Infini Resources has moved to significantly expand its Portland Creek project in Newfoundland after staking an additional 41.4 square kilometres to take in a raft of newly-identified uranium and thorium anomalies.
Management says all four of its newly-staked areas sit next to existing mineral claims where it is targeting the discovery of new economic uranium deposits – and the land grab will account for a 38 per cent increase in the size of the operation.
The tenements will stretch the company’s landholding in the area out to 149sq km in the Canadian province, covering a large regional uranium anomaly identified in the 1970s by a Newfoundland government stream sediment sampling program. Infini says it is already planning additional exploration programs to account for the newly-staked claims, including geological mapping and sampling to follow current planned activities for Portland Creek.
The new tenements and extensions to existing target areas have now been applied for and await a standard 30-day assessment period by the Government of Newfoundland. All four new pending claims cover areas of highly-anomalous uranium-thorium occurrences and bring the company’s total target exploration inventory at Portland Creek to an impressive 12 areas.
Management says one geochemical sampling uranium “spike” stands out in government records at 2180 parts per million uranium oxide.
The anomalous trend, that has been dubbed Talus, measures about 1500m long and up to 250m wide and contains other rock chip sample values ranging from 37ppm to 865ppm uranium oxide. The prospect remains a high priority for field exploration activities once weather permits.
Following positive early desktop studies, the Company has acted swiftly to expand its exploration footprint at Portland Creek to include the successfully highlighted additional radiometric anomalism that sits across strike and adjacent to the Company’s existing claims. We are excited by the opportunity to add value to the project whilst planning for the commencement of exploration activities. Infini Resources chief executive officer Charles Armstrong
Uranium is one of the 34 critical minerals listed by the Newfoundland Government, allowing the company to apply for Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) grants of up to C$150,000 (AU$170,000) for future greenfield exploration activities. Management says a successful grant would significantly reduce the costs associated with identifying and refining drill-ready targets at Portland Creek.
Earlier this month, Infini defined a host of new lithium targets at its Paterson Lake project in the Canadian province of Ontario after completing surveys, sampling, geological studies and a historical data review.
Mobile metal ion soil sampling has identified seven significant lithium geochemical anomalies that overlie two major greenstone corridors measuring about 6km each and a third at 5km in length. Paterson Lake takes in 106 minerals claims across 12sq km and includes the Marko’s and Jesse’s mineralised pegmatites.
Historical drilling at the company’s highly-prospective Marko’s pegmatite revealed shallow and high-grade results, with a peak return of 8m at 3.12 per cent lithium oxide from 14m and 4.7m grading 1.76 per cent from 39.8m within the same hole. Additional historical results at the target produced 4.2m going 2.11 per cent lithium oxide from 10.8m and a 5.8m intercept at 2.18 per cent from 19m, also in a single hole.
The company holds tenements across four Canadian provinces, with its Portland Creek, Tinco and Des Herbiers projects accounting for its uranium exploration pursuits, while its Paterson Lake and Valor operations make up its North American lithium ventures.
Despite only listing on the ASX at the start of the year, Infini has moved quickly to further shore up its already highly-prospective Canadian operations.
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