Aero Energy: Strong starting point for uranium drilling at Sun Dog project

Canadian uranium company Aero Energy (TSXV AERO / WKN A4007Y) plans to start drilling on its projects on the northern edge of the Athabasca Basin, which is known worldwide for its uranium deposits, in just a few weeks (early June). Now the company is outlining the potential of its very promising Sun Dog project, after the opportunities at the Murmac project were recently described in detail.

Aero already has a wealth of data on Sun Dog from exploration work by its operating partner Standard Uranium and historical data from previous operators. Among other things, the project is home to the historic Gunnar mine, where around 18 million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) were mined between 1953 and 1981. At its peak, this was the largest uranium producer in the world!

Numerous historic high-grade uranium occurrences have also been identified at surface on the project area, ranging from 0.1% to 12.39% U3O8. These occurrences occur both in the bedrock below the unconformity and in the Athabasca sandstones above the unconformity, confirming the presence of unconformity-related high-grade uranium on the Sun Dog project.

Trenching conducted by Standard Uranium has also identified anomalous to strong radioactivity ranging from 500 cps to >65,535 cps (counts per second) directly associated with sandstone and basement faults, as well as along the surface expression of the unconformity in several target areas, providing further compelling support for the high prospectivity of the Sun Dog project.

On the trail of promising bedrock

Aero Energy currently believes that the most prospective targets are graphitic shear zones, as seen in deposits such as NexGen Energy’s Arrow and Fission Uranium’s Triple R elsewhere in the Athabasca Basin. However, these types of bedrock deposits or graphitic shear zones are not visible on the surface.

This is one of the reasons why CEO Galen McNamara’s company is currently flying a VTEMTM Plus survey over the project area, which is intended to identify graphite-bearing rock that is capable of harboring significant uranium concentrations. (We reported.) This modern electromagnetic (EM) survey is intended to supplement and expand the results of historical EM tests. These had already identified a total of 40 kilometers (!) of conductive structures.

Target generation to follow shortly

Upon receipt, Aero Energy will interpret and model the VTEMTM results from a geophysical perspective before integrating them into the existing data sets. This will provide the company with an excellent basis for selecting and prioritizing targets for the drilling program scheduled for early June.

Aero Energy CEO Galen McNamara stated, “The Sun Dog project is highly prospective for near-surface, high-grade uranium mineralization and is largely unexplored. The VTEMTM Plus survey covering both the Sun Dog and Murmac projects is nearing completion, and we expect the results to identify a significant number of high-priority drill targets that will be followed up as part of our planned drill program scheduled to commence in early June. We look forward to providing more detailed information on the targets in the coming weeks as we approach our first drill program.”

Aero has entered into an option agreement with Standard Uranium to secure a 100% interest in Sun Dog. This involves investing CAD 6.6 million over three years in the exploration of the project, which covers 48,443 acres, and paying a total of CAD 650,000 in cash and shares over a period of two years. Upon exercise of the option by Aero Energy, Standard Uranium will retain a 2% net smelter returns royalty. However, Aero can reduce this by half in return for a cash payment of C$1 million.