Feb 3 2016
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. today reported that it has expanded the mineralized area at the Spitfire Zone during the initial follow-up holes of this year's program with hole HK16-37 returning downhole probe results of 9.2% eU3O8 over 0.6 metres within 0.67% eU3O8 over 10.1 metres.
Purepoint is the operator of the Hook Lake project on behalf of its Joint Venture partners Cameco Corp. and AREVA Resources Canada Inc.
"This continuation of high-grade mineralization represents a significant step out from last year's discovery," said Chris Frostad, Purepoint's CEO. "As we gain a more detailed appreciation of the structural setting at Spitfire, we are confident that this year's drill program will demonstrate further potential for significant deposits in the Patterson Lake District."
The recent HK16-37 high-grade uranium intercept is situated only 255 metres below surface and represents a 130 metre up-dip step-out from last year's significant uranium hit by drill hole HK15-27. Follow-up drilling is being aided by acoustic Televiewer data that is being used to visualize, orientate and measure true strike and dip of borehole structural features in situ. The Televiewer data is being collected and processed by DGI Geoscience of Toronto, Ontario. Purepoint gratefully acknowledges AREVA for providing structural interpretation and quality control of the Spitfire Televiewer data.
"The recent Spitfire drill hole results in combination with acoustic Televiewer interpretations has refined the orientation of the structures that host uranium mineralization," said Scott Frostad, V.P. Exploration at Purepoint. "It is now considered that the mineralization has a more vertical structural control, in a fashion similar to the Arrow and Triple R deposits adjacent to the south."
Highlights:
- An initial hole of the 2016 drill season within the Spitfire Zone, HK16-37, has returned downhole probe results of 9.2% eU3O8 over 0.6 metres within 0.67% eU3O8 over 10.1 metres;
- The HK16-37 high-grade intercept is located 130 metres up-dip from last year's high-grade uranium intercept by hole HK15-27 and is only 255 metres from surface;
- Acoustic Televiewer data is being collected for visualizing, orientating and measuring true strike and dip of borehole structural features in situ;
- The mineralized structure has yet to be tested where it meets the unconformity and may also be associated with unconformity-related uranium deposition;
- Commencing just two weeks ago, this winter's drill program will deliver a minimum of 6,000 metres of drilling across 14 holes;
- Drilling will continue to focus on high priority targets along the Patterson Lake Corridor, the same conductive trend that hosts Fission Uranium Corp's Triple R and NexGen's Arrow high grade deposits.
It is emphasized that the downhole calibrated gamma probe results (eU3O8) are preliminary and subject to confirmation by geochemical assay. Further downhole probe results and follow-up geochemical assays will be released as they become available.
Initial 2016 Spitfire Holes
Drill hole HK16-34 was collared 100 metres west of HK15-27 (2.23% U3O8 over 2.8 metres that included 12.90% U3O8 over 0.4 metres) with an azimuth of 307 degrees and a dip of -80 degrees. Overburden was cased to a depth of 99 metres, and then moderately bleached, locally desilicified and highly fractured Athabasca sandstone was drilled to the unconformity at 149 metres. Hematite, chlorite and lesser clay associated with paleo-weathering was encountered to a depth of 164 metres. Moderately to strongly chloritized quartz-rich metasediments are present until 183 metres where moderate to strong clay alteration of lithologically similar rocks appears. Moderate clay alteration persists until 450 metres where fresh granitic gneiss is encountered. Illite alteration overprinting earlier clay and chlorite occurs within and adjacent to complex fracture networks associated with minor fault zones from 194 to 203 metres, 224 to 227 metres, 422 to 423 metres. An intensely brick-red hematite altered zone with hairline fracturing and anomalous radioactivity returned an average of 951 counts per second (cps) over 7.3 metres between 262.3 to 269.6 metres from the downhole gamma probe. The targeted graphitic shear zone was encountered from 358 to 362 metres. The hole was completed within granitic gneiss at a depth of 483 metres.
Drill hole HK16-37 was collared 40 metres in front of HK16-34 with a similar azimuth of 307 degrees and a dip of -80 degrees. Overburden was cased to a depth of 99 metres and the unconformity was encountered at a depth of 166 metres. Strong clay alteration of metasedimentary rocks ranging from pelitic to quartzite, present locally as massive clay, occurs from 166 to 400 metres, after which the clay alteration progressively weakens until the end of hole. Strongly chloritzed mafic intrusions occuring from 211 to 213 metres and 239 to 249 metres, are locally overprinted by brick-red hematite alteration, and both the chlorite and hematite are overprinted by clay alteration. A brittle fault zone was encountered from 261 to 263 metres. Uranium mineralization was intersected within tectonized metasediments from 263.3 to 279.4 metres returning 0.65% eU3O8 over 10.1 metres and included an interval of semi-massive pitchblende from 269.6 to 270.2 metres returning 9.6% eU3O8 over 0.6 metres. Below the uranium mineralization, brittle-ductile sheared to pseudo-cataclastic metasediments with strong clay alteration occur from 279 to 295 metres followed by the targeted graphitic shear zone encountered from 295 to 304 metres. The hole was completed within moderately clay altered metasediments at a depth of 435 metres.
Source: http://www.purepoint.ca/