CanAlaska gets $19 million from Korea consortium for Cree East

Vancouver – A consortium of Korean energy and natural resource companies is investing $19 million in CanAlaskas (CVV-V) Cree East project, driven by the potential they see to find a major uranium deposit in Saskatchewans Athabasca Basin.

By investing $19 million over four years, and starting by recompensing CanAlaska for all exploration expenditures incurred since June 1, the companies will earn-in a 50% ownership interest in Cree East.

The consortium is led by Hanwha, Koreas seventh-largest conglomerate with a market capitalization of $4.65 billion. Hanwha is active in chemical and machinery, finance, services, and construction.

The other three companies are also sizeable players. The Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEP-N) is a government-invested diversified energy company. KEPCO powers almost every household in Korea and operates 20 nuclear power plants in the country, with eight more under development.

Korean Resources Corporation is a government-owned organization founded in 1967 to promote resources development. Finally, SK Energy is Koreas largest oil refiner, with a 1.15 million barrels-per-day refining capacity.

CanAlaska will continue on as operator at Cree East. The project covers 560 sq. km of the southeastern portion of the Athabasca Basin, some 25 km west of the Key Lake uranium mine. CanAlaska staked the claims in 2004.

Due to its proximity to Key Lake, the site has seen considerable exploration since the early 1970s. Regional geochemical studies and geophysics indicated numerous conductors but drilling was inconclusive. CanAlaskas first move on acquiring the project was to compile the historical databases in order to develop targets.

In 2006 the company studied surface rocks and lake sediment samples, defining three large areas of dravite and clay alteration on surface. CanAlaskas geologists think the dravite and clay alteration, coupled with anomalous uranium in the lakes and boulder of the area, indicate the proximity of unconformity and basement style uranium mineralization.

During summer 2007 CanAlaska conducted further IP-resistivity and audio-magneto-telluric surveys, the results of which point to strong alteration in the sandstone horizon overlying the basement conductors. The company plans to start drilling the project in the coming months.

CanAlaska owns more than a dozen uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin. The company arranged a similar joint venture agreement for its West McArthur project in October 2006, landing $11 million over 3.5 years from Mitsubishi Development in exchange for a 50% interest.

CanAlaska moved up a 4.5 cents on news of the partnership to close at 43.5 in Oct. 12th trading. The company has a 52-week trading range of 32 to 97 and has 107.8 million shares issued.