Aero Energy Discovers New Visible Mineralization at Surface and Pinpoints Drill Targets at Sun Dog Project near Uranium City, Saskatchewan Recent prospecting by Aero Energy and Standard Uranium has bolstered drill targets through
Aero Energy Discovers New Visible Mineralization at Surface and Pinpoints Drill Targets
at Sun Dog Project near Uranium City, Saskatchewan
Recent prospecting by Aero Energy and Standard Uranium has bolstered drill targets through
discovery of new uranium zones at multiple target areas
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 18, 2024 — Aero Energy Ltd. (“Aero” or the “Company”)
(TSXV: AERO) (OTCQB: AAUGF) (FSE: UU3) is pleased to announce new prospecting results
and drill target areas at its Sun Dog Uranium Project (“Sun Dog”, or the “Project”) located near
Uranium City in northwestern Saskatchewan. A n additional fully funded drilling campaign is
scheduled to commence in the coming week, designed to test high-priority targets with the
potential to discover high-grade, unconformity- related basement-hosted uranium mineralization
along structural and conductive corridors.
The Project is currently under a three-year earn-in option agreement (the “Option”) with Standard
Uranium Ltd. (“Standard”) (TSX-V: STND) that was executed on October 20, 2023. The program
will be funded by Aero and will be operated by Standard.
Highlights:
• Drilling at Sun Dog Imminent : Multiple prospective drill targets have been prioritized
following prospecting of conductive (graphitic) rock trends identified from the recent
VTEMTM Plus airborne survey.
• Undrilled Target Areas: Targets are designed to test conductive corridors marked by
newly discovered radioactive graphitic fault zones outcropping at surface (Figure 1).
• Wishbone Target Area : R ecent prospecting has outlined new and historical uranium
mineralization at surface with radioactivity readings up to 22,300 counts per second *
(“cps”) within and immediately adjacent to graphitic pelite (Figure 2) that has never been
drill tested.
• McNie Target Area: More than 4km of untested VTEM TM conductors off-set by major
faults which host known uranium showings to the east and to the west towards the past -
producing Gulch uranium mine (Figure 3).
• Spring-Dome Target Area : New and historical zones of strong radioactivity >65,535
cps* at surface associated with visible uranium mineralization have been discovered
during the recent prospecting program at the Spring-Dome target area (Figure 4).
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• Historical High-Grade Uranium Assays: The Wishbone and Spring-Dome Target Areas
contain numerous historical high-grade** uranium assays from outcrop samples that range
from 0.30% to 17.4% U3O83,4.
• 2024 Sun Dog Drill Program: Drilling is expected to commence on July 21 st with the
program comprising approximately 1,000 to 1,200 metres within five (5) to seven (7) drill
holes. The program will be results-driven with modification made based on ongoing results
and interpretations.
• Drilling Continues at Murmac: Drilling is progressing well at the adjacent Murmac
Project and the Company looks forward to sharing a progress update in combination with
Fortune Bay Corp in the immediate future.
Galen McNamara CEO of Aero Energy stated: “Our recent discovery of strong radioactivity in
the right host rocks known as graphitic pelite in hole M24- 017 on the adjacent Murmac Property
with partner Fortune Bay Corp proves that our exploration thesis in the area is correct. This in turn
unlocks a new search space spanning over 30 km along which there are extensive and untested
bodies of these graphitic pelite trap rocks known to host significant high- grade uranium deposits
like Arrow and Triple R around the Athabasca Basin. These areas now represent very high priority
drill targets and we look forward to testing them.”
Below: Aero Energy CEO, Galen McNamara, and Technical Advisor, Garrett Ainsworth,
measuring surface radioactivity at the Wishbone target area on the Sun Dog Project.
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Figure 1. High-grade uranium occurrences and EM-conductors present on the Sun Dog Project,
highlighting 2024 summer drill target areas.
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Figure 2. Detail map of the Wishbone target area highlighting newly discovered mineralized
graphitic pelite outcrop and untested VTEM conductors.
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Figure 3. Detail map of the McNie target area highlighting uranium showings and untested
VTEM conductors.
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Figure 4. Detail map of the Spring-Dome target area highlighting newly discovered strong
radioactivity >65,535 cps and drill targets.
Drill Target Selection
Target Selection for 2024 Drill Campaign
Targets were selected and prioritized through an iterative approach working in collaboration with
Standard Uranium and Convolutions Geoscience teams. Recent prospecting and mapping at the
Wishbone, McNie, and Spring- Dome target areas has outlined multiple outcrops of favourable
uranium host-rocks, including graphitic pelite, which is commonly radioactive over >200 m of
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collective strike length. Structural measurements and radioactivity mapping has further refined
drill targets in these areas.
Targets are ranked and prioritized based on geophysical signature, geological/structural setting,
proximity to historical uranium occurrences of interest, and the Company’s recent prospecting and
mapping campaign. A total of seven (7) priority targets were identified (Figure 1) to encompass a
variety of target types and provide a third phase of regional testing across the Project:
Wishbone Target Area:
- Approximately five kilometres of strike length along a regional scale anticline, defined by
strong VTEM conductors with associated radioactivity that has never been drill tested.
- Graphitic pelitic rocks have been mapped along both fold limbs, hosting strong
radioactivity up to 22,300 cps.
- Mineralized cross-cutting faults have been mapped in the overlying rocks which intersect
the uranium-bearing graphitic pelite unit.
- Historical outcrop sampling at the northwestern graphitic pelite exposure returned assay
results of 0.32% U3O8 and 0.30% Cu (SMDI #2095).
McNie Target Area:
- Approximately four kilometres of untested VTEM conductor strike length.
- The corridors are off -set by significant E -W trending regional faults , which host known
uranium showings to the east towards the newly discovered zone at target H15 on the
Murmac Project, and to the west towards the past-producing Gulch uranium mine.
Spring-Dome Target Area:
- Historically explored Gunnar-style target focused on mineralized carbonatized granites and
pitchblende veins and fractures.
- The Spring-Dome area has been historically drilled with intersections over 1.0% U 3O8;
however, several showings of uranium values up to 17.4% U3O8 and radioactivity readings
>65,535 cps have not been properly drill-tested.
- The Company is currently evaluating the priority of this area through prospecting,
mapping, and geological modeling. The target area represents the possibility of a uranium
deposit akin to the nearby past-producing “Beaverlodge-style” Gunnar mine.
Other high-priority target areas including Haven, Java, and Skye are being reviewed with new
datasets and models for a possible winter drill program in 2025.
Recent Geophysical Data Acquisition & Interpretation
A helicopter-borne geophysical survey, including electromagnetics and magnetics, was completed
during late April 2024. The survey was undertaken by Geotech Ltd. using the VTEM ™ Plus
geophysical system. The survey covered the entire Project on a 100-metre line spacing, obtaining
new coverage and refining historical EM surveys on the Project . Ground gravity data acquired
during 2022 and historical resistivity data were subject to 3D inversion and modelling. The
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geophysical data processing, interpretation and integration to assist in the prioritization of drill
targets was completed by Convolutions Geoscience Corporation ("Convolutions").
Background & Previous Work
Sun Dog covers an area of 48,443 acres in nine mining claims, located 15 km from Uranium City
on the northern margin of the Athabasca Basin. It hosts the historical Gunnar Uranium Mine,
discovered in 1952, which doubled Canada’s uranium production and became the largest uranium
producer globally in 1956. The Gunnar Mine produced approximately 18M lbs of U 3O8 between
1953 and 19811,2.
During this time exploration efforts in the area primarily focused on “Beaverlodge-style” deposits,
typically lower-grade, fault -hosted mineralization visible at the surface. This approach did not
target, and would not have been effective for, the high- grade "unconformity-related" basement-
hosted deposits associated with graphitic rocks more recently discovered near the Athabasca
Basin's edge (e.g. Arrow, Triple R).
These deposits are associated with graphite -rich rocks, evident as electromagnetic (EM)
conductors in geophysical surveys. These graphite -rich rocks, softer than surrounding quartzite
and granitoid lithologies, are largely not exposed at the surface. Instead, they are typically found
in deeply weathered valleys, concealed by glacial till, soil and small lakes. The historical
exploration methods applied included airborne radiometric and surface prospecting, identifying
radioactive anomalies and drill testing their extents. This approach is not effective for this type of
basement-hosted mineralization.
Recent exploration efforts by Standard Uranium have focused on the most promising historical
target areas along the edge of the Athabasca Basin, namely Skye, Java, and Stewart Island, testing
down-dip extensions of structures hosting uranium at surface with the aim of discovering high-
grade unconformity mineralization and basement “roots” of the mineralizing systems underlying
the Athabasca sandstones.
Prospecting by Standard Uranium led to the discovery of a new high- grade uranium showing
named the Haven discovery and several zones of visible uranium mineralization at surface that
returned uranium assay results of 3.58% U3O8, 1.7% U3O8, and 0.7% U3O8. The expanded surface
expression of mineralization on south Johnston Island displayed scintillometer readings >10,000
cps and locally off -scale (>65,535 cps) and the historical mineralized surface occurrences on
Stewart Island were confirmed with scintillom eter measurements ranging from >500 cps to
>65,535 cps. Radioactivity measurements were collected with hand- held RS -121 or RS -125
scintillometers.
Standard Uranium carried out two drill programs on the Project during the winters of 2022 and
2023. In total 2,469 m of diamond drilling was completed across fourteen drill holes. The 2022
and 2023 diamond drill programs were successful in identifying key geological characteristics
prospective for significant uranium mineralizing systems on the Project, including widespread
hydrothermal alteration zones containing dravitic clays, reactivated graphitic shear zones and
quartz-hematite breccias, and uranium mineralization including 0.042 wt.% U308 from 79.0 to 79.5
m and 0.021 wt.% U308 from 79.5 to 80.0 m in drill hole SD-23-013.