CanAlaska Uranium (CVV) - $11.5M Raise Unlocks Portfolio

Recently we had another opportunity to catch up with Cory Belyk, Executive Vice President and CEO of CanAlaska Uranium. The company is active in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan as well as in other parts of Canada. He shared an update with us since our last conversation with him earlier in 2021.

Company Overview

Founded in 1985, CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. is a Canadian junior explorer and developer of uranium, nickel, copper, and diamond projects in western and central Canada. The company considers itself to be a “Prospect Generator”, and has extensive acreage positions in prime areas in the Athabasca Basin.

Management and Direction              

In addition to Belyk, the company is managed by Peter Dasler, President; Nathan Bridge, Vice President Exploration; and Harry Chan, CFO and corporate secretary. In addition, the board consists of Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr., Chairman, as well as Dr. Karl Schimann, Jean Luc Roy, Karen Lloyd, and Goeff Gay. 

CanAlaska Projects

The company is actively engaged in a number of uranium projects, including West McArthur, Waterbury South, and Cree East, which comprise its leading assets. 

Other Athabasca uranium assets in the company fold are the Key Extension, Geikie, North Millennium, McTavish, Marshall, Chymko, Carswell, Moon Lake South, Watson, Warren, Kingston, and Burill. Additionally, the company is involved in the following: the Athabasca kimberlite diamond project in Saskatchewan, the Mouse Mountain copper and gold project in British Columbia, the Ruttan area copper and zinc project in Saskatchewan, and several nickel projects in the Thompson Nickel Belt of Manitoba.

What’s Coming Forward in 2022 

Belyk was quite bullish about 2022, saying that he wants to advance the company’s discoveries and look for new properties that make sense for the company either to work itself or do deals on.  CanAlaska wants to build its portfolio and also bring the financing into the company that's going to allow it to do what it would like to do with its assets. 

CanAlaksa’s Financial Situation 

The company has recently brought in some $11.5 M, so it is well on its way to achieving that goal. The company worked very closely with the Canadian financing company Red Cloud and that was a big component of the money raise. According to the CEO, the company has received great support from different parts of the investment community.  So whether it's private individuals or some of the big institutional players, it's really been a great time for CanAlaska to raise money. He believes that there is a great uranium future in front of the company.  

The CEO told us that initially, the company was trying to raise $8 M to accomplish what it wants to do in 2022. The goal in mind was to get West MacArthur and Waterbury South moving ahead. The company also had the Cree Extension Project, which is a new option just around the Key Lake mining mill. The company was very concerned not to over dilute. Although additional money was available, the company thought it was prudent to stop around $11.5 M. 

Recent Activity

As noted, CanAlaska has multiple projects in-house, not only uranium but also copper and nickel. The company recently announced a letter-of-intent (LOI) deal with a new group on the ASX, Terra Uranium, which brings in some capital from Australia that wants to get into the Athabasca region. Terra Uranium would earn up to 80 percent in the Waterbury East and McTavish projects and up to 20 percent in the Waterbury South project. 

CanAlaska is also moving its nickel assets forward. It signed a deal with a brand-new listing, the Toronto-based Metal Energy, which is intrigued by the Manibridge Project in the Thompson Nickel Belt.  

What is the Priority for CanAlaska’s Uranium Projects?

Other metals aside, uranium is the company’s big focus. Its big uranium assets are the Cree East, West McArthur, and Waterbury South projects. Any of these has a distinct possibility of becoming a tier-one project, according to Belyk. The company has a brand new discovery at its Waterbury South Project, and it is going to aggressively tackle that early in 2022. 

It has continued to build on the discoveries at West McArthur through the summer and fall of 2021. Assays are just now coming back from that work. 

At Cree East, CanAlaska is looking for that right partner to help bring that asset forward. It’s a large property with a lot of targets and uranium mineralization has already been identified.

Additional Partnering Options for the Company

Belyk indicated that his company is having  “lots of conversations” with other companies in the uranium space. Historically the company has had interaction with the Korean company, KEPCO. 

All the fundamentals for uranium are just as strong as they have been in the last three to four months, according to Belyk, and in fact, the company has seen better fundamentals since then.  So stay tuned, the CEO indicated, there's a lot of conversations happening, for example, to inject the capital required to move those nine already-indicated zones at Cree East forward. 

Upcoming “Heavy Lifting” for CanAlaska 

Immediately up in 2022 is the Waterbury South project. The very last hole in 2021 intersected a zone of polymetallic mineralization consisting of 2.5 percent nickel, 2.5 percent arsenic, and cobalt, along with one hundred times the background uranium. This is exactly what CanAlaska wants to see, and is similar, for example, to IsoEnergy's recent work at the Hurricane Zone, where that company encountered 2.5 percent nickel on the fringes of its Hurricane prospect. CanAlaska intends to aggressively tackle Waterbury South and see what comes of it. 

Additionally, in the summer, the company is going to be back in at West MacArthur in June. It has plans to double the budget there from that of 2021. CanAlaska is still waiting to release all the results from the fall 2021 program at West MacArthur because it is waiting on assay results. 

Following that, the company plans on focusing on its extension project some 15km away from the Key Lake deposits. It has fault-structure control on this and looks forward to exploring it in 2022. 

CanAlaska is a Uranium Company

Despite its interest in several other metals besides uranium, Belyk closed out the conversation by making sure that investors know that CanAlaska is principally a uranium company. Nickel is a “tack-on indicator” for uranium, he said, but first and foremost, he runs a uranium company. 

To find out more, go to the CanAlaska Website