UEX strikes option deal for Black Lake project with ALX Uranium

Uranium explorer UEX Corporation (TSE:UEX) outlined the details of an option deal with ALX Uranium Corp, in which the latter can earn up to a 75% interest in the Black Lake project in the Athabasca basin in Canada.

UEX currently holds a 90.92% interest in the project, which is a joint venture with Areva Resources Canada Inc, which holds the remaining 9.08%.

Areva has consented to ALX earning a participating interest.

Under the deal, ALX can earn up to 75% in stages by paying UEX 12 mln shares and shelling out $6mln for exploration over the next four years.

The first stage is for a 40% participating interest, for which it must issue UEX with 5mln shares after incurring $1mln in exploration expenditures within 12 months of the execution of a definitive agreement (the effective date), including any of ALX’s due diligence exploration expenditures of up to $100,000.

Black Lake houses 12 claims totalling 30,381 hectares with good road access and nearby infrastructure, including an airport.

In 2004, UEX hit a significant intersection of uranium mineralization in one hole (0.69% U3O8 (triuranium octoxide) over 4.4 metres, including 1.09% over 1.5 metres,  which sparked an extensive amount of exploration work in the northern Athabasca basin by UEX and other uranium explorers.

Several other holes were drilled over the next 10 years, but despite the series of uranium occurrences, no new uranium deposit was discovered.

“Black Lake is an attractive project with great potential,” said Sierd Eriks, president and chief executive officer of ALX.

“ALX has the advantage of using a large, modern data archive to assist its process of developing new drill targets on underexplored areas of the project.”

UEX acquired its initial 50% interest in Black Lake as part of its acquisition from Cameco in 2002 of a group of Athabasca basin uranium properties included in UEX’s going-public transaction.

Story by ProactiveInvestors