Kaycee Uranium Project, Wyoming
Highlights
The Kaycee Project in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB) is the Company’s priority project, covering a 35 mile mineralized trend with over 430 miles of identified roll fronts and consists of more than 55 square miles of mineral rights. Under Nuclear Fuels Inc., this represents the first time since the early 1980’s that the entire district is controlled by one company.
Project Details
Historic drilling of over 3,800 drill holes has confirmed uranium mineralization over more than 1,000 vertical feet in all three historically productive sandstones within the PRB, making the Kaycee Project unique as the only one in the PRB where all three formations—Wasatch, Fort Union, and Lance—are mineralized and potentially amenable to ISR extraction. The majority of the trend has not been well-explored with drilling concentrated on approximately 10% of the trend.
Nuclear Fuels acquired the Kaycee Project from enCore Energy Corp., which retains a back-in right for 51% of the project by paying 2.5X the exploration costs and carrying the Kaycee project to production (costs recoverable from production) upon Nuclear Fuels establishing a minimum of a 43-101 compliant resource of 15 million pound U3O8
Kaycee Project Drilling Results
Nuclear Fuels commenced drilling at the Kaycee Project in November 2023 with a focus on confirming and expanding historic resources at the Saddle Zone, Spur Zone and Stirrup Zone which have not been drill-tested since the early 1980s – completed 200 holes in 2023 and during the first half of 2024. Results from the 2023 and early 2024 drilling successfully confirmed and expanded historically-identified mineralization at all 3 Zones, with numerous holes returning potentially economic grades at relatively shallow, potentially ISR-amenable depths.
In October 2024, the exploration drill program on the Kaycee Project shifted to testing regional targets that have not been previously extensively explored for uranium mineralization. The regional drilling was successful in identifying two new zones of roll front-hosted uranium mineralization and include the best drilling results to date. These targets were generated by the evaluation of over 500 oil and gas logs and represent new discoveries associated with previously unidentified roll front trends that are incremental to the 430 miles of roll fronts historically delineated on the Project.
Planning is currently underway for the 2025 drill program at the Kaycee Project, which is anticipated to commence in May 2025. The initial focus will be to follow up on the new discoveries at the Outpost and Trail Dust Zones to better define their orientation and geometry. 2025 drilling will also test other high priority regional targets given the early success in identifying new zones of roll front-hosted uranium mineralization in this underexplored area of the Project.
In the PRB, potentially ISR-recoverable uranium mineralization with a GT of greater than 0.20 is considered suitable for inclusion in a potential wellfield.
Saddle Zone Drill Results
High-grade mineralization was identified across the Saddle Zone, covering ~1,000 acres. Of the drilled holes, 38 returned a Grade Thickness (GT) > 0.25, suitable for inclusion in typical Powder River Basin wellfields.
Highlights:
- Hole SD24-095: 0.233% eU₃O₈ over 7 feet (GT 1.631), testing the northern extension of the eastern Saddle Zone trend.
- Hole SD23-065: 0.237% eU₃O₈ over 4.5 feet at a depth of 306 feet (GT 1.067).
- Drilling averaged a depth of 518 feet through July.
- Deeper drilling intercepted previously unrecognized anomalous mineralization in formations beneath the Saddle Zone and to the southwest.
- The ongoing program aims to expand the main trend and further investigate deeper mineralized formations.
Spur Zone Drill Results
By the end of July, 61 drill holes were completed at the Spur Zone, with an average depth of 432 feet. Drilling has extended known mineralization to the south, indicating the potential to significantly expand historic zones:
- Highlights:
- Hole SR23-024 returned 0.109% eU₃O₈ over 4 feet (GT 0.436), marking a new southern extension trending toward the Saddle Zone, approximately 2 miles away.
- Holes SR24-031 (GT 0.632) and SR24-040 (GT 0.585) extended this trend by more than 1,000 feet, which remains open to the south.
This extension toward the Saddle Zone supports the possibility of a connection between these two mineralized areas. Further testing of this concept is a priority in the ongoing drilling program.
Stirrup Zone (West and East) Drill Results
The Stirrup West and East Zones are located ~0.8 miles north and 1.2 miles northeast of the Spur Zone, respectively. In Q3/24, 74 drill holes averaging 491 feet deep were completed to confirm historical mineralization (1970s–1980s) and test for extensions.
Stirrup West Zone Highlights:
- Hole JD24-002: 0.205% eU₃O₈ over 8 feet (GT 1.640), highest GT encountered by the company.
- Hole JD24-058: 0.077% eU₃O₈ over 5 feet (GT 0.385), indicating potential extensions northward and toward the Spur Zone.
Stirrup East Zone Highlights:
- Confirmed high-grade historical mineralization and extended the zone ~1,000 feet northeast.
- Hole JD24-063: 0.107% eU₃O₈ over 4.5 feet (GT 0.482) and an additional 0.057% eU₃O₈ over 6.5 feet (total GT 0.854).
Of 74 Stirrup Zone holes, 50% (37) returned anomalous gamma values, with 16 holes achieving GT ≥ 0.2, including six >0.5.
Across the broader area, 107 holes (average depth: 498.9 feet) were drilled, with 83% (90) showing anomalous uranium, and 18 holes achieving GT ≥ 0.2.
Trail Dust & Outpost Zone:
At the Outpost Zone, drill hole LT24_050 returned 0.082% eU3O8 over 6.5 feet for a total GT of 0.532, beginning at a downhole depth of 767.0 feet; the best result to date in the Kaycee Project’s regional exploration program. The roll front trend remains open and will be a primary focus when drilling resumes.
At the Trail Dust Zone, located approximately 1.5 miles to the north of the Outpost Zone, drill hole LT24_037 returned 0.0553% eU3O8 over 5.5 feet for a total hole GT of 0.304, beginning at a downhole depth of 886.0 feet.
Drill hole LT24_004 was drilled approximately two miles to the southeast of holes LT24_037 and returned 0.029% eU3O8 over 3.0 feet for a total hole GT of 0.086. While lower grade than the other Trail Dust Zone holes located to the northwest, initial geological interpretation suggests the mineralization intersected in hole LT24_004 may represent the same roll front trend and testing of the approximately two-mile distance between these intercepts for additional zones of high grade mineralization will be a priority for the 2025 drill program.
NI 43-101 Technical Report
The Technical Report, prepared by WWC Engineering, has identified an exploration target of 11.5 to 30 million pounds of uranium (“U3O8”) supported by available historical data from previous operators and recent exploration recently conducted by Nuclear Fuels.
Highlights of the Technical Report:
- An exploration target of 11.5 to 30 million pounds uranium (“U3O8″) at average grades of 0.06% to 0.10%;
- A more extensive, in-depth review of historical data identified approximately 430 miles of roll fronts, an increase from the +110 miles previously outlined. Approximately 10% of the mapped redox trends have been explored with close-spaced drilling;
- The identification of the presence of multiple stacked roll fronts in each of the three stratigraphic formations that are known to host uranium mineralization;
- Indication the uranium mineralization lying under the water table may be amenable to In-Situ Recovery (“ISR”), based on historical metallurgical and mineral processing test work. ISR is an economical and environmentally responsible means of extracting uranium through wellfield technology and the use of oxygenated water, eliminating the use of conventional mining techniques;
- Details regarding the eleven (11) reported areas of historical uranium resources occurring at depths that range from less than 50 to 1,300 feet with a shallow water table typically lying between 50 and 250 feet.
- The Technical Report recommended that the Company should continue the current drilling program to delineate mineralization and explore for additional mineralized areas on the Project. In addition, the Technical Report recommended that the Company should prepare a classified mineral resource estimate for the Project, contingent on positive results of the drilling program.
Wyoming
Wyoming is a proven and prolific uranium producer with a pro-energy government with established regulatory regime for the extraction of uranium through in-situ recovery (ISR) technology. As Wyoming is one of the few “Agreement States” where the federal government and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have ceded regulatory authority to the state government, permitting and advancing uranium projects is more efficient and streamlined as compared to most other states. Wyoming, with over 250 million pounds of historic production, ranks as the state with the second most uranium production to date; most of which has been through the ISR method since 1990 with most of the ISR production having come from the PRB.
Fruchey, R., A., 1982, Kaycee Geologic Report for Washtenaw Energy Corporation and Midwest Energy Resources Co. Internal report.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mark Travis, CPG., a contractor to the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
Drill holes are completed by Single Water Services using a rotary drill rig. Chip samples are collected for lithological logging every five feet. Century Geophysics of Tusla Oklahoma is contracted to conduct downhole gamma ray, resistivity, spontaneous potential, and deviation. Century Geophysics calibrates it’s downhole tools in the US Department of Energy uranium logging Test pits in Casper Wyoming to insure the accuracy of the down hole gamma ray log measurements.
