GTI Energy Ltd. advised that 2 mud rotary drill rigs have now completed the first 40 holes, for 20,370-feet (6,209 metres), of its planned 100,000-foot drill program in Wyoming's Great Divide Basin. Drilling is continuing within the Thor prospect where a total of 40,000-feet (12,200 metres) is planned for ~70-holes of drilling. Drilling has continued at the Thor prospect, located adjacent to Ur-Energy Inc.'s (URE) 18Mlb Lost Creek deposit and operating ISR uranium processing plant2. Exploration at Thor previously identified mineralization with economic potential based on widths, grades & depth of mineralization (ASX release 29 March 2022)1. An initial 100-hole (~50,000 ft) drilling campaign was completed at Thor between November 2021 and March 2022. As part of GTI's 2022 100,000-foot drill program, a 70-hole follow-up campaign is underway to target extents of approximately 2 miles of mineralized
uranium roll fronts at the Thor Project. Forty holes have been completed at Thor to date of a planned 70-hole (~40,000 ft) program. Drilling is focused in the north-east of Thor, including fresh ground at State Section 29 & 20 leases.
40 holes were completed for a total of 20,370 feet (6,209 metres) of drilling. Typical economically viable ISR grade and Grade Thickness (GT) cut-offs are: 0.02% (200ppm) U3O8 and 0.2GT i.e., 10 ft (3m) @ .02% (200ppm) U3O8. Initial results (Tables 1 & 2) are observed as follows: 20 of 40 holes met both grade and GT cutoff with an average of 0.73 GT and11 of the remaining holes met grade cutoff but not GT, 5 had trace mineral & 4 were barren
These results are very encouraging and the mineralization encountered meets expectations for economic ISR uranium recovery. Drilling to date has confirmed that the historic data is an excellent guide for drilling. Drilling has also shown that the geological and hydrogeological setting of the mineralization appears to be conducive to ISR recovery with the main host sand appearing to be continuous in the area and the water table being over 100 feet above the main host sand. Drilling increased confidence that at least three separate roll fronts are present in the main host sand with additional sands positioned above and below the main sand unit. Drilling to the north has shown that at least one of the lower sand units contain roll front uranium mineralization. Continued drilling at the Thor State Lease property (Section 29) has encountered mineralization in the southern portion of the lease. Six drill holes encountered mineralization above the 0.2 GT target, with the best hole (BR-2041) hitting a total hole GT of 2.55. These results show promise for the previously unexplored state lease properties. The northern half of section 31 is delivering very encouraging results from both the upper and lower sand units. Hole BR-2026 contained an interval of 18.5-foot thick 0.087% eU3O8 average grade (GT 1.61) in a lower sand unit. Nearby hole BR-2038 contained a 19.5-foot interval of 0.052% eU3O8 average grade (GT 1.01) in an upper sand unit. GTI's exploration objective is to identify REDOX boundaries and potential host sands in addition to defining the depth, thickness, grade and width of mineralization across the REDOX front. The Company is targeting mineralization which is at least 50 feet (15 metres) below the water table. The drill program may also enable estimation of inferred mineral resources and/or an exploration target.
GTI hopes to continue to encounter mineralization of similar tenor to that encountered at the nearby Lost Creek deposit and that otherwise meets typical economic cutoff criteria for sandstone hosted ISR uranium projects in Wyoming's Great Divide Basin e.g.: Grade greater than 0.02% (200 ppm) U3O8, Grade x Thickness (GT) greater than 0.2 (10 ft @ 0.02 - 3 meters @ 200ppm U3O8) and Width of mineralization above cutoff nominal 50 feet (15 metres) and nominal GT of 0.4. UR Energy's Lost Creek ISR uranium deposit reportedly contains a remaining 13Mlbs of U3O8 at average grade of 0.048% eU3O8 (Measured & Indicated) at a cut-off Grade Thickness (GT) of 0.2.2. The drilling at Thor is progressing well and is expected to take less than 14 further operational days in total to complete allowing for weather, which has been favourable to date. Once drilling at Thor is completed, the drill rigs will move to one of either Odin, Loki, Teebo or Wicket East. Wicket East lies on the southern boundary of Ur-Energy's Lost Soldier Deposit. Drilling of up to 20 holes (~20,000ft) at Wicket East seeks to explore a projected mineralised trend extending from the southern boundary of URE's Lost Soldier property for ~3 miles. This mineralized trend is interpreted from historic drilling information similar to that used at Thor. This season's drilling campaign has so far discovered an additional 4,593 feet of mineralized roll front trends within GTI's Thor project for a now enlarged total of 22,233 feet (4.21 miles). The Company expects that the full ~100,000-foot program will be concluded by the end of 2022 if weather conditions remain favorable. Further drilling results will be available in the coming weeks with final results, conclusions & recommendations for next steps to be developed during early 2023.