ATHA Energy (TSXV:SASK) - Funded Uranium Discovery Work Continues Through 2027

Troy Boisjoli (0:00)

Troy Boisjoli, CEO of ATHA Energy. We're a large scale uranium exploration company focused on the best uranium jurisdictions in Canada.

Matt (0:07)

Troy, good to see you. Right. Press release just out. Expanding strike length to 3.4 km.

Tell me more.

Troy Boisjoli (0:17)

Yeah, building on success from last year in the RIB area at our Angikuni, Angilak project in the Angikuni Basin and none of it. Last year, we outlined a large area in this RIB corridor, you know, 14 km with widely space drilling, every hole hit mineralization. This year, the whole objective was to go from widely space drilling to outline and define continuity within a strike length and over the course of the drill program. We did that with 150 to 300 meter space fences. We added continuous mineralization over 3.4 km, which that had been, I've been doing this for quite a while in the uranium space, you know, from my time at Cameco to NexGen, etc. Seeing that, the compounding effects of this program from 2024 to 2025 to 2026, what the success factors we've seen.

I've not seen it across any other uranium project.

Matt (1:19)

Okay, you basically connected RIB North and RIB East over this kind of 3.4 km. You know, normally I'd be saying, look, you've demonstrated some continuity, but there must be some geological interpretation that you're having to apply here. Is it a case of...

It is out in all directions and, you know, the drilling is working, but in between the holes, what is that interpretation of yours? What are you assuming?

Troy Boisjoli (1:46)

Yeah, it's moving from assumption into modeling, hence the success we've had. Okay, so you start off with geophysics, get drill hole data within the resolution of your geophysics. Now you're into litho-structural mineralization models. We're now at the stage, even with 150 to 300 meter space data, where we're able to target with precision where we're hitting uranium mineralization relative to the controlling structures. Okay, so you get a large-scale graphitic fault zone.

Hang you all footwall to that. We're seeing mineralization in mains around that structure.

Continues up and down dip. And really the only constraint that we have on strike, down dip, up dip right now, is the amount of drill holes we have. It's completely open in all directions.

Matt (2:36)

So, okay, so you're not constrained to sort of... It was interesting, actually, because there's a kind of 300-meter-by-300-meter higher-grade subzone in there. Normally, I'd say, well, maybe that should be the beginning or it could be a potential deposit for you. But you're saying, no, there's more to come. It's just a question of how much more can we drill with the money we've got? Is that it?

Troy Boisjoli (3:02)

Yeah, exactly. And with the runway of capital that we have, in Q1 of this year, we raised $63 million, which gives us a runway of capital well beyond the 26 program and through the 27 program. And with where we're at, it is the stage, a systematic approach, defining continuity and mineralization within this system, getting it to where the forcing function is now just work, okay? And no discovery required, just work required to add detail to this system. As it relates to the subzone, that's just an identification of an area that has greater thickness and greater and increased grade of mineralization locally within this 3.4 kilometers.

Matt, we expect as the drill resolution increases, that we see multiple areas like that, that 38.4 kilometer trend.

Matt (3:52)

But if I look, it was one of the holes that kind of stood out to me because I wanted to understand how you go about with this, this targeting. I think it's hole 23

It's like 19, 20 meters over 14 different zones, right? So was there a particular zone which is stronger than the rest? And how do you go about connecting the zones between holes when they're that far apart?

Troy Boisjoli (4:14)

Yeah, that connecting zones between holes comes through drill resolution, okay? Comes through increasing the density of drilling, and that allows you to connect the dots and pull together. You know, it started off defining continuity at a kilometer scale, hundreds of kilometers scale, as you move in, defined with confidence, then you'd start to connect the dots locally, okay? But the targeting there, it's pretty straightforward. There's one main controlling structure, that main controlling plane of mineralization, hanging wall to that. We're seeing multiple stacked veins within this mineralized envelope, within this mineralized window.

Similar to what you would see at other basement hosted uranium deposits, for instance, Eagle Point or NexGen's Aero deposit.

Matt (5:09)

Okay.

So how do you actually go about understanding the kind of true what's here? Because there are going to be radioactivity indicated in some holes, which are, you know, I think it was a couple of which holes, sorry. But it was over relatively narrow intervals. And, you know, these will be, you know, these things will pinch and swell, etc. But, you know, can you give us a sense of, you know, how do you work out what true widths are over such a long, you know, stretch?