Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) surveys “have become a very useful [tracking] tool” for alteration associated with uranium mineralisation in Canada’s famed Athabasca Basin for an explorer looking for repeats of the rich Hurricane find.
Stockbroker Red Cloud Securities said IsoEnergy had identified six new targets in an area covered by ANT surveys, which targeted a 20 square kilometre zone in the eastern part of its flagship Larocque East uranium project. The project hosts the world’s highest-grade uranium deposit at Hurricane.
IsoEnergy said in January this year ANT survey technology supplied by Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies measured naturally occurring environmental seismic vibrations in the ground over a six-day period.
Arrays of 64 lightweight, battery-powered surface sensors called geodes were positioned over a 2sq.km survey grid to collect and deliver information in near real-time to Fleet Space’s low-orbit satellite network.
“The subsurface ANT results are integrated with information that has been gathered through previous exploration activities,” IsoEnergy said.
“With further processing and modelling, it has been possible to highlight mineralized zones associated with changes in seismic velocity.
“Success in correlating ANT responses with the known uranium mineralisation and alteration of the sandstone sequences at the Hurricane deposit has validated the use of this innovative technique in defining additional drill targets at Hurricane and other projects.”
Red Cloud said IsoEnergy’s new targets occurred along two conductive corridors trending east-north-east and appeared to merge in a fold closure on the east side of the property.
“While drill targeting is often not a major catalyst, we believe ANT surveys have become a very useful tool for tracking alteration within the Athabasca Basin and appear to have had great success at Laroque East above Hurricane and along trend,” the broker said.
“Assuming the ANT anomalies do indicate alteration across the property, it demonstrates that hydrothermal fluids have been active over a strike of over 9km, including over Hurricane itself.
“As we have highlighted on many occasions, Athabasca Basin uranium deposits tend to occur in clusters, and we see excellent potential that Hurricane may have neighbours to the east.
“Any further discoveries could provide a valuation step change at Laroque East.”
Being relatively close to the Orano Canada-operated McClean Lake uranium mill “may add further economic potential” at Laroque East.
IsoEnergy has a current market value of about C$516 million.
