Appia Rare Earths and Uranium Corp said it has completed the initial phase of its 2022 drilling and exploration program on their Alces Lake high-grade rare earth elements and gallium property in the Athabasca Basin area of northern Saskatchewan.
The company drilled 100 holes in 2022 for a record total of 17,480 metres over just four and a half months, as compared to the 2021 program which took over five months to drill 8,076 metres over 100 holes.
In a statement, Frederick Kozak, president of Appia said the company built on their experience in 2021 at Alces Lake to get an early start in March on the planned 2022 drilling program.
READ: Appia Rare Earths & Uranium says drill results indicate a promising new area for exploration at its Alces Lake property in Saskatchewan
“Kudos to the entire team of drillers, helpers, camp support and the geology team for this record accomplishment. Appia drilled more than double the 2021 metreage in less time than the previous year's program," Kozak said.
“We have accomplished all of our initial phase drilling goals and now eagerly await assay results to plan the next phase of drilling. New high resolution aerial geophysics will be flown soon and this will also add to the inventory of potential exploration targets at Alces Lake,” he added.
The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical rare earth elements (REEs) and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within several surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.
The exceptional drilling progress resulted in Appia achieving the drilling goals much faster than anticipated.
Exciting targets
In the 2022 drilling program, a total of 37 holes were drilled into the WRCB area to continue delineation of the high-grade REE mineralization and also delineate previously undrilled targets in Danny (adjacent to WRCB) as well as additional drilling into the Wilson/Wilson North zone.
New WRCB drilling also extended the trend of the REE mineralization by approximately 120 metres along strike to a total of 280 metres of strike-length mineralization. The WRCB accumulation remains open in both the northwest and southeast directions.
The most significant new drilling in 2022 was in the Magnet Ridge (previously Augier) area, located approximately 1.5 kilometres south-southeast of WRCB on a well-defined regional geologic corridor. A total of 34 holes (5,318 metres) were drilled into the primary Magnet Ridge target that outcrops on surface.
A nearby (and possibly geologically-related) prospect on Magnet Ridge West saw another 10 holes (2,025.9 metres) drilled. The rocks in these two prospects appear to be geologically similar to the 2021 discovery AMP zone at WRCB, which also outcrops on surface.
Appia is waiting on Magnet Ridge and Magnet Ridge West assay results to evaluate and analyze these new zones.
Drilling on-trend and in-between WRCB and Magnet Ridge was also conducted, with five holes and 1,044 metres of drilling done, primarily at the Strocen prospect.
Keying off results in the WRCB-Magnet Ridge trend on the eastern limb of the large regional fold at Alces Lake, Appia conducted the first drilling program on the previously undrilled West Limb. Six holes with a total of 1,014.9 metres were drilled and encountered indications of elevated radioactivity.
Lastly, drilling of five holes was conducted on the Western Anomaly. Following up on the 2021 assay results for this new exploration area, two holes (393 metres) were drilled at Sweet Chili Heat, two holes (393 metres) at Diablo and one hole (166.5 metres) at Buffalo. Mineralization was encountered in all three target areas, Appia said.
Prospecting and sampling program
Alongside the Alces Lake drill program, Appia conducted a prospecting and sampling program to continue evaluating the property’s extensive inventory of radiometric anomalies. Some of the 2022 drilling, notably the West Limb, came about as a result of the field work done early in the 2022 season.
Following the results of the 2021 aerial geophysics survey, Appia more than doubled the acreage of the Alces Lake claim blocks. Appia is about to embark on 4,864 line kilometres (km) of high resolution radiometric and aeromagnetic surveys over three unsurveyed sections of the Alces Lake block.
The northwest portion of the block has a planned 2,152 line km, the south portion of the block will have 2,487 line km surveyed and the eastern side of the claims block will have an additional 225 line km collected. The aerial surveys are expected to be completed in August 2022, weather permitting.
Appia also expects to provide an update in the near future on plans for the 2022/23 uranium exploration program on the claims blocks located on the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin.
Appia is a Canadian publicly listed company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The company is currently focussing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties.
Contact the author at susie@proactiveinvestors.com