ValOre Metals Corp. (“ValOre”;
TSX‐V: VO; OTC: KVLQF; Frankfurt:
KEQ0, “the Company”) today announced the commencement of a
board approved and fully funded CAD$11 million exploration program
at ValOre’s 100% owned 59,483-hectare Angilak Property Uranium
Project (“Angilak”), located in Nunavut Territory, Canada.
ValOre’s Chairman & CEO, Jim
Paterson, stated: “Angilak represents a world-class
advanced uranium exploration project with compelling resource
expansion and regional discovery potential. The Lac 50 inferred
resource represents Canada’s highest grade uranium deposit outside
of the Athabasca Basin and one of the highest-grade uranium
resources on a global basis. Importantly, Nunavut Territory, Canada
is an active and supportive mining jurisdiction, hosting the
producing Meadowbank and Meliadine gold mines (Agnico Eagle) and
the recently permitted Goose Mine at the Back River project
(Sabina).”
ValOre’s Vice President Exploration,
Colin Smith, stated: “CAD$85M of historical expenditures
at Angilak, CAD$55M of that by ValOre between 2009 – 2016, served
to generate the Lac 50 resource estimate, which is supported by 335
drill holes (60,258 m). The substantial prior investment will be
fully leveraged in 2022, with this year’s comprehensive program
designed to further demonstrate and rapidly advance the
district-scale resource potential of this prolific uranium, base
and precious metals property with ~8,000 m of project-wide
drilling, ~2,400 ln-km of ground VLF-EM and magnetics, and
multi-faceted geochemistry programs.”
Angilak Property Uranium Project 2022
Exploration Program Highlights:
- Mobilization of
crews, consumables, and equipment commenced March 23;
- Initial 4,000
metre (“m”) Reverse Circulation (“RC”) drill program to commence by
April 15, with a focus of expanding known zones of U3O8
mineralization;
- Geophysical
program of 2,400-line-kilometres (“ln-km”) of ground VLF-EM and
magnetics to commence by April 15;
- Geochemical
sampling (1,000+ samples) including Enzyme Leach (“EL”) soils, rock
sampling and lake sediment sampling to vector future exploration
efforts;
- Baseline
environmental and archaeology studies;
- Initial 4,000 m
diamond drilling to commence in the summer, with a focus on
resource expansion and following up positive RC drill results.
Lac 50 Trend NI 43-101 Inferred Resource
Estimate
The Lac Trend (“Lac 50”) inferred mineral
resource estimate comprises 2,831,000 tonnes grading 0.69% U3O8,
totaling 43.3 million pounds (“Mlbs”) of U3O8. The resource
estimate is supported by 335 drill holes (60,258 m) and represents
Canada’s highest grade uranium deposit outside of the Athabasca
Basin and one of the highest-grade uranium resources on a global
basis. In addition to uranium, the Lac 50 Trend resource also
contains significant quantities of silver, molybdenum and copper,
and is interpreted as a basement hosted, vein-hydrothermal type,
unconformity-associated uranium deposit. CLICK HERE for a summary
table of the 2013 Lac 50 inferred resource estimate.
Lac 50 Metallurgical Work
In 2012 and 2013, the Saskatchewan Research
Council (“SRC”) and TOMRA Sorting Inc. (“TOMRA”) conducted
metallurgical and beneficiation testing respectively on Lac 50
Trend uranium mineralization. Optimized results from alkaline
leaching indicate that 94.1% of uranium can be extracted in 48
hours and 95.9% of uranium extracted in 72 hours. Furthermore, the
final yellowcake produced from a conventional preliminary
precipitation test of the alkaline leach solution was low in
impurities (below penalty levels), with a 71.9% uranium value
attained.
Ore characterization testing carried out by
TOMRA on a suite of high grade, medium grade, low grade and waste
specimens demonstrated excellent sensor based sortability, with
96.7% cumulative uranium recovery in a mass recovery of 49.2% (i.e.
50.8% of the rock mass is rejected with a 3.3% loss of uranium).
The testing reflects the high-grade uranium characteristics at Lac
50 where most of the uranium mineralization occurs as
disseminations and veins of massive pitchblende within the
carbonate and hematite alteration zone comprising the Lac 50 Trend
inferred resource.
District-Scale, High-Grade, Near-Surface
Potential
Angilak represents a world-class advanced
uranium exploration project with considerable upside potential in a
largely underexplored district. Exploration tenements are
strategically staked around the margin of the Proterozoic Angikuni
sedimentary sub-basin, enabling ValOre geologists to target the
high-grade uraniferous structures from surface. In the case of Lac
50, mineralization has been traced by drilling from surface to a
vertical depth of approximately 380 m and along a strike length of
over 6 km, with mineralization occurring as southwest plunging
shoots within the plane of a tuff unit.
Comprehensive exploration programs continue to
demonstrate the district-scale potential of Angilak, as evidenced
by the drilling discovery at the Dipole Trend, situated 30 km
west-southwest of Lac 50, and on the opposing side of the Angikuni
sub-basin. U3O8, mineralization was intercepted in all nine 2015
core holes, and included highlight hole 15-DP-009 which returned
2.34% U3O8, 1.13% Mo and 44 g/t Ag over 1.3 m from 28.3 m to 29.6
m, within a wider 3.5 m interval that assayed 0.88% U3O8, 0.46% Mo
and 17.6 g/t Ag, and 6.7 m of 0.21% U3O8 from 46.4 m to 53.1 m.
Dipole will be the first target tested in the spring 2022 RC drill
program.
A total of 300 historical drill holes are
situated outside the Lac 50 Trend: of these holes, 230 holes (77%)
returned anomalous radioactivity, with counts per second (“CPS”)
values above 200, and 171 holes (57%) returned CPS values above
1000.
Evidence of high-grade, near-surface uranium
mineralization is further demonstrated across the property by the
presence of extensive historical rock samples, including 50 samples
>1% U3O8, 18 samples >5% U3O8, and 8 samples >20% U3O8
(Figure 1).
Ground VLF-EM
Uranium mineralization at Angilak is
structurally controlled (vein-hydrothermal type), and thus the
identification of these prospective uraniferous corridors is a
critical component of the exploration methodology. Ground VLF-EM
has proven to be the most effective geophysical technique to
delineate prospective structures property-wide, as evidenced by the
~230 km2 (2,320 ln-kms) of historical coverage. The Lac 50 Trend
(and most targets) are spatially associated to moderate to strong
VLF-EM conductors, which are interpreted to be mapping
graphite-chlorite-sulphide (and uranium) bearing structures.
An extensive ground VLF-EM and magnetics program
is planned due to commence by mid-April. The proposed survey
comprises approximately 2,400 ln-kms, with a dominant focus on the
sparsely covered western half of the property which hosts several
priority exploration targets, and over 40 km of highly prospective
geological strike along trend from Lac 50 (Figure 1).
Geochemistry
Surficial geochemistry serves to identify the
prospective sections of mineralized structures and supports more
targeted follow-up initiative such as trenching and drilling. The
historical database includes: 4,180 EL soils, 763 conventional
soils, 583 rock samples, and 1,152 lake sediment samples.
ValOre will be expanding Angilak’s surficial
geochemical coverage in 2022, with additional property wide EL
soils, rocks and lake sampling, to commence in July once the snow
and ice have melted. Program totals are dependent on results of
both the RC and ground geophysics programs.
The 2022 lake sampling program is comprised of a
70-sample orientation survey (35 samples over Lac 50, and 35
samples over a presumed background area), analyzing multiple sample
mediums (lake bottom sediments, lake water and off-gases from lake
sediments), and multiple uranium pathfinder analytes (helium,
radon, ICP-MS major and trace elements). The most effective
technique(s) will be identified and considered for a property-wide
program in 2023 to further amplify Angilak’s district-scale
potential. Helium and radon are both continuously produced from the
decay of uranium, and thus provide a potential pathfinder for
remote detection of uranium deposits, and light hydrocarbon gases
(C1 to C4) have been found in world class uranium deposits like
Cigar Lake.
About Angilak
The 59,483-hectare Angilak Property is situated
in the mining- and exploration-friendly Nunavut Territory, Canada,
and has district-scale potential for uranium, precious and base
metals. Since acquisition, ValOre has invested over CAD$55 million
on resource delineation and exploration drilling (89,572 metres in
589 drill holes), metallurgy, geophysics, geochemistry, and
logistics across the large land package. This work supported the
development of the significant Lac 50 Trend NI 43-101 inferred
resource estimate (“Lac 50”).
The Lac 50 NI 43-101 Technical Report (effective
date March 1, 2013) defined an inferred resource estimate which
represents Canada’s highest-grade uranium resource outside of
Saskatchewan, and one of highest-grade uranium resources on a
global basis. Highlights include:
- 43.3
Mlbs
U3O8 in
2,831,000 tonnes grading 0.69% U3O8. CLICK HERE for a summary table
of the Lac 50 Trend inferred resource estimate;
- Supported by 351
resource delineation drill holes totaling 62,023 metres (“m”);
- Metallurgical
results for Lac 50 demonstrate high uranium recoveries and rapid
leach kinetics. See news releases: February 28, 2013, September 11,
2013 and February 27, 2014;
- Lac 50 Trend is
a 15 kilometre (“km”) by 3 km area with excellent potential for
resource growth and new discoveries;
- Uranium
mineralization starts at surface, and has been drilled to 380 m
vertical depth;
CLICK HERE for ValOre’s May 6, 2021 video
summarizing the highlights of Angilak.
CLICK HERE for ValOre’s May 6, 2021 video
reviewing the 2021 focus for Angilak.
Qualified Person (“QP”)
The technical information in this news release
has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory
requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by
Colin Smith, P.Geo., ValOre’s QP and Vice President of
Exploration.
Information in this presentation related to the
independent Angilak mineral resource estimate has been approved by
Michael Dufresne, M.Sc. P.Geo., President of Apex Geoscience Ltd.,
Robert Sim, P.Geo. of SIM Geological Inc. and Bruce Davis, FAusIMM
of BD Resources Consulting Inc., who are independent QPs as defined
under NI 43‐101.
Susan Lomas, P.Geo., of LGGC is the QP, as
defined in NI 43-101, responsible for the Pedra Branca mineral
resource estimates as reported below.
About ValOre Metals Corp.
ValOre Metals Corp.
(TSX‐V: VO) is a
Canadian company with a portfolio of high‐quality exploration
projects. ValOre’s team aims to deploy capital and knowledge on
projects which benefit from substantial prior investment by
previous owners, existence of high-value mineralization on a large
scale, and the possibility of adding tangible value through
exploration, process improvement, and innovation.
In May 2019, ValOre announced the acquisition of
the Pedra Branca Platinum Group Elements (PGE) property, in Brazil,
to bolster its existing Angilak uranium, Genesis/Hatchet uranium
and Baffin gold projects in Canada.
The Pedra Branca PGE Project comprises 52
exploration licenses covering a total area of 56,852 hectares
(140,484 acres) in northeastern Brazil. At Pedra Branca, 7 distinct
PGE+Au deposit areas host, in aggregate, a 2022 NI 43-101 inferred
resource of 2.198 Moz 2PGE+Au contained in 63.6 Mt grading 1.08 g/t
2PGE+Au (CLICK HERE for news release dated March 24, 2022). All the
currently known Pedra Branca inferred PGE resources are potentially
open pittable.
Comprehensive exploration programs have
demonstrated the "District Scale" potential of ValOre’s Angilak
Property in Nunavut Territory, Canada that hosts the Lac 50 Trend
having a current Inferred Resource of 2,831,000 tonnes grading
0.69% U3O8, totaling 43.3 million pounds U3O8. For disclosure
related to the inferred resource for the Lac 50 Trend uranium
deposits, please CLICK HERE for ValOre's news release dated March
1, 2013.
ValOre’s team has forged strong relationships
with sophisticated resource sector investors and partner Nunavut
Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) on both the Angilak and Baffin Gold
Properties. ValOre was the first company to sign a comprehensive
agreement to explore for uranium on Inuit Owned Lands in Nunavut
Territory and is committed to building shareholder value while
adhering to high levels of environmental and safety standards and
proactive local community engagement.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
“Jim Paterson”
James R. Paterson, Chairman and CEO
ValOre Metals Corp.
For further information about ValOre Metals
Corp., or this news release, please visit our website at
www.valoremetals.com or contact Investor Relations at 604.653.9464,
or by email at contact@valoremetals.com.
ValOre Metals Corp. is a proud member of
Discovery Group. For more information please visit:
http://www.discoverygroup.ca/
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release contains “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Although ValOre believes that the expectations reflected in its
forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements have
been based on factors and assumptions concerning future events that
may prove to be inaccurate. These factors and assumptions are based
upon currently available information to ValOre. Such statements are
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that could influence actual results or events and cause actual
results or events to differ materially from those stated,
anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. A number
of important factors including those set forth in other public
filings could cause actual outcomes and results to differ
materially from those expressed in these forward-looking
statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from those in forward-looking statements include the
future operations of ValOre and economic factors. Readers are
cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the
date of this release and, except as required by applicable law,
ValOre does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to
revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. ValOre
undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or
statements made by third parties in respect of ValOre, or its
financial or operating results or (as applicable), their
securities.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available
at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/833b9e6a-01cd-424d-b520-9ddce8d55064
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