The Western Athabasca Syndicate Commences Winter Exploration Program on its Preston Lake Uranium Property in the Patterson Lake Region of Saskatchewan
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec 11, 2013) - Noka Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Noka") (TSX VENTURE:NX)(FRANKFURT:2NK) is pleased to announce that the Western Athabasca Syndicate (the "Syndicate") has commenced a ground gravity geophysical survey at its flagship Preston Lake Uranium Property (the "Property"). Upon receiving the final data from the extensive, three-phased summer field program, the Syndicate's Technical Team recently met in Cranbrook to evaluate and interpret all of the results and to make final recommendations for the $600,000 winter program. The fieldwork will start with ground gravity to locate areas of hydrothermal alteration associated with known conductors. These areas will be further refined using radon and EM surveys to locate specific targets for drill testing in March 2014.
The 246,643 hectare Property, held by the Syndicate, is the largest land package proximal to Alpha Minerals and Fission Uranium's Patterson Lake South ("PLS") high-grade uranium discovery. The Syndicate continues to employ a systematic, proven exploration methodology that has led to numerous uranium discoveries in the region and throughout the Athabasca Basin. This has been very effective with the summer program yielding numerous high-quality targets with similar geological features and exploratory indicators also present at the nearby PLS discovery.
Preston Lake Property Map:
http://www.nokaresources.com/images/JV-Property.jpg
Highlights:
- Winter exploration program has commenced with Phase 4 consisting of ground gravity, radon and EM surveys to refine specific drill targets for March 2014
- The Syndicate has invested $1.5 million in expenditures on the Property to date and has delineated more than fifteen high-priority areas associated with eight highly prospective exploration corridors and coincident geochemical anomalies similar to the corridor hosting the high-grade PLS discovery
- Of the fifteen areas associated with the corridors, the seven most prospective are being followed up on in the current program
- Given the size of the Property, exploration to date has only focused on approximately half of the land package leaving significant exploration upside potential in untested areas
Commencement of the Winter Exploration Program:
The ground gravity survey will evaluate seven high-priority areas to locate extensively altered basement rocks associated with basement conductors. The leaching and replacement of basement rocks by hydrothermal basinal fluids creates a density contrast resulting in a relative gravity low. Zones of extensive, intensive, alteration are associated with strong uranium mineralization elsewhere in the Athabasca Basin and these anomalies will be used to prioritize and accurately locate areas for detailed radon and EM surveys, leading to specific drill targets. The survey will cover approximately 50 square kilometers and is being carried out by MWH Geo-Surveys Ltd.
Preston Lake Property - Gravity Survey Coverage:
http://www.nokaresources.com/images/NR_Map_Dec_4_no_ad-tau.pdf
High-Priority Targets from the 2013 Summer Program:
The 2013 summer exploration program was completed in mid-October in which a total of 42 rock, 653 soil, 404 radon in water, 181 radon in soil, 766 biogeochemical, and 253 lake sediment samples were collected and analyzed, in addition to 1,046 square kilometres of airborne VTEM and 876 square kilometres of airborne radiometric surveys. This was one of the largest regional exploration programs carried out in the Athabasca Basin during the year, with over $1.5 million in expenditures on the Preston Lake Property to date.
Preston Lake Property - High Potential Targets:
http://www.nokaresources.com/NX-Syndicate-Corridors.jpg
Integration of the geochemical and geological data with the airborne geophysics and historic data has delineated more than fifteen high-priority areas associated with eight highly prospective exploration corridors. The Property's prospective corridors are very similar to the corridor hosting the high-grade PLS discovery by Alpha Minerals and Fission Uranium. Management cautions, mineralization present on proximal properties (or 'corridors') is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Syndicate's Property.
A high potential exploration corridor may be defined as prospective, parallel trends of conductors, magnetics lows, and interpreted structures. These corridors remain largely underexplored south of the Basin, having been ignored historically. However, the Syndicate's 2013 airborne geophysical data has confirmed that at least eight high-potential corridors extend onto the Preston Lake Property. Moreover, integration of the 2013 summer ground sampling data further enhances the corridor potential with multiple coincident geochemical and radon anomalies.
Of the fifteen areas associated with the corridors, the seven most prospective are being followed up on in the current program, which will extend through February. This data will be used for final targeting in advance of drilling anticipated to commence in March 2014.
About the Western Athabasca Syndicate:
The Western Athabasca Syndicate is a strategic partnership formed between Skyharbour, Athabasca Nuclear, Lucky Strike and Noka to explore and develop a 287,130 hectare suite of uranium properties that is the largest land position along the highly prospective margin of the Western Athabasca Basin controlled by a single group. Under the terms of the agreement, each of the four companies has an option to earn 25% of the five uranium properties comprising the Western Athabasca Syndicate Partnership by making a series of cash payments, share payments, and incurring their pro-rata amount of the total $6,000,000 in exploration expenditures over the two-year earn-in term of the agreement. The properties were acquired for their proximity to the PLS discovery and interpreted favourable geology for the occurrence of PLS style uranium mineralization. The bulk of the Syndicate land package is bisected by all-weather Highway 955 which runs north through the PLS discovery on to the former Cluff Lake uranium mine.
The Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan hosts the world's largest and richest high-grade uranium deposits which have grades substantially higher than the world average grade of about 0.1% U3O8. The Patterson Lake area has received escalating exploration attention and claim acquisition activity as a result of the new, near surface discoveries made by Alpha and Fission which includes the recently reported drill interval of 9.08% U3O8 over 54.5 metres in drill hole PLS13-075. Consistent high-grade, near surface U3O8 assays from Alpha and Fission demonstrate the potential for high-grade uranium mineralization on the geologically prospective yet underexplored margins of the western side of the Athabasca Basin.
Qualified Person:
Athabasca Nuclear President and CEO, Charles C. (Chuck) Downie, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information in this release.
About Noka Resources Inc.:
Noka Resources Inc. is a junior exploration company with a focus on uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin, Northern Saskatchewan. Noka's exploration strategy is focused in relatively underexplored areas of the Athabasca Basin Region, targeting favourable geology and structure amenable to near surface, unconformity-style uranium mineralization.
With a total land position of 488,463 hectares, Noka holds one of the largest geologically prospective land packages in the region through a 100% interest in the Clearwater and Athabasca North group of properties, as well as a 25% interest in the Western Athabasca Syndicate group of properties.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Nav Dhaliwal, President and CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
Contact
Noka Resources Inc.
Nav Dhaliwal
President and CEO
(604) 678-5308
nav@nokaresources.com
www.nokaresources.com