Fission Uranium (ASX:FCU) says over 90% of the latest holes drilled into the Saloon Shear Zone at its PLS Uranium Project in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan have shown anomalous radioactivity.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of C$841.6 millon ($916 million), has completed a regional 15-hole, 6,428m drilling program testing 8.8km of the Saloon Shear Zone.
Thirteen of the holes intercepted anomalous radioactivity, along 8km of the strike length of the zone, with the most prospective results coming from the Saloon Main and East areas.
Three holes drilled in the Saloon East area about 4km southeast of the Triple R deposit hit “strongly anomalous” radioactivity in multiple wide zones returning peaks of 10,428 counts per second (cps), 5,842cps and 12,777cps.
Fission says the results at Saloon East represent the strongest radioactivity intersected on the PLS property to date outside of the Triple R deposit.
CEO Ross McElroy says the results from the Saloon Main and East areas, located 5km to the southeast and 4km to the southeast of the Triple R deposit respectively, give Fission’s exploration team a “tremendous amount of optimism for the discovery of additional high-grade mineralisation”.
“The Saloon trend continues to be considered the top priority focus for future exploration activity,” he says.
The Saloon Shear Zone is a linear, multi-kilometre long, southwest-northeast trending structural zone up to about 1km in width. It sits parallel to, and 4km south of, the shear zones that hosts the Triple R deposit and the Arrow deposit within the Patterson Lake Corridor.
The Saloon Shear Zone is interpreted to be the same shear zone that hosts high-grade uranium mineralisation at the PCE discovery on NexGen Energy’s (ASX:NXG) the Rook I Project property, to the northeast along strike.
Fission is currently in the process of being taken over by Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) under an all-scrip deal valuing Fission at C$1.14 billion, or C$1.30 per share.
On completion of the deal, Fission shareholders will own 24% of Paladin, which will have a pro-forma market capitalisation of about US$3.5 billion ($5.2 billion).
Paladin has received approval from Canada’s competition watchdog to proceed with the planned acquisition. The transaction required clearance under the Investment Canada Act and Competitive Act.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Fission Uranium
