TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 20, 2013) - Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (News - Market indicators) today announced the results of the winter exploration program at the Hook Lake Project in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin. The project is a joint venture with AREVA Resources Canada Inc. and Cameco Corporation and is located immediately north of Patterson Lake where high-grade uranium mineralization has been discovered by the Fission Uranium Corp and Alpha Minerals Inc. Joint Venture (JV).
The 2013 diamond drill program focused on the highly prospective "Patterson Lake Corridor", the same (electromagnetic) conductive trend that hosts the Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium discovery. Two drill holes targeted the "D2" Conductor but were both lost due to difficult drilling conditions. The "D1" Conductor was successfully tested by two drill holes located 800 metres apart with one drill hole intersecting favourable structures, alteration and weakly anomalous radioactivity (up to 138 ppm U over 2.3 metres).
"Our recent drill program along the Patterson Lake Corridor has provided further evidence of widespread hydrothermal alteration and structural disruption," said Scott Frostad, Purepoint's VP of Exploration. "Geological conditions that favour uranium deposition have long been recognized at Hook Lake, and the potential for a major discovery here is certainly supported with the nearby success on the PLS property."
Based on the positive indicators for uranium deposition at the Hook Lake Project, well-established electromagnetic (EM) conductors and the local discovery of high grade uranium mineralization, the Joint Venture partners are now reviewing an expanded drill program for the next drill season. Further interpretational work is now underway to prioritize drill targets and will be provided to the Technical Committee for approval later this summer.
Highlights:
- One of the two drill holes completed within the Patterson Lake Corridor (HK13-06) in 2013 intersected favourable structures, alteration and weakly anomalous radioactivity (up to 138 ppm U over 2.3 metres);
- A ground EM survey conducted on Patterson Lake has pinpointed the position of a strong airborne EM conductor for future drilling;
- A significant 2014 exploration program is proposed for the winter of 2014.
Patterson Lake Corridor Results
A total of 925 metres of drilling was completed at the Hook Lake Project this winter, all within the Patterson Lake Corridor. The four holes were all drilled vertically with two being lost before reaching basement rocks.
HK13-05A was collared 1.2 kilometers northwest of Patterson Lake on the "D2" Conductor, the same EM conductor that historic drill hole PAT-04 returned weakly anomalous uranium (105 ppm U over 4.2 metres) from an interpreted basement clay regolith. HK13-05A was lost within unconsolidated calcareous sandstone (Devonian) at a depth of 118 metres. The drill was moved 15 metres and the hole restarted (HK13-05) but was again lost within loose sand at a depth 45 metres.
HK13-06 targeted the "D1" Conductor on the Hook Lake project. It encountered competent Athabasca sandstone to 160 metres, unconsolidated sand to 183 metres, and then no core recovery occurred until the basement rock was intersected at 220.1 metres. The basement rock was strongly foliated/sheared to a depth of 340 metres and associated with four fault zones, interpreted as being sub-vertical and ranging in width from 2 to 11 metres (true width unknown). Quartz-rich semi-pelitic gneiss with strong hydrothermal chlorite alteration locally seen overprinting hematite alteration was encountered to 299.6 metres, then weakly radioactive graphitic pelitic gneiss to 309.0 metres. The graphitic pelite returned 138 ppm U over 2.3 metres from 301.7 and 304.0 metres and the interval was associated with dark green to black chlorite alteration. The hole was completed within unaltered quartz-rich semi-pelitic gneiss at a depth of 384.0 metres.
HK13-07 was also collared on the "D1" Conductor approximately 800 metres south of drill hole HK13-06. The hole intersected numerous intervals of unconsolidated Athabasca sandstone before reaching the unconformity at a depth of 213.9 metres. Strongly hematite altered, weak to moderately foliated pelitic gneiss was encountered to a depth of 290 metres before becoming strongly chlorite altered. The EM conductor was explained by the intersection of graphitic pyritic pelitic gneiss from 315 to 320 metres, 338 to 354 metres, and again from 366 to 371 metres. The hole was completed at a depth of 378 metres within weakly foliated quartz-rich pelitic gneiss containing coarse, weakly chloritized garnets. No significant radioactivity was encountered by this hole.
In addition to the drill program, a ground EM survey was conducted over Patterson Lake and covered interpreted structural breaks of a strong airborne EM conductor. A total of 24 line kilometres of small moving loop transient EM surveying was completed and the results have provided targets for the next drilling campaign.
Hook Lake Project
The Hook Lake Project consists of nine claims totaling 28,683 hectares and is situated in the southwestern Athabasca Basin only 5 kilometres northeast of the new high-grade uranium discovery by the Fission/Alpha joint venture. The depth to the Athabasca unconformity is very shallow, ranging from zero to 350 metres. Three prospective structural "corridors" have been defined on the property, each corridor being comprised of multiple EM conductors that have been confirmed to be the results of graphitic metasediments that intersect the Athabasca unconformity.
The Patterson Lake Corridor is the same conductive trend along which the Fission/Alpha joint venture has intersected high-grade uranium mineralization, most notably the intercept of 8.6% U3O8 over 20.5 metres in drill hole PLS13-059 (Fission Uranium Corp. press release of May 27, 2013). Within the Hook Lake project, the Patterson Lake Corridor displays geophysical evidence of a complex structural history and, where drill tested, has shown favourable signs of alteration and structural disruption. In 2011, three new claims totaling 2,632 hectares were added to the Hook Lake project due north of where high grade uranium boulders were discovered by Fission/Alpha on their PLS property.
About Purepoint
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. is focused on the precision exploration of its eleven projects in the Canadian Athabasca Basin. Purepoint proudly maintains project ventures in the Basin with three of the largest uranium producers in the world, Cameco Corporation, AREVA and Rio Tinto. Established in the Athabasca Basin well before the initial resurgence in uranium earlier last decade, Purepoint is actively advancing a large portfolio of multiple drill targets in the world's richest uranium region.
Scott Frostad BSc, MASc, PGeo, Purepoint's Vice President, Exploration, is the Qualified Person responsible for technical content of this release.
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