CanAlaska discovers new uranium zone at West McArthur project in Saskatchewan, stock surges

CanAlaska Uranium (TSXV: CVV; OTC: CVVUF) has discovered a significant zone of basement-hosted uranium mineralization during its summer drilling program at the West McArthur project in Saskatchewan. West McArthur is a joint venture project with Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) the world’s largest public uranium company. CanAlaska currently owns about 70% of the JV and is the operator.

During the second regional test of CanAlaska’s current drilling program at West McArthur, drill hole WMA067, which was designed to test a strong conductor anomaly identified during the 2022 winter geophysical program, intersected a broad, 6.3-metre interval of elevated radioactivity. This includes several metre- to sub-metre-long intervals of moderate to strong radioactivity, one of which is 3.5 metres long. The drill hole is located 6 km along strike to the southwest of the company’s 42 Zone mineralization.

The 42 Zone represents a high-grade uranium mineralization zone discovered by Cameco in August 2017. Since taking over operatorship of the project in 2019, CanAlaska has been focused on expanding the footprint of the 42 zone mineralization, as well as evaluating the structures and alteration immediately along strike to the southwest.

Core sample of high-grade nickel mineralization from drill hole 19-MB-02. Credit: CanAlaska Uranium

“The CanAlaska team has delivered a new uranium intersection in a new area of the West McArthur project with its second drill hole of the summer program. With multiple recently announced build-outs of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the Canadian market alone, the need for more uranium discoveries that can lead to increased production has never been more apparent,” CanAlaska CEO Cory Belyk, commented.

The West McArthur property is situated in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, between 6 to 30 km west of the world’s richest uranium mine: Cameco’s McArthur River. The new Fox Lake deposit (68.1 million lb. at a grade of 7.99% U3O8 contained in 386,700 tonnes) discovered by Cameco in 2013 is located immediately east of the property.

“The West McArthur project, strategically located next to critical mine and mill infrastructure in the eastern Athabasca Basin, continues to respond positively to targets generated by the geological team providing additional opportunities for discovery,” Belyk added.

CanAlaska’s ongoing drilling program at West McArthur is part of the approved $5-million 2022 exploration program. Drilling is currently focused on continued expansion of the 42 Zone mineralization, exploration within the 1.8 km 42 Zone extension target area, and testing of multiple new targets generated during the winter geophysical program.

Elsewhere, at the company’s Manibridge project in the Thompson nickel belt of Manitoba, its partner Metal Energy is completing a second phase summer drill program. The drilling is focused within the shadow of the past-producing Manibridge nickel mine that produced 1.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.55% nickel and 0.27% copper from 1971 to 1977.

Shares of CanAlaska surged 12.3% by 12:30 pm in Toronto following the latest exploration result. The company has a market cap of $26.4 million.