UEX Corporation (TSX:UEX) through its 100%-owned subsidiary, CoEX Metals Corporation, is pleased to announce the first tranche of assay results from the winter drilling program on the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect, located in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. 

The Company has completed 26 holes on its 100% owned West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect located on the West Bear Project.  On February 28, 2018, UEX announced that it had commenced a $1.5 million 3,500 m, 30-40 drill hole program at West Bear with the objective of expanding the size of the high-grade West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect.

Based on the results of the program to date, CoEX has mobilized a second drill rig to the Project to maximize the number of holes that can be completed prior to the spring thaw.

Assay results have been received for hole WBC-001, WBC-002, and WBC-005.  CoEX has yet to receive assay results for holes WBC-003 and WBC-004 and the remaining 21 holes that have been completed to date.

The table below summarized the assay results received to date.

Table 1 – Assay Results from the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect

Highlights from the assay results include a composite assay grade of 2.00% cobalt and 1.26% nickel over a 10.5 m core length between 46.0 m and 56.5 m in hole WBC-001, located within a wider interval of 0.78% cobalt and 0.53% nickel over a 30.9 m core length between 27.1 m and 58.0 m. 

Hole WBC-002 returned 0.59% Co and 0.51% Ni over a core length of 6.0 m between 55.0 m and 56.5 m that included a subinterval of 1.37% Co and 1.02% Ni over 2.5 m from 57.5 m and 60.0 m.  This hole successfully expanded the down-dip extension of the West Bear Co-Ni Prospect by at least 15 m, where the mineralization remained open for expansion (see Figure 1 below).

Hole WBC-005 assayed 0.73% Co and 0.36% Ni over a core length of 20.5 m between 31.5 m and 52.0 m that included subintervals of 1.14 % Co and 0.47% Ni over a core length of 2.5 m between 39.0 m and 41.5 m as well as 1.79% Co and 0.72% Ni over a core length of 6.0 m between 44.0 m and 50.0 m.

Based upon the dip of the mineralization and dip angle of the drill holes, true widths are expected to be 90-95% of core lengths.

Sample Collection and Compositing

Samples are selected using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer to aid in the identification of mineralized intervals.  Selected drill core is then split in half sections on site and one half is collected for analysis with the other half core remaining on site for reference.  Where possible, samples are collected at a standardized 0.5 m interval through zones of mineralization but respect geological units and intervals. 

The samples are shipped to the Geoanalytical Laboratory at the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Analysis at the SRC laboratory for Cobalt, Nickel, Lead, Zinc, and Arsenic (wt %) was completed using the ICP-OES method with an Aqua Regia digestion.  The SRC Geoanalytical Laboratory is an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited facility (#537) by the Standards Council of Canada.

Assay intervals were composited using a cut-off grade of 0.01% Cobalt.  All depth measurements and sample intervals reported are down-hole measurements from drill core.  True thickness of the ore zones has yet to be determined and is estimated at 90-95% of core thickness.

Qualified Persons and Data Acquisition

Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Roger Lemaitre, P.Eng., P.Geo., UEX’s President and CEO and Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., UEX’s Exploration Manager, who are each considered to be a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About UEX

UEX is a Canadian uranium exploration and development company involved in sixteen uranium projects, including six that are 100% owned and operated by UEX, one joint venture with Orano Canada Inc. that is 90.1% owned by UEX and is under option to and operated by ALX Uranium, as well as eight joint ventures with Orano, one joint venture with Orano and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited, which are operated by Orano, and one project (Christie Lake) under option from JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited and operated by UEX.

The company is also involved in one cobalt-nickel exploration project located in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan.  The West Bear Project was formerly part of UEX’s Hidden Bay Project and contains the West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Prospect and the West Bear Uranium Deposit.  The seventeen projects are located in the eastern, western and northern perimeters of the Athabasca Basin, the world’s richest uranium belt, which in 2016 accounted for approximately 23% of the global primary uranium production.  UEX is currently advancing several uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin which include the Christie Lake deposits, the Kianna, Anne, Colette and 58B deposits at its currently 49.1%-owned Shea Creek Project (located 50 km north of Fission’s Triple R Deposit and Patterson Lake South Project, and NexGen’s Arrow Deposit) the Horseshoe and Raven deposits located on its 100%-owned Horseshoe-Raven Development Project and the West Bear Uranium Deposit located at its 100%-owned West Bear Project.