A recently inked letter of intent paves the way for International Uranium (IUC-T, IUCPF-O) to pick up a 75% stake in uranium giant Cameco’s (CCO-T, CCJ-N) 78-sq.-km Park Creek uranium exploration project in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca basin.
To do so, IUC would need to spend $2.8 million over three years to take a 49% interest, followed by another $3 million over two subsequent years to add another 26%.
Park Creek is situated in the eastern portion of the Athabasca basin, around 300 km north of La Ronge, Sask. The project is some 32 km from a trucking depot and airport, and more importantly, just 40 km from mills at Cameco’s Rabbit Lake operation and Cogema Resources’ McClean Lake mine.
Previous airborne and ground geophysical surveying and surface boulder sampling identified a broad illitic clay anomaly and an area of uranium and lead enrichment hosted by Athabasca group sandstone boulders. Some 83 diamond drill holes confirmed a zone of strong hydrothermal alteration and anomalous uranium geochemistry along the Bird Lake fault and on the Esker grid.
The Bird Lake thrust fault runs the length of the property and exhibits an unconformity displacement of up to 80 vertical metres. Previous drilling encountered hydrothermal alteration and anomalous uranium in the sandstone column. The fault is also cut by several north-south-trending faults. IUC believes such intersections played an important role in the formation of the Rabbit Lake and Eagle point deposits.
In all, Cameco has pinned down eight targets for drill testing. Exploration will focus on basement-hosted uranium deposits similar to the Rabbit Lake deposit and Eagle Point-type deposits.
Cogema is part of the French energy company Areva (ARVCF-O).
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