Terra Uranium Ltd (ASX:T92) can now count on a further three years of ground exploration across its 100%-owned Athabasca Basin exploration projects in Canada after it was given approval to continue from First Nations and the Saskatchewan Government.
The company has been working closely with relevant stakeholders, including indigenous groups, with the good faith negotiations allowing the company to prepare for an expanded northern winter exploration program.
These exploration permits, which were received on December 18, cover T92’s HawkRock, Pasfield and Parker projects.
Pasfield and Parker tenements with base camp and trails.
Exploration will begin in February 2023, with permits covering new trail and creek crossing construction, base camp construction, grassroots exploration, ground geophysics and reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling.
The work is subject to ongoing consultation with all stakeholders and compliance with environmental and social requirements.
Notably, equipment has been mobilised and construction of access has begun.
Major milestone
Speaking about the approvals, Terra Uranium executive chairman Andrew Vigar highlighted what is to come and the enormous amount the company has achieved since listing in September.
“Another major milestone for Terra Uranium has been reached with the granting of exploration permits for the next three years over all our 100% owned Athabasca Basin projects. This includes the construction of a base camp, access roads and both RC and diamond drilling.
“In the three months since listing in September, T92 has completed airborne geophysics, geochemistry, a highly successful trial of ANT passive seismic to map the basement, data analysis and permitting for ground operations.
"Given the receipt of permit approvals and the strength of our initial exploration findings, we are very excited to have structured our 2023 exploration plan, with RC drilling to start in February and Diamond Drilling in April.
"I believe this rapid progress is a testament to the quality of our projects, board and particularly our Saskatoon-based exploration team. We look forward to updating the market as we progress.”
What to expect
T92 holds a 100% interest in 20 claims covering square kilometres forming the HawkRock Project, Parker Lake Project and Pasfield Lake Project in the Cable Bay Shear Zone (CBSZ) on the eastern side of the Athabasca Basin, northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada.
These projects are about 80 kilometres to the west of multiple operating large uranium mills, mines and known deposits.
The CBSZ is a major structural zone with known uranium mineralisation but has seen limited exploration as the basin sediment cover is thicker than for known deposits immediately to east.
Methods used to explore include airborne and ground geophysics, including airborne electromagnetics (VTEM, ZTEM), the recently demonstrated ambient noise tomography (ANT) that can penetrate to depth, and outcrop and reverse circulation drilling (RC) for geochemical profiling to provide the best targets before undertaking costly cored diamond drilling right into the target zones at depth.
Following completion of airborne geophysics, T92 has been planning its 2023 exploration planning, with the planned works including a very active winter campaign as well as a summer diamond drilling program.
Outline of completed and planned exploration program activities 2022 to September 2023.