Skyharbour Strengthens Uranium Portfolio W/ Strategic Acquisitions

Skyharbour Resources (Canada: SYH.V)(USA: SYHBF) is a high-grade uranium exploration company that is worth keeping an eye on.

Over the past month, the Company has been taking important steps to strengthen its competitive position in the marketplace.

With multiple strategic acquisitions bringing its total uranium portfolio to over 500,000 hectares, and an ongoing 10,000-meter drill program at one of its co-flagship properties, Skyharbour continues to climb the ranks as a key player in the uranium exploration business.

In this article, we’ll discuss Skyharbour Resources’ progress as a company, its recent acquisitions, and the implications of its growth strategy.

When it comes to the evolution of nuclear energy and uranium mining/exploration, Skyharbour is well-positioned to capitalize on this transformational industry.

What is Skyharbour Resources (A Brief Overview)

To bring you up to speed, here is a quick overview of the Company so that you know exactly what you are dealing with.

Skyharbour Resources is a high-grade uranium exploration and early-stage development company, holding an extensive portfolio of uranium exploration projects.

The Company’s total land package is 504,356 hectares, spread across twenty-four properties within the Athabasca Basin.

The Athabasca Basin is located in Saskatchewan, Canada, and is home to the highest-grade uranium deposits in the world, according to the World Nuclear Association.

These deposits possess high grades that are 10 to 100 times greater than the global average.

Skyharbour’s two flagship projects are the Moore Lake and Russell Lake properties.

Moore Lake is a 100%-owned, advanced-stage uranium exploration property, covering 35,705 hectares, while Russell Lake is a highly prospective, 73,294-hectare property currently being optioned from Rio Tinto

Throughout the exploration process at Moore Lake, Skyharbour has discovered multiple areas of high-grade uranium mineralization, posting highlight drill results of 6.0% U3O8 over 5.9 meters including 20.8% U3O8 over 1.5 meters at a vertical depth of 265 meters.

As for Russell Lake, the property has been subject to significant exploration efforts in the past, including over 95,000 meters of drilling in over 220 drill holes, with numerous highly prospective uranium target areas discovered.

Demonstrating their high conviction in Russell Lake, Skyharbour is undertaking a fully-funded 10,000-meter drill program, consisting of 18 to 20 drill holes, as we speak—they plan to follow up with additional drilling at Moore Lake in conjunction with the drilling at Russell.

Following the drill program (expected completion: June 2023), the Company intends to follow up on notable historic findings, while testing additional targets as well.

In addition, Skyharbour owns another 22 properties, most notably the South Falcon Point (100% owned, 44,470 hectares), Preston (24.5% interest, 49,635 hectares), and East Preston (15% interest, 20,647 hectares) projects.

To allocate capital effectively, Skyharbour Resources uses a prospect generator model whereby they partner with other companies to advance their secondary projects and fund the bulk of the exploration while paying Skyharbour cash and stock in return.

This enables the Company to hone in on its most advanced projects, like Moore Lake and Russell Lake, while still retaining exposure to potential mineral discoveries on these other properties.

Not only does this help mitigate costs for Skyharbour, but it also provides them with additional cash flows and diversification, thus producing a more sustainable business model overall.

To cap it all off, the Company is led by a highly reputable and proven management and a geological team that includes Director, President, and CEO, Jordan Trimble, geologists Dave Billard and Christine Mckechnie, Chairman and Director Jim Pettit, Directors David Cates and Joe Gallucci, as well as others.

If you’d like to learn more about Skyharbour Resources, its properties, and its management team, check out our previous article covering the Company in detail, here​

Skyharbour Acquires 100% of South Dufferin Uranium Project

Demonstrating confidence in the South Dufferin uranium project, Skyharbour recently announced the 100% acquisition of the property from Denison Mines.

The South Dufferin Project totals 13,204 hectares, spread out over ten claims in the Athabasca Basin.

The Project has been subject to significant exploration over the years including, airborne EM, magnetic, and radiometric surveys, lake water and sediment sampling, prospecting and ground-truthing of airborne anomalies, geological mapping, and diamond drilling.

During these exploration efforts, historical drill holes discovered alterations in the clay, indicating that there is elevated uranium on the property.

What’s more, previous drill results from Cameco Corp.’s Dufferin Lake zone (approx. 13 km North) and Centennial deposit (approx. 25 km North) determined that there was known high-grade uranium mineralization in the area—Highlights from these drill results were 1.73% U3O8 over 6.5 meters, and 8.78% U3O8 over 33.9 meters, respectively.

While it has already shown promising results in the past, the South Dufferin project still boasts significant exploration potential for uranium mineralization as it has an apparent offset of >200m, and numerous other parallel faults within the Virgin River Shear zone.

When discussing the acquisition of South Dufferin, CEO Jordan Trimble said, “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Denison to acquire a 100% interest in South Dufferin […] South Dufferin complements our more advanced-stage exploration assets including Russell Lake, Moore, and South Falcon Point, and provides additional ground to option or joint-venture out to new partner companies as a part of our prospect generator business.”

It is also important to note that Denison Mines is a key shareholder and strategic partner of the Company, and the recent acquisition allows Denison to further build up its equity position, with its President and CEO David Cates being a Director of Skyharbour.

All-in-all, this is a great acquisition by the team and will help strengthen its already dominant uranium project portfolio.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Skyharbour Adds Eight New Properties via Strategic Property Staking

Taking it up a notch, Skyharbour is doubling down on its uranium project portfolio through the addition of another eight uranium properties in the Athabasca Basin.

These 100% owned properties span 34,022 hectares in the Basin and will become a part of the Company’s prospect generator business as it remains focused on its 10,000-meter drill program at Russell Lake.

The Eight Properties include the:

​Highway Project​

The Highway Project is a one-claim property covering 1,184 hectares.

It is approximately 41 kilometers south of the Rabbit Lake Mine and 11 km SW of Uranium Energy Corp.’s West Bear Uranium and Cobalt-Nickle Deposits.

Highway 905 (hence the name) runs through the property and is close to regional infrastructure, making it easily accessible for future exploration.

During historic exploration programs on the property and surrounding area, surface sampling and diamond drilling encountered anomalous Uranium, Thorium, and other Rare Earth Elements (RRE), along the strike at “T-Lake”, just southwest of Skyharbour’s project.

Based on previous ground prospecting, the results suggest that the Highway Project has the potential to host both RREs and uranium mineralization.

​Snow, Shoe, and CBX Projects​

Next up is Skyharbour’s Snow, Shoe, and CBX projects which consist of three non-contiguous claims totaling 2,582 hectares.

These properties run approximately 10 to 25 km along the strike, northeast of the currently idled Eagle Point uranium mine.

Though the projects have not experienced modern exploration tactics, historic sampling, identified several conductors lying on or along the trend of the properties.

These conductors are a positive indication, thus making all three properties prospective for uranium mineralization, as well as other REEs.

​914, 914 N, and Elevator Projects​

The 914, 914N, and Elevator projects are made up of four non-contiguous claims totaling 11,873 hectares.

They are located near Provincial Highway 914 which provides direct and easy access to the southern part of the province.

Though modern work on the projects is limited, and no uranium occurrences were noted, extensive efforts in the past determined that surrounding areas, such as Sandra Lake, Key Lake Road, Karpinka Lake, and Don Lake, were hosts to significant uranium mineralization and REEs, thus making 914, 914N, and Elevator worthy prospects.

​Karin Project​

Lastly, Skyharbour’s Karin Project is made up of five claims covering 18,383 hectares.

The property is roughly 21 to 33 km east of Highway 914 and runs adjacent to Skyharbour’s Foster Project.

While most of the exploration work was completed in the late 1960s and early 1980s, more recent prospecting was completed in 2008, which led to the discovery of an outcrop of pegmatite on the property, containing 181 ppm Uranium, 205 ppm Niobium, and 39 ppm Tantalum, in the area.

Otherwise, the project has been unexplored since the 1980s and is prospective to both uranium deposits and REEs in the future.

Skyharbour Partner Completes its 2023 Drill Program at the East Preston Project

Adding to the good news, one of Skyharbour’s partners, Azincourt Energy announced the completion of its 2023 exploration program at the East Preston uranium project.

In total, 3,066 meters, in 12 drill holes were completed, with a total of 687 samples collected throughout the program.

These samples are being sent to the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon for analysis with results expected to begin arriving in May.

The objective of the drill program was to continue to evaluate alteration zones and elevated uranium found during the winter of 2022, with a focus on East Preston’s G, K, H, and Q Zones.

During the program, three holes in the G-Zone, three holes in the K-Zone, five holes in the H-Zone, and one hole in the Q-Zone were drilled.

At the G-Zone, extensive hydrothermal alteration and cross-cutting structures were evident, while elevated radioactivity was found in two of the holes as well.

Similarly, drilling in the K-Zone encountered extensive structure and hydrothermal alteration, increasing the length of the alteration zone by 300 meters to 1500 meters long.

What’s more, samples of clay alterations determined that all three holes contained illite and kaolinite, with one hole also having dravite within the structural zone—these minerals indicate the presence of uranium deposits.

As for drilling in the H-Zone, an intense graphitic fault zone with hydrothermal alteration was discovered.

On top of that, the illite clay alteration halo identified in the K-Zone was found to extend into the H-Zone; elevated radioactivity, kaolinite, and dravite were identified in holes as well.

Lastly, drilling in the Q-Zone found weak structures of hematite alteration with a lack of a graphitic package.

As such, additional drilling in the area is required and will be considered a lower priority moving forward.

Overall, Azincourt considers the drilling results to date to be significant, with the company’s President and CEO, Alex Klenman stating, “We’re very pleased with the results of this year’s program so far.”

What are Alterations, Faults, and Fractures, and Why Are They Important?

By now you have heard us mention terms like “hydrothermal alteration”, “clay alteration”, “hematite alteration”, etc.

Moreover, we have used terms like faults and fractures when discussing the structure of various properties.

But what exactly does it all mean?

Well, to put it simply, these alterations, faults, and fractures are important indicators that determine whether uranium deposits are present in the area.

Uranium deposits are often found in areas of rock that have been altered by hydrothermal activity, which is the circulation of hot fluids through the rock.

This alteration can lead to the formation of specific minerals that are indicative of the presence of uranium.

As such, these alteration zones can aid geologists in finding areas that are likely to contain uranium deposits.

Final Word

As you can see, Skyharbour Resources (Canada: SYH.V)(USA: SYHBF) has made significant progress in its uranium project portfolio over the past month.

With 24 projects, spanning more than 500,000 hectares, the Company is one of the largest mineral tenure holders in the region and is in an excellent position to capitalize on exploration success in Canada’s Athabasca Basin.

What’s more, many of its projects are seeing high levels of activity, including its Moore Lake, Russell Lake, and East Preston projects, thus reinforcing its claim as an industry leader in the uranium exploration market.

This will provide ample news flow and catalysts over the coming months including the results from the ongoing 10,000m drill program at the company’s co-flagship Russell Lake project.

As conventional nuclear energy and new advanced nuclear technologies continue to evolve, becoming an increasingly valuable source of sustainable energy, the bullish argument will only grow stronger for uranium companies like Skyharbour Resources.

To learn more about Skyharbour Resources (Canada: SYH.V)(USA: SYHBF), check out its investor presentation below.

SKYHARBOUR RESOURCES (Canada: SKY.V) (USA: SYHBF)