NickelX continues push into uranium with increased acreage at Elliott Lake site

NickelX (ASX: NKL) has expanded its Elliot Lake uranium project in Canada by acquiring an additional 51 square kilometres through securing the rights to 11 multi-cell claims known as the Blind River Block.

These claims are adjacent to the historic Pronto uranium mine and are reported to contain a substantial sequence of the Elliot Lake Group, host to the majority of uranium mines in the district.

The newly-acquired block features two historic uranium occurrences described in the records of the Ontario geological survey as “uraniferous quartz pebble conglomerates”.

Extensive project

With this expansion, the Elliot Lake project now encompasses 41 multi-cell mining claims across five sub-projects, covering a total area of 180 sq km.

NickelX’s exploration focus within these claims is on conglomerate-hosted uranium and rare earth elements, particularly in areas that are underexplored yet believed to be extensions of the significant uranium mining centre at Elliot Lake.

“This project area has been overlooked in recent times but represents an incredible opportunity to revitalise NickelX,” said company chair Jonathan Downes.

Elliot Lake history

Uranium exploration in the Elliot Lake district commenced between 1948 and 1957, a period when there were no civilian markets for uranium.

Spurred by the growing demand from nuclear power plants in North America, activities resumed in 1965 and continued until the late 1970s.

Although exploration was limited in the 1980s due to low uranium prices, the 2000s saw renewed drilling and development in the existing deposits at Abeta (Eco Ridge), Roche (Teasdale Lake) and Banana Lake.

Within NickelX’s current project area, exploration was conducted exclusively from 1952 to 1974.

Significant producer

Historically, the Elliot Lake district was a significant producer, yielding a total of 362 million pounds of uranium oxide from 13 underground mines with an average ore grade of 1,060 parts per million.

Recent efforts in re-processing geophysical data and integrating the latest geological insights have identified multiple high-priority uranium targets within the project area.

This work has particularly highlighted a strong uranium-thorium ratio and radiometric anomalism in the Kirkpatrick, Inspiration and Quirke West claim blocks, areas known for this type of occurrence and mineralisation identified by previous exploration.

NickelX is currently focusing on these high-priority areas through detailed field activities including mapping, sampling and drill hole siting.

The company is also actively evaluating new opportunities within the district.