A 7,700-line-km airborne geophysical survey flown over
Ground geophysics will help pinpoint the airborne anomalies, and follow-up drilling will test the best targets.
Hornby Bay has been exploring for uranium in the Coppermine River and Asiak River areas, near Kugluktuk, since 1996.
The Coppermine claims are the focus of unconformity-related uranium deposit exploration at the base of basin sediments where they overlie the crystalline basement.
A 4,500-metre drill program is under way. The first targets to be tested will be those in areas that are boggy during the summer and more easily drilled while the ground is frozen.
The company will map and perform geochemical sampling once the snow has melted.
The Proterozoic-aged Hornby Bay basin underlies the Great Bear Lake area and extends up to the Arctic Ocean (Canada’s first uranium mine operated from 1942 to 1960 at Port Radium on Great Bear Lake).
The geology is similar to that of the uranium-producing Athabasca basin; however, uranium content in bedrock in the Hornby Bay Basin is about three times higher than there.
BP Minerals explored for uranium in the Coppermine area from 1976 to 1983, but almost all its work was done on the edge of the basin; drill holes targeted basement rocks.
Hornby Bay’s vice-president of finance and chief financial officer, Jennifer Smith, says Hornby Bay is targeting “blind deposits” overlying the basement. “We are looking for subtle anomalies in the overlying rocks to target drilling,” she explains.
Apart from uranium exploration, the company has done some till sampling for diamonds and diamond indicator minerals. Other companies are focused on diamond exploration in the area, and Smith stressed that if Hornby Bay ignored that, it would not be acknowledging the property’s full potential.
Hornby Bay mapped and collected about 1,000 rock samples over the course of the field season last year. A few areas stand out as anomalous; one of these is an east-trending area defined by nine samples which graded at least 10 parts per million uranium. In total, six new uranium occurrences were found.
Five holes tested three conductive anomalies last year for a total of 1,300 metres of drilling. The bedrock unconformity was cut at about 130 metres below surface; however, the holes failed to cut significant mineralization. One hole cut a wedge of basement rock in fault-contact with sandstone. Another cut conductive graphitic schist in the basement rock.
A lot of follow-up work is planned for this year. Structures coincident with alteration zones and anomalous samples are key target areas. Ground geophysics will be extended over a newly discovered clay-silica alteration zone.
The company will look for the source of one anomalous boulder grab sample, which graded 46% U3O8.
In addition, small zones of high-grade uranium have been found. In one area, grab samples taken from outcropping pitchblende veins in granite gneiss assayed up to 13% U3O8.
Asiak claims
The company is targeting basement-hosted uranium-rich veins and deposits at its 897-sq.-km Asiak River property. Uranerz located high-grade occurrences here in the 1970s and early 1980s. Hornby Bay conducted airborne geophysical surveys in the late 1990s through until 2003.
Last year, Hornby Bay drilled four holes on uranium targets. One hole cut 0.5-metre grading 0.86% U3O8 at 27 metres below surface. Two holes targeted kimberlite; neither was successful.
The Asiak property is surrounded by claims staked by other companies for their diamond potential. Hornby Bay took about 700 till samples and analyzed them for diamond indicator minerals. Several strong indicator mineral anomalies have been found, and some results are pending.
The company is looking for a partner with which to explore for diamonds.
This year, Hornby Bay has budgeted $6 million for its Coppermine claims and $1 million for Asiak. At the end of May, the company had 81 million shares issued and outstanding.
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