Mineral Claim MC00017901 (14.93km2) granted to complete the transaction to acquire additional ground at the Surprise Creek Uranium-Copper Project announced on 16th of February 2023.
Surprise Creek Fault – historical trench sample site for Sample. (Credit: Valor Resources Limited)
Valor Resources Limited (Valor) or (the Company) (ASX: VAL) is pleased to advise that it has finalised the acquisition of two highly prospective uranium-copper mineral claims in northern Sakatchewan, Canada announced on 16 February 2023, further strengthening its uranium portfolio as it gears up for a year of active exploration against the backdrop of a surging uranium price.
Valor announced the acquisition of the new mineral claims last year (see ASX release dated 16 February: “Valor further expands Surprise Creek Uranium Project with Strategic Acquisitions”).
This acquisition, along with the acquisition announced on 24 October 2023 (“Valor expands Surprise Creek Uranium-Copper Project in Canada with Acquisition of Adjoining Tenements”) has further strengthened the Company’s strategic position in one of the world’s premier uranium provinces.
These two acquisitions added to the property originally staked by Valor Resources in 2021 and 2022 has created a contiguous land package of 197km2, located approximately 30km WNW from the Beaverlodge Uranium District, host to the historical Gunnar and Eldorado (Ace-Fay-Verna) uranium mines.
Uranium deposits in the Beaverlodge Uranium District are classified as structurally-controlled vein type, a sub-type of the basement-hosted unconformity related uranium deposits. Historically, this district has produced about 57 million pounds of uranium up to the early 1980s.
At the Surprise Creek Fault prospect historical drilling returned 2.1m @ 4.7% U3O8 from 57m (VT20) including 0.9m @ 7.5% U3O8, with no further drilling being undertaken on the project since 1968 (see Figure 2 below). Details provided in Valor’s ASX announcement “Surprise Creek data review highlights high-grade targets” dated 6 July 2022.
In 2022, the Company completed several field programs comprising geological mapping and surface sampling which identified uranium mineralisation over 500m strike at the Surprise Creek Fault prospect and rock chip samples up to 7.98% U3O8 (see Figures 2 and 3). Full details of results from the 2022 field programs were provided in the Company’s ASX announcements titled “Significant Uranium and copper mineralisation identified at Surprise Creek during field program” dated 11 August 2022 and “Exceptional uranium and copper rock chip results of up to 6.13% U3O8 and 61.7% Cu at Surprise Creek” dated 13 October 2022 and “Outstanding high-grade uranium rock chip results up to 7.98% U3O8 confirm drill target at Surprise Creek” dated 22nd December 2022.
Commenting on the acquisition, Valor’s Executive Chairman, George Bauk, said: “ The Surprise Creek tenement package is an extremely exciting exploration asset in the current environment, located close to one of the world’s richest uranium producing regions and with proven uranium potential from historic drilling but virtually no exploration in the past 40-50 years.
“This is a fantastic project for us to get our teeth into and we already have a walk-up drill target at the Surprise Creek Fault prospect. We are looking forward to finalising our exploration plans and getting on the ground at all of our uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin this year. With uranium recently surging through US$100/lb and predicted to continue to rise, there could not be a better time to be exploring for high-grade uranium in a Tier-1 location!”
Source: Company Press Release