Denison Mines (TSX: DML) announced on Wednesday the discovery of new high-grade unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization from the winter 2021 exploration program completed at the McClean Lake joint venture (JV).
The McClean Lake property is located on the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, approximately 750 km north of Saskatoon. Denison holds a 22.5% ownership interest in the property as well as the McClean Lake uranium mill, one of the world’s largest uranium processing facilities.
Orano Canada, 77.5% owner and operator of the JV, recently completed a diamond drilling program consisting of 15 drill holes totalling 4,083 metres at McClean Lake. The exploration program was designed to test for the potential expansion of previously discovered mineralization in the McClean South 8W and 8E pods, as well as to test for new mineralization in the surrounding area.
Three of the final four drill holes returned notable uranium mineralization in the area west of the McClean South 8E pod, which has few previous drill holes. Results were highlighted by drill hole MCS-34, which returned 5.04% eU3O8 over 14.0 metres (including 14.86% eU3O8 over 3.9 metres).
Two other drill holes completed at the McClean South target area during the winter program also returned uranium mineralization.
“The latest results from McClean South are quite exciting. Not only has drilling intersected very high-grade uranium, but the mineralization is open along strike to the west for at least 250 metres and approximately 70 metres to the east towards the McClean South 8E pod,” Andy Yackulic, Denison’s director of exploration, said in a news release.
“The mineralized intersection in MCS-34 represents one of the better mineralized intersections reported on the McClean Lake property to date – which is impressive, as the property has been explored since the mid-1970s and has previously produced over 50 million lb. U3O8.”
“The discovery of new high-grade uranium mineralization at McClean South reminds us of the significant potential associated with Denison’s portfolio of development and exploration interests in the Athabasca Basin,” Denison’s CEO David Cates said.
According to the company, follow-up drilling is warranted in this area and is expected to be planned by the JV for the winter of 2022.
Shares of Denison Mines jumped 5.6% by noon EST following the latest discovery. The Canadian uranium miner has a market capitalization of $1 billion.
This story first appeared on www.MINING.com.
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