Standard Uranium - On Path to Make Discovery as Drills Turn

Standard Uranium Ltd. is a junior uranium exploration company based in Canada, focused on the advancement of its 5 uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin region of Northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The Athabasca Basin is the world’s leading source of high-grade uranium and is responsible for 20% of global uranium production.

Matthew Gordon spoke with Jon Bey, the President and CEO of Standard Uranium (TSX-V:STND) to discuss the company’s recent activities. 

Company Overview

The company’s flagship project, the Davidson River project is located on the inferred extension of the same mineralisation trend that hosts both the Triple R deposit of Fission Uranium Corp. as well as the Arrow deposit of NexGen Energy Ltd. The company has conducted various exploration programs on the Davidson River project including exploration in 2020 and 2021.

Standard Uranium Ltd. plans to conduct additional exploration on the Davidson River project in May 2022, which will be aimed at following up on the most prospective basement structures and alteration zones the company has intersected to date. The planned exploration program will also test new targets along the project’s conductor strike.

The company has recently announced that it has commenced with a diamond drilling exploration program at its Sun Dog project, located on the North-western edge of the Athabasca Basin. The exploration diamond drilling program will follow up on high resolution airborne magnetic and ground gravity surveys the company conducted on the project’s Skye, Haven and Java targets. The exploration drilling program is planned to be 3,000 m of drilling in ten drill holes to follow up on known high-grade uranium mineralisation.

Standard Uranium further plans on conducting geophysical surveys on its Eastern Athabasca Basin Projects namely the Atlantic, Canary and Ascent projects, with the aim of identifying targets for exploration drilling it plans on conducting at the end of 2022.

The Uranium Sector and Russian

The current geopolitical situation unfolding between Russia and Ukraine has affected the global uranium market, through fears of the international community that a uranium shortage is on the horizon. Russia, as well as Ukraine, are both contributors to the global uranium sector, with the World Nuclear Association stating that Russia is the 7th largest uranium supplier globally and Ukraine is the 9th largest. Kazakhstan, the world's largest supplier of uranium is a neighbouring country of Russia and has in the past shown support towards the country. The fears of the international community include that should sanctions against Russia increase, Kazakhstan may step back from supplying uranium as a sign of support towards Russia. The purchase of 1.4 million pounds of uranium by Sprott Asset Management LP, a subsidiary of Sprott Inc. also contributed to the current volatile uranium market.

Jon Bey, the President and CEO of Standard Uranium believes that the geopolitical situation will have a large effect on the global uranium market and states:

“…we're sitting back and watching things develop in what we know as a Uranium exploration company. This is going to have a massive impact specifically for everyone in the whole space but for people based in North America, we realise, the US is looking at this with their 94 nuclear reactors starting to realise that that supply coming from Russia or Kazakhstan is going to be limited in the future.”

He believes that the future holds great potential and opportunities for junior uranium companies and further states:

“…they're (USA) going to have to start looking more internally and to friendly allies such as Canada, US and so forth. So we think the next few years are going to be phenomenal for the infrastructure getting built in North America and we believe we're going to be on the front end of that.”

Standard Uranium Ltd. is currently underway with various exploration initiatives to be well-positioned for the impending opportunities in the uranium sector.

Projects

Standard Uranium Ltd. holds 5 high-quality uranium exploration projects in the Athabasca Basin which total a 56,411-hectare land package. The projects of the company consist of its flagship Davidson River project, the Sun Dog project and three eastern Athabasca Basin projects, namely the Canary, Ascent and Atlantic projects.

The Davidson River project of the company is located in the southwestern portion of the Athabasca Basin near the Patterson Lake uranium district. The Sun Dog project of the company is a 17,309-hectare land package along the northwestern edge of the Athabasca Basin.

2022 exploration plans

Standard Uranium Ltd announced in late 2021, that 2022 will be the most ambitious year of exploration for the company to date. The company plans on conducting exploration activities at all 5 of its projects. The exploration activities will consist of executing a minimum of two exploration drill campaigns, as well as geophysical surveys at four of its projects to prioritise targets for future drilling.

The company announced in February 2022 that it had initiated its winter exploration program at its Sun Dog project.

Sun Dog project

The winter exploration program at the Sun Dog project is the first exploration drilling conducted by Standard Uranium Ltd. at the project. The exploration drilling follows high-resolution ground gravity and UAV magnetics surveys conducted by the company over high-priority targets it identified. The exploration campaign is focused on several high-priority targets along the project’s graphitic conductors as well as on historical intersections of high-grade uranium mineralization. The company announced that it had initiated the exploration drilling at the Sun Dog uranium project in March 2022

The exploration drilling program further follows up on high-grade mineralization discovered at surface at the Haven (0.7% U3O8), Skye (3.58% U3O8), and Java (1.7% U3O8) targets. The mineralisation of the project has never been tested at depth, and the current exploration program will also attempt to discover the high-grade origin of the project’s mineralisation.

The exploration of the Sun Dog project is well underway, with the company planning to publish the results of the program as soon as possible. Bey states:

“It’s chilly but the drills are all working, guys are pretty excited. We're getting drills into the ground and getting work coming out now. So that programme is well underway. That'll be about a 6-week program and we will get some results back to our shareholders in the immediate future.”

Davidson River project

The ambitious 2022 exploration program of Standard Uranium Ltd. includes a Spring/Summer exploration drilling program at the Davidson River project. The drill program will see an aggressive exploration campaign aimed at following up at the most prospective basement structures and alteration zones intersected at the project to date. The campaign will include the testing of several kilometres of graphitic conductors at the project as well as the basement rocks at its Thunderbird trend.

The company believes that the exploration will give further insight into the mineralisation of the project, Bey states:

“…starting in May, we're going to be back at Davidson River and that means to bring our team back up there and drilling our 4th drill programme which is exciting. In Each drill programme we've done, we've gotten more and more clues to point us in the right direction. So really excited to be out there drilling another large programme on Davidson River and getting new drills into all 4 of our main conductors. This time we're going to get to the Thunderbird and we've got a remarkable drill crew coming to work with us this summer as well. So really excited about that.”

Eastern Athabasca basin projects

The 2022 exploration program also includes the exploration of the company’s eastern Athabasca Basin projects. The company plans on conducting high-resolution ground gravity surveys at the western Atlantic claim blocks to identify and prioritise future drill targets. The company will also conduct an airborne VTEM survey on the Ascent Project. The VTEM survey is aimed at further defining and modelling the conductive exploration corridors on the property. The company also plans to conduct an induced polarisation/resistivity (IP/resistivity) survey on the Canary Project. The IP/resistivity survey is aimed at generating valuable structural and lithological information about the project, which will enable the company to map out cross-cutting structures and potential alteration halos for the project's mineralisation.

Future

The ambitious exploration program the company plans on conducting in 2022, will require additional funds according to Jon Bey, he states: 

“…we've got CAD$ 2.5 million in the bank right now. We've got an exploration program for 2022 of probably somewhere between CAD$ 7 million and CAD$ 8 million. Now we've already paid for the most part of the Sun Dog project so some of that, most of that has already been spent. So as we get into the summer months and we're looking to fund out Davidson River, there'll be opportunities to do another capital raise down the road.“

Standard Uranium Ltd. plans on raising enough funds to ensure it can proceed with its exploration plans, but not as much as to cause large shareholder dilution. The company believes that it will be able to raise funds at a higher share price in the future and is delaying any equity raises to such a point where it is necessary and where the company may be valued at a higher price. Bey states:

“…we've got our largest exploration season to date, drilling SunDog and then Davidson River and then moving our eastern basin projects along. All we need to do is continue to drill, drill, drill. And I know people say well, why don't you raise CAD$ 20 million and drill twice as much? Well, that question comes down to how much dilution we want to put in front of our shareholders. We want to raise a whole whack of money at this price or do we believe that we're going to step it up, program by program continuing to raise money at a higher equity each time. And that's what we've done. We've raised at CAD$0.15, CAD$0.20, CAD$0.24, and we're hoping to do our next capital raise at a higher valuation as well.”

The future of Standard Uranium Ltd. may also hold the possibility of a joint venture and/or some mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The company is also considering acquiring uranium assets in the USA. The company believes that the North American uranium sector is poised to be a remarkable place to be invested in the next few years and plans to be at the forefront, Bey states:

“…whether that's people coming into our projects, or us investing into other projects that we believe in, North America is going to be a remarkable place to be invested in the next number of years. And we're currently only in Canada but there's no saying that we won't go into the US as well. We think there are great opportunities there too.”

To find out more, go to the Standard Uranium website