FISSION ENERGY CORP. (TSX VENTURE:FIS) and its Limited Partner, the Korea Waterbury Uranium Limited Partnership, announce that recently completed vertical step-out drilling at its Waterbury Lake project in the Athabasca Basin, has expanded the J-Zone uranium discovery at its western margin, in addition to identifying new unconformity related mineralization within the Discovery Bay Corridor, 338m to the west of the currently defined J-Zone boundary.
Hole WAT11-119, collared 30m grid west of hole WAT10-103 (15.5m of 5.55% U3O8, including 2.5m grading 32.39% U3O8, see news release dated October 13, 2010), intersected 8m of well developed mineralization at the unconformity (196.0m-204.0m), including 0.60m of "off-scale" (cps >9,999) radioactivity. Three hundred and thirty-eight metres further to the west, vertical exploration Hole WAT11-122 encountered 6m of strongly anomalous radioactivity (194.5m-200.5m) in sandstone slightly above the unconformity (200.65m). While J-Zone Hole WAT11-119 further demonstrates the strength and continuity of unconformity mineralization trending to the west, the strong level of anomalous radioactivity identified in Hole WAT11-122 is the first indication supporting Fission's belief that the Discovery Bay Corridor, which extends for approximately 3 km to the west from the eastern limits of the J-Zone, may host multiple occurrences of high grade uranium mineralization. Drilling is continuing with three drills.
Since drilling resumed in mid-January, seven holes have been completed at the J-Zone, two at Highland, and one within the Discovery Bay Corridor to the west of the J-Zone. Given that the mineralization encountered appears to be almost flat-lying, drill intercepts from vertical collared holes reported herein are approximately true thickness.
J-Zone
To date, seven holes have been drilled to extend the J-Zone. Three intersected mineralization; two at the unconformity (WAT11-119 and 116) and one (WAT11-117A) in basement, successfully expanding the J-Zone boundary to the west and north. Hole WAT11-119 identified robust mineralization 30m to the west from WAT10-103, while, Hole WAT11-116 extended mineralization a further 10m north on Line 030M. Four holes did not encounter mineralization (WAT11-113, 114, 115A and 121A). Fission has now successfully defined the J-Zone over a ~140m x up to 50m area by intersecting high grade uranium mineralization at the unconformity in 30 closely spaced drill holes, most of which were vertically drilled.
Highland Summary
Highland is located ~70m to the west of the J Zone. Two holes (WAT11118 and 120) were completed to follow-up mineralization found in Hole WAT10-092A, drilled last winter. Hole WAT11-120 was drilled on Line 165W ~30m east of hole WAT10-092A and was weakly mineralized at the unconformity. Hole 118, 25 m to the north and east of hole 092A, was not mineralized. Drilling will continue at Highland, which is a high priority target for hosting high grade uranium mineralization.
Discovery Bay Corridor
Following the recent completion of a Time Domain EM geophysics survey along the east-west oriented Discovery Bay Corridor, a 3rd drill rig was mobilized to initiate exploration drilling on a regional basis. Based on the geophysical interpretation, Hole WAT11-122, collared ~338m west of the western extent of the J Zone, encountered 6.0m of strongly anomalous radioactivity in hematite clay altered sandstone just above the unconformity (200.65m) from 194.5 – 200.5m. Radioactivity as high as 4,000 cps was measured. This new discovery supports Fission's model that the potential exists for finding multiple occurrences of high grade uranium mineralization along the 3km Discovery Bay Corridor to the west of the J-Zone. Further drilling around this new discovery is being planned.
All holes will be radiometrically surveyed with a Mount Sopris 2GHF Triple Gamma probe. The triple gamma probe uses both a Na-I scintillation crystal and a ZP1320 High-Flux Geiger-Mueller tube pair, which allows better resolution in strongly radiometric intervals.
Natural gamma radiation in drill core that is reported in this news release was measured in counts per second (cps) using a hand held Exploranium GR-110G total count gamma-ray scintillometer. The reader is cautioned that scintillometer readings are not directly or uniformly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured, and should be used only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive materials. All intersections are down-hole, core interval measurements and true thickness is yet to be determined.
Split core samples from the mineralized section of core will be taken continuously through the mineralized intervals and submitted to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories (an SCC ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accredited Facility) of Saskatoon for analysis, which includes U3O8 (wt %) and fire assay for gold. All samples sent for analysis will include a 63 element ICP-OES, uranium by fluorimetry (partial digestion) and boron. Chemical results will be released when received. Further updates will be provided.
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geol. President and COO for Fission Energy Corp., a Qualified Person.
Source: FISSION ENERGY LIMITED