Traction Uranium Corp provided a promising update on the completed Hearty Bay research program focused on the core samples derived from the winter 2022 diamond drill program on its flagship property in Alberta’s Athabasca region.
The research project on the radiation-induced defects in quartz is a novel uranium vectoring technique pioneered by Yuanming Pan, a professor and research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan. Pan is also a member of Traction Uranium’s technical advisory committee.
“We are thankful for the hard work and dedicated effort Dr Pan’s team has put into the Hearty Bay research program,” Traction Uranium CEO Lester Esteban said in a statement.
“Having the results indicate uranium-bearing fluids have passed through three boreholes confirms that we are on the right track to discovery and helps guide our team in vectoring in on the source of the historic high grade uranium boulder trains discovered at Isle Brochet.”
The research program will help the Canadian mineral exploration company determine whether there was uranium-bearing fluids within a target area and help Traction define and trace the conduits of any such uranium-bearing fluids.
The data from the work examines quartz degradation caused by radiation emitted from decaying uranium as another vector to add to the company’s exploration program utilizing electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis. A reference sample from the McArthur and Mann Lake uranium deposits was used as a comparative standard, said the company.
Previous EPR studies of radiation induced defects (RIDs) in quartz and clay minerals demonstrate that the technique is capable of distinguishing mineralized and barren hydrothermal alteration in the Athabasca Basin.
In its final update, Traction’s EPR analysis of quartz from Borehole No 4 at a depth of 65 metres (m), immediately above the sandstone-basement unconformity revealed elevated radiation-induced defects.
Similarly, analysis of quartz from a highly chloritized gneiss at the depth of 88.3m in Borehole No. 6, immediately to the north of the electromagnetic conductor also revealed elevated radiation-induced defects. An analysis of quartz from Borehole No 8 at a depth of 75m and 83 m along an electromagnetic conductor also showed elevated levels of radiation-induced defects.
The company concluded that the elevated levels of radiation-induced defects in Boreholes 4, 6 and 8 are signs of previous historical presence of ancient uranium fluids.
Traction said that more exploration around Borehole 4 on its Hearty Bay property, and south of the electromagnetic conductor, is “highly warranted” given the sustained activity of uranium-bearing fluids around it.
The Calgary, Alberta-based is focused on its three uranium projects in the world renowned Athabasca region.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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