Baselode Energy (FIND) - Technical Analysis

Baselode Energy Corp. is a Canadian based uranium exploration company, focused on high-grade uranium orebodies in the Athabasca Basin area of Northern Saskatchewan. The company boasts a land package of approximately 227,000 hectares for exploration in the Athabasca Basin area which it owns 100% of. The company’s exploration thesis is focused on discovering near surface, basement hosted, high-grade uranium deposits, which it believes it has accomplished with its ACKIO discovery at its Hook project.

Merlin Marr-Johnson sat down with James Sykes, CEO, President and Director of Baselode Energy Corp. to discuss the technical aspects of the company’s ACKIO discovery. 

Company Overview

Baselode Energy Corp. completed 4 exploration drill holes at the ACKIO discovery in 2021, which intersected a large hydrothermal alteration envelope proving fertile for high-grade uranium deposition. The ACKIO discovery is located approximately 30 km away from well-established infrastructure which includes a powerline running between the McArthur River mine and Key Lake uranium mill joint venture, as well as all-season accessible roads. The ACKIO discovery boasts high-grade uranium ranging between 0.24 wt% U3O8 over 5.5 m at 128.6 m to 0.67 wt% U3O8 over 0.5 m at 131.6 m. The discovery has multiple uranium intersections occurring within 200 m of the surface.

Baselode Energy Corp. has recently initiated a 10,000 m winter exploration drilling program at its ACKIO discovery that is aimed at better understanding the deposit. The exploration drill program will consist of 50 m continuous step-out holes to the north and the south of the deposit along its known high-grade strike. The 10,000 m exploration program is helicopter supported which the company implements to lessen any ground-induced environmental impacts.

Management

James Sykes serves as CEO and director of Baselode Energy Corp. He has more than 16 years of geological experience in the Athabasca Basin with 10 years thereof being spent in uranium exploration and discovery. Sykes started his career with Denison Mines where he was able to work with and see the exploration of various discoveries including the Phoenix and Gryphon deposits. He also created the 3D models of the projects which led to various new discoveries. Sykes also led the team at NexGen Energy to one of the largest high-grade uranium discoveries in the world at Arrow. Sykes can boast that over the past decade he has been directly and indirectly involved with the discovery of over 500 million pounds of U3O8.

Stephen Stewart is the Chairman of the Baselode Energy Corp. board. Stewart is currently the CEO and Director of both the TSX-V listed companies Orefinders Resources Inc. and QC Copper and Gold. He also serves as the chair of Mistango Resources and Baselode Energy Corp. Stewart is also the founder and chairman of the Young Mining Professionals Scholarship Fund, the largest mining-focused charitable organisation and fund in Canada.

Kevin Canario is Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Canario has over 15 years of experience working in the mining industry, with his most recent experience including serving as Corporate Controller of Battle North Gold Corporation. In his time at Battle North Gold Corporation, Canario was instrumental in the finalisation of the Bateman Gold project feasibility study as well as multiple financings of the project and its eventual sale to Evolution Mining. Canario has also been CFO of INV Metal Inc. and worked in the mining assurance sector for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Cameron MacKay is Vice-president of Exploration and Development. MacKay joined Baselode Energy Corp. in 2020 to serve as the project manager for the company’s exploration team. MacKay has previously held the position of Senior Exploration Geologist at Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. where he was integral in the delineation of the high-grade uranium Spitfire project.

Charles Beaudry and Michael Mansfield round out this management team as Directors. Beaudry is a geologist with more than 35 years of experience across the globe which includes 17 years with Noranda-Falconbridge-Xstrata as well as with IAMGOLD as General Manager of new business opportunities. Mansfield has over 20 years of experience as an investment advisor and is currently serving as Vice President at Industrial Alliance Securities. Mansfield also boasts a track record of taking more than 100 companies public.

Athabasca basin

The esteemed management team is tasked with the management of the company’s three projects located close to the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The Athabasca Basin spans approximately 100,000 km2 and is home to the world’s highest-grade uranium deposits. The Athabasca Basin is responsible for 13% of the world's uranium supply thanks to the Cigar Lake uranium mine of Cameco. The basin also hosts more than 13 mines in total.

The average grade of mineralisation in the Athabasca Basin is 3.95% U3O8, in contrast to the rest of the world's average grade of approximately 0.15%. The basin traditionally hosts unconformity-type deposits with basement-hosted deposits just outside the margins of the basin.

The advantages of basement-hosted deposits include simpler geology, more competent rock, more easily mineable and traditionally lower Capital costs (CAPEX) projects.

The company is in search of basement-hosted deposits outside of the Athabasca Basin, which it aptly refers to as Athabasca 2.0. All three projects of Baselode Energy Corp. are located outside the basin in Athabasca 2.0.

Projects

The Shadow project of the company is a 46,000 hectares land package that is located on the Virgin River shear zone, one of the largest structural trends in northern Saskatchewan. The Virgin River shear zone also hosts the Centennial uranium deposit of Cameco. The project is located close to all-season highways and powerlines.

The Shadow project hosts a large and deep-rooted mineralisation structure, which is ideal for basement-hosted deposits. The structural system of the project includes a strong structure following the preferred NE-SW orientations as well as allowing for fluid migration as uranium is highly mobile under certain fluid conditions. The company has conducted an airborne magnetotellurics (MT) survey with the results showing great promise.

The Catharsis project of the company is a 71,000 hectares large land package that is on geological strike with the Wollaston and Mudjatik domains. The Wollaston and Mudjatik domains have seen more than 2 billion pounds of U3O8 discovered along the trend, which is referred to as the uranium high-grade deposit capital of the world.

The Catharsis project has been historically underexplored with some exploration occurring at the project in the 1970s. The project hosts some surface occurrences, with a grab sample showing 1.38% of U3O8 discovered in the northeast corner of the project.

The Hook project of the company is hosted within the basement rocks of the Wollaston domain. The project is a 42,000 hectares land package which is located 40 km southeast from the McArthur River mine, 60 km northeast from the Key Lake uranium mill, and 16 km west of all-season Provincial highway 905 and powerlines. 

The Hook project also hosts the ACKIO discovery of Baselode Energy Corp. The ACKIO discovery is a high-grade uranium deposit with assay results of up to 0.24% wt U3O8. The deposit has multiple uranium intersections within 200 m of the surface with mineralisation that is visible in drill core samples. 

Financial position and 2022 plans

Baselode Energy Corp. has a cash position of CAD$ 20 million, which has enabled it to be fully funded for its 2022 plans. The company has a tight capital structure with 20% controlled by insiders of the company. Baselode Energy Corp. believes that the uranium market has strong fundamentals and is positioning itself to be able to capitalise on the uranium market's impending increase.

The company has recently initiated its planned 10,000 m exploration drilling program at the ACKIO deposit with it receiving its temporary work camp (TWC) permit in January 2022 and completing the building of the exploration camp on site.

The company has been eagerly awaiting the start of the exploration drilling at the ACKIO discovery, as the exploration drilling program is aimed at better understanding the uranium mineralisation of the deposit. The diamond drilling campaign of 2021 showed that the mineralisation of the ACKIO discovery is open in all directions.

The 2022 exploration program will consist of continuous 50 m step-out holes to the north and south along strike, which the company believes will not only give clarity regarding mineralisation but also test unconformity-style mineralisation and sub-parallel mineralisation trends. The company plans to release radioactivity results of the exploration drill samples on a bi-weekly basis as it awaits the completion of the uranium assay results. The assay results will be released as they become available.

Baselode Energy Corp. further plans to launch four airborne geophysical surveys in 2022, which will consist of VTEM, MT, magnetic/radiometric and gravity analysis on the Catharsis, Hook and Hook SW projects. The company hopes to include the Shadow project in this geophysical survey, which is currently in consultation. The Shadow project is currently experiencing resistance from the first nation in the area, who feel their traditional rights will be affected by the exploration activities.

The company also plans to conduct between 2,500 m and 5,000 m of exploration at other targets on the Hook project, independent of the ACKIO discovery, as well as 2,500 m and 5,000 m of exploration at the Catharsis project.

Baselode Energy Corp. plans to aggressively explore the ACKIO discovery in the summer of 2022 with its planning to conduct an additional 30,000 m of exploration at the discovery. The aggressive exploration will see the ACKIO discovery undergoing a total of 40,000 m of exploration in 2022.

The company believes that the exploration planned at the ACKIO discovery will be sufficient to enable the creation of a NI 43-101 resource estimate at the ACKio discovery. The company plans to initiate the NI 43-101 resource estimate by the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.

Baselode Energy Corp. believes that its aggressive exploration plans for 2022 will enable it to capitalise on the impending uranium market upswing.

‍To find out more, go to the Baselode Energy website