Basin Energy (ASX:BSN) is all-in on advancing exploration across its suite of Athabasca Basin projects in Canada as the uranium market continues to gain momentum.
Speaking to Mining.com.au on the sidelines of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney last week, Basin Managing Director (MD) Pete Moorhouse says its Geikie Project will remain the company’s primary focus for future exploration as data comes to hand from phase one drilling.
“We are committed to advancing our 3 exploration projects in the Athabasca. Geikie will remain our focus for our exploration work for the coming few months. Coming out in the next couple of weeks, we will see the results of the gravity survey rolling through.
We are really excited about this; phase one of drilling was a huge success. We’ve identified a mineralised system, and there are big scales of alteration. Using this gravity survey to hone in on where the alteration is most intense is what we will be using to guide us.
“we are really excited about this; phase one of drilling was a huge success”
We know what structures we are chasing now. We know that the scale is real. We got a quarter of a per cent of uranium from drilling in a greenfields exploration site which has never been drilled for uranium sitting on the edge of a district which is so prolific — that is a very exciting proposition for a small company such as ourselves.
We will roll out our gravity data, we will confirm our plans for drilling, and we will already be working our backsides off to put drilling programs in place for northern hemisphere winters, following up on what was a phenomenal success of our first drilling program.”
Moorhouse tells this news service at IMARC, of which Mining.com.au is an official media partner, the North Millenium and Marshall projects will also be the focus of some exploration shortly.
“At our North Millenium and Marshall projects we will be rolling out some ground geophysics but will confirm that over the coming weeks to what that will look like for our winter program.”
This upcoming work comes as the uranium market surges, with prices at all-time highs.
Moorhouse believes uranium parties will be looking to the Athabasca to uncover a ‘major discovery’ and satiate the growing demand for uranium, including Basin Energy.
“The uranium space is a very exciting space to be in at the moment. The spot price is at record highs: we saw $74.50 last night (31 October), which is very positive for us. But to us, that is not the be-all and end-all; to us, the be-all is the medium- and long-term market, that demand for which is required from stable jurisdictions and from areas where you can move projects forward is real, it is not going away.
If you do have an asset in the Athabasca, these can be developed and they can be economic, so that is why we are focused on these jurisdictions where uranium supply can be moved forward.
We are very focused on advancing our exploration projects and I genuinely believe this part of the Athabasca with shallow cover will be the home of a major discovery in the next couple of years. Our strategy is to advance that as best as we can, as well as look for organic growth in the uranium space.”
“I genuinely believe this part of the Athabasca with shallow cover will be the home of a major discovery in the next couple of years”
More recently, Basin strengthened its Athabasca relationships following an exploration agreement with Canadian First Nations and local communities, as reported at the end of October.
Touching on this development at IMARC, Moorhouse states it is ‘huge’ to be working alongside First Nations in this capacity.
“We have signed an exploration with the Canadian First Nations, which provides the framework to provide some good guidelines for both parties to work together and set some expectations.
They have provided us with a large network of resources that we can work with, whether it be contracting supplies, labour, or logistics.”
Basin Energy is an ASX-listed uranium explorer working to support a global transition to carbon neutrality by targeting unconformity-type uranium deposits in the ‘highest-grade’ uranium district globally.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Basin Energy
