Athabasca 2.0

Located in Saskatchewan, Canada, the Athabasca Basin area hosts the highest grade uranium deposits in the world. The Basin accounts for ~13% of global uranium production (2019) all from one mine: Cigar Lake.  Canada (and Saskatchewan) is a geopolitically stable, proven mining jurisdiction with significant infrastructure already in place.

Athabasca 2.0 refers to basement-hosted Uranium deposits outside of the Basin margins, as opposed to the conventional unconformity-type deposits within the Basin.

Basement-hosted deposits have significant advantages over the traditional unconformity-type deposits.

  • Simpler Geology
  • More competent rock
  • Easy mineability
  • Examples:   Arrow, Rabbit Lake, Eagle Point

Traditional unconformity-type deposits have:

  • Complex Geology
  • Incompetent rock
  • Mining engineering challenges
  • Deeper mines require freezing
  • High CAPEX
  • Examples:   McArthur River, Cigar Lake

High-grade deposits in the Athabasca are lower-cost operations compared to alternative jurisdictions (i.e. USA, Africa, Australia).

The average grade in the Basin is ~3.95% U3O8, while the rest of the world averages ~0.15%. To put into context, 1% U3O8 is equivalent to 16.13 grams per tonne gold, or ~0.5 oz/t gold ($1,700/oz gold and $40/lb uranium).