Vancouver – High-grade results from Hathor Exploration‘s (HAT-V) winter drill program at the Midwest Northeast uranium project in Saskatchewan once again failed to excite investors, despite comments from many uranium analysts that Hathor’s discovery is becoming a remarkable find.
Hathor completed a 27,000-metre drill program at the Athabasca Basin project over the winter that included infill and step-out holes at the Roughrider deposit as well as expansion holes to prove up a resource at the new Roughrider East zone discovered last fall. Assays are not yet available for the work from Roughrider East, which sits 100 metres away from Roughrider.
But assays have now been released for three-quarters of the holes at Roughrider and the results look likely to increase the confidence, grade, and size of the defined resource. The latest set of results, for example, includes new, high-grade intercepts from the central part of the deposit, where the resource grade was low in the initial estimate, and from outside of the resource shell.
The latest results come from the central portion of the deposit, where most of the mineralization grades less than 5% U3O8 (compared to several high-grade pods within the deposit that grade better than 5% U3O8) and wherein two areas were considered unmineralized in the initial resource.
Hole 192 intersected mineralization north of the defined resource, returning 26.5 metres grading 3.55% U3O8 from 247 metres downhole, including 6 metres of 14.46% U3O8. Nearby, hole 191 hit 8 metres of 0.63% U3O8 at 238 metres depth followed a few metres later by 12.5 metres of 2.58% U3O8. Hathor says both of these holes intersected mineralization “that was higher grade and wider than that modelled in the initial resource.”
Moving southeast, towards the centre of the deposit, four holes hit healthy intercepts within a low-grade segment of Roughrider. Hole 179 intercepted 22.5 metres carrying 2.8% U3O8, starting at 229 metres depth and including 5 metres of 6.23% U3O8. Hole 182 cut 22.5 metres averaging 2.55% U3O8 from 234 metres downhole, followed by six short, lower-grade hits. Hole 185A returned 12 metres of 1% U3O8 from 234 metres depth. And hole 195 cut 5 metres of 1.21% U3O8 as one of four mineralized segments.
Just to the east, three holes found mineralization in a zone considered unmineralized in the initial resource estimate. Hole 196 cut 16 metres of 2.4% U3O8, hole 198 returned 9.5 metres of 2.62% U3O8, and hole 187A hit 9.5 metres of 2.64% U3O8. Hathor tested a second empty zone just to the southeast with hole 211, but results from that hole are not yet available.
In an earlier set of results from late May Hathor extended the deposit to the west. Hole 20 cut an impressive 22.5 metres grading 11.31% U3O8 west of the current resource boundary and hole 197A hit 17 metres of 15.2% U3O8 starting in the zone and extending below. The company also extended one of the high-grade pods at depth when hole 188B returned 7.5 metres of 28.98% U3O8.
According to an initial resource estimate, the Roughrider deposit contains 116,000 indicated tonnes grading 2.57% U3O8 and 83,000 inferred tonnes averaging 3% U3O8, for 12.1 million total contained lbs. of U3O8. Hathor has traced the deposit along 200 metres strike; a 100-metre gap now exists between it and the 100-metre strike of the Roughrider East zone.
Hathor owns 90% of the Midwest Northeast property; Terra Ventures (TAS-V) holds the other 10%.
On its latest batch of drill results Hathor’s share price lost a penny to close at $1.49. The company has a 52-week trading range of $1.30 to $2.39 and has 101 million shares outstanding.
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