilling this season confirmed our conductor is associated with favourable rock types and alteration and that more drilling is certainly warranted.”
Highlights: At Red Willow, the company has defined the northern boundary of the uranium mineralization hosted by the Osprey conductor. The 2-km-long target section of the Osprey conductor is highlighted by RW22-06 that intersected 0.47% U3O8 over 0.9 metres.
At Turnor Lake, the initial hole, SL22-02, encountered favourable graphitic pelitic rock and clay alteration associated with radioactive spikes on trend with Isoenergy Ltd.’s Hurricane deposit.
Purepoint will be mobilizing a drill crew to return to Red Willow in January and begin follow-up drilling of the most prospective uranium mineralization signatures.
The results of the two Turnor Lake holes completed this year will be used to reinterpret the company’s airborne and ground geophysical data before designing a follow-up program for the summer of 2023.
The objective of the Red Willow drill program this fall was to define the extent of anomalous uranium mineralization associated with the Osprey conductor toward the northern property boundary. Four drill holes tested over 800 metres of strike length of the Osprey conductor for a total of 942 metres. The electromagnetic (EM) conductor continued to be explained by the intersection of a strong graphitic shear zone within all holes. Notable radioactivity was intersected in all holes returning peak downhole gamma readings between 350 and 470 counts per second; however, radioactivity and associated alteration was weaker than observed toward the south.
The objective of the 2022 Turnor Lake drill program was to initiate first-pass testing of the 2.3-km-long Serin EM conductor which lies adjacent to and on trend with Isoenergy’s Hurricane zone along the LaRocque corridor. The Hurricane deposit is located approximately 10 km west-southwest of the Turnor Lake project boundary and has an indicated mineral resource of 48.61 million pounds of U3O8 (uranium oxide) based on 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5% U3O8. Two drill holes were completed along the Serin EM conductor, approximately 750 metres apart, and one hole was lost for a total of 1,138 metres. The initial hole, SL22-02, encountered the unconformity at 290 metres and intersected graphitic-pyritic pelitic gneiss between 336 to 365 metres that returned 745 cps (counts per second) over 0.4 mettres from the downhole gamma probe. The hole also intersected radioactive pegmatite dikes, one returning an average of 825 cps over 14.6 metres, that will be assayed for uranium and rare earths. Drill hole SL22-03 failed to explain the targeted EM conductor or intersect notable radioactivity.
Red Willow consists of 17 mineral claims having a total area of 40,116 hectares. Geophysical surveys conducted by Purepoint have included airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (VTEM) surveys, an airborne radiometric survey, ground gradient array IP (induced polarization), pole-dipole array IP, fixed-loop and moving-loop transient electromagnetics, and gravity. The detailed airborne VTEM survey provided magnetic results that are an excellent base on which to interpret structures while the EM results outlined over 70 km of conductors that in most instances represent favourable graphitic lithology.
The Turnor Lake project consists of four claims totalling 9,705 hectares on the eastern side of the Athabasca basin. Four distinct exploration areas have been defined by Purepoint – the Serin conductor, the Laysan zone, the Turnor Lake zone and the Turaco zone.
Extensive geophysical programs have allowed Purepoint to outline approximately 34 km of conductors throughout the Turnor Lake project.
Purepoint Uranium operates an exploration pipeline of 12 advanced projects in the Athabasca basin.