Standard Uranium Completes Spring/Summer Drill Program at Flagship Davidson River Project, Announces Engagement of GoldSpot Discoveries

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Uranium Ltd. (“Standard Uranium” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: STND) (OTCQB: STTDF) (Frankfurt: FWB:9SU) is pleased to announce that the spring/summer drill program on the Company’s flagship Davidson River Project (“Davidson River” or the “Project”) has been successfully completed ahead of schedule, under budget, and with intersections of elevated radioactivity. The 25,886-hectare Project is situated within the Southwest Athabasca Uranium District of Saskatchewan. The focused drill program followed up on prospective structures and alteration intersected during previous programs and tested brand new target areas.

The Company is also pleased to announce the engagement of GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (“GoldSpot”) (TSX-V: SPOT) (OTCQX: SPOFF) in a partnership to develop new and advanced drill targets on all five of the Company’s projects. Standard Uranium is pleased to be the first uranium company to collaborate with GoldSpot’s expert team of geoscientists and data scientists and utilize cutting-edge exploration techniques through a variety of traditional and machine learning applications.

Key Focus Points:

• Davidson River diamond drill program successfully executed, totalling 4,107.7 metres in 10 drill holes.
• Elevated radioactivity and significant structural and lithological signatures of a basement-hosted uranium-bearing system were intersected.
• Highly deformed and graphitic structural zones identified several new priority follow-up targets along the Thunderbird and Bronco trends.
• Multi-kilometre portions of the conductive corridors on the property remain to be tested.
• Through engagement of GoldSpot Discoveries, the Company will extract further value from existing data sets in addition to new prospective intersections from the 2022 program.
  

The fourth drill program at Davidson River focused on testing the Thunderbird conductor for the first time as well as following up on prospective graphitic structural zones intersected along the Bronco conductor in 2021 (Figure 1). Summer 2022 drilling on the Project has confirmed the presence of broad, graphitic shear zones overprinted by zones of strong brittle faulting and intense alteration, normally associated with basement-hosted uranium mineralization, along the Bronco and Thunderbird conductors (Figures 2 through 6).

Jon Bey, CEO and Chairman stated: “It is well understood that Tier-one uranium discoveries are incredibly difficult to find. Our technical team have been very successful in hitting targets that reveal the ideal geological environment for uranium mineralization, which leads us to believe we are getting closer to a major discovery.

While identifying high quality drill targets below extensive cover, we recognize drilling on the Davidson River project is very complex and I would like to congratulate the Base Diamond Drilling team for delivering drilling results that exceeded our expectations and completing the program ahead of schedule and under budget. We look forward to again working with the Base team for our 2023 drill programs as we continue to hone-in on a high-grade basement hosted deposit.

We are also pleased to announce that we will be adding to our technical capability with the high-tech expertise of GoldSpot Discoveries who we expect will assist in refining our future drill targets via the use of their proprietary artificial intelligence software.”

Vincent Dube-Bourgeois, CEO of GoldSpot stated, “We are very excited to partner with the team at Standard Uranium. In this current global climate, the benefits of nuclear energy have never been clearer. Our senior staff bring years of Athabasca-based uranium exploration experience and the combination of that expertise, and our machine learning targeting makes this a very exciting opportunity. We look forward to the long-term partnership with Standard Uranium and working together on both on asset specific and regional scale uranium targeting.”

Figure 1. Plan map of Davidson River highlighting spring/summer 2022 drill holes along the Bronco and Thunderbird conductors.

Davidson River – Spring/Summer 2022 Drill Program Geology Highlights

• DR-22-032; Bronco Conductor
  • 370 m step-out along strike southeast of DR-21-028.
  • Rubbly chloritic fault zone from 165.8 to 182.0 m, hosting mosaic and crackle breccias with local fault gouge.
  • Intensely graphitic fault zone in mylonitic pelitic gneiss intersected from 210.3 to 212.1 m.
  • A 60 m lithological offset between DR-22-032 and DR-21-028/DR-21-031, indicates significant reverse faulting along the Bronco conductor.
    
    
• DR-22-033A; Thunderbird Conductor
  
  • Collared on the northern extension of the Thunderbird conductor designed to test an electromagnetic (“EM”) bright spot and inferred conductor break.
  • Intersection of hydrothermal alteration zone associated with graphitic shear and strong hematite-limonite oxidation fronts from 162.4 to 166.5 m – Commonly associated with high-grade uranium mineralization (Figure 2).
  • Intersection of multiple stacked graphitic shear and fault zones between 307.9 to 370.8 m.
  • No significant radioactivity.
    
    
• DR-22-034A; Bronco Conductor
  
  • 470 m step-out along strike southeast of DR-21-027.
  • Brittle-ductile graphitic fault zone intersected from 384.5 to 392.0 m with massive quartz veining indicating significant dilation and fluid flow within the structure.
  • Elevated radioactivity intersected from 390.4 to 391.4 m within the structure, reaching 250 cps (Figure 3).
  • Strongly graphitic fault zone within semi-pelitic gneiss from 442.0 to 444.4 m.
    
    
• DR-22-035; Thunderbird Conductor
  
  • 280 m step-out along strike northwest of abandoned hole DR-21-029A.
  • Moderate to locally strong graphitic-sulphidic mylonite zones throughout (259.0 to 263.0 m, sporadically between 430.0 and 487.0 m).
  • Carbonatite intrusions intersected from 349.95 m to end of hole with metasomatic alteration halos.
  • Local radioactive peak of 233 cps at 425.05 m; no significant radioactivity.
    
    
• DR-22-036; Bronco Conductor
  
  • 610 m step-out along strike southeast of DR-22-034A.
  • Intersection of weakly bleached clay-, chlorite-, and hematite-replaced zone below unconformity contact from 175.8 to 182.0 m.
  • Elevated radioactivity was observed within a biotite-pegmatite from 344.5 to 345.0 m; reaching 380 cps.
  • Intersection of significant graphitic structure zone with sericitic alteration and local cataclastic fault gouge from 412.0 to 442.5 m (Figure 4).
  • Elevated radioactivity intersected from 445.25 to 445.75 m; reaching 250 cps.

• DR-22-037; Thunderbird Conductor
  • 470 m step-out along strike southwest of DR-22-033A.
  • Clay altered fault zone observed from 109.9 to 110.5 m; proximal to unconformity contact.
  • Intersection of multiple deformed graphitic metapelite structures ranging from 1.0 to > 5.0 m in drill hole thickness.
  • No significant radioactivity.
    
    
• DR-22-038; Bronco Conductor
  
  • 65 m up-dip target east of DR-22-036.
  • Intersection of highly deformed graphitic metapelite structures ranging from 1.0 to >5.0 m in drill hole thickness – from 366.0 to 395.0 m.
  • Elevated radioactivity (maximum 300 cps) and smoky quartz veins observed within sheared graphitic metapelite from 375.0 to 375.5 m (Figure 5).
  • Elevated radioactivity was intersected within a pegmatite from 355.5 to 356.0 m; with a maximum of 380 cps.
    
    
• DR-22-039; Thunderbird Conductor
  
  • 75 m down-dip target south-west of DR-22-033A.
  • Intersection of hydrothermal hematite-limonite oxidation fronts within relatively shallow structure (Figure 6).
  • Intersection of highly deformed graphitic metapelite with reactivated fault gouge and cataclasite structures.
  • No significant radioactivity.
    

Figure 2. A) The first Thunderbird drill hole on the Davidson River project, DR-22-033A, showing strong structurally controlled hematite-limonite alteration (redox fronts); 163.5m. B) Strong “worm-rock” textured hematite-limonite alteration overprinting graphitic shear planes; DR-22-033A; 163.6m.

Figure 3. Elevated radioactivity within a strongly graphitic-sulphidic shear zone intersected in DR-22-034A; Up to 250 cps. Overprinting hydrothermal quartz veins and cataclastic breccias indicate repeated deformation and strong fluid flow along the Bronco conductor.

Figure 4. Elevated radioactivity within the footwall of a ~35m-wide graphitic-sulphidic deformation zone intersected in DR-22-036; Up to 250 cps. Massive hydrothermal quartz veins indicate dilation within the conductor and strong fluid flow during reactivation of graphitic basement faults.

Figure 5. Elevated radioactivity within the lower shear zone of stacked graphitic structures intersected in DR-22-038 (yellow outlines); Up to 300 cps. Strong reactivation is evident through the structures, indicated by formation of fault gouge and brecciation. Sericitic alteration is present throughout the zones in addition to smoky quartz veins.

Figure 6. Shallow zone of hydrothermal alteration with structurally controlled hematite-limonite oxidation fronts and pervasive clay alteration intersected in DR-22-039.

The spring/summer drill program was designed to follow-up on the most prospective basement structures and alteration zones intersected during the 2020 and 2021 programs and begin testing new target areas along the major exploration trends on the Project. Collar information is summarized in Table 1. Several kilometres of graphitic conductors remain to be tested at Davidson River. Exploration on the Project to date has confirmed lithological and structural parallels between the uranium-fertile Patterson Lake corridor and the Davidson River conductive trends, bolstering the Company’s confidence in continued exploration success on the Project.

Table 1. Summer 2022 drill hole collar summary. Easting and Northing coordinates are reported in UTM Zone 12N, NAD83 datum; EOH = end of hole; m.a.s.l. = metres above sea level.

^{*Drill hole restarted due to difficult ground conditions.}

Priority follow-up targets are being planned and are scheduled to be drilled in 2023. Continuing exploration plans for the Project include updating the geological models and utilization of new machine learning technologies to further refine geophysical interpretation and prioritize drill hole targeting with data-driven science. Davidson River contains significant blue-sky potential to make a high-grade, basement-hosted uranium discovery.

Now that the Company has broadly drill-tested all the main conductive corridors on the Project, the Company can fully leverage GoldSpot’s leading edge targeting tools to further incorporate drill data with geophysics and geochemistry. Backed by Standard Uranium’s industry-leading team, GoldSpot’s experts will work with the Company to produce refined targeting in conjunction with their machine learning applications. Standard Uranium is pleased to be the first uranium explorer in the Athabasca Basin to partner with GoldSpot and utilize their technology in a geologically information-rich environment where a lot of the exploration is carried out drilling through cover.

Sean Hillacre, Vice President of Exploration commented: “I am extremely pleased with how effective our team and contractors were this program. Base Drilling did an amazing job and maintained incredible production rates, and we’ve seen the most prospective rocks to date come out of Bronco and Thunderbird this summer.

“The scale of the structural deformation we’re observing in addition to the favorable alteration assemblages indicating fluid movement through the structures is fantastic. As we know with these basement-hosted systems, with the structures and alteration we’re seeing, we could be within 75m of a major discovery. Our technical team is very much looking forward to building on everything we’ve learned to date on the Project and sharpening our pencils in collaboration with GoldSpot as we continue building towards discovery.”

Drill core samples from all Davidson River drill holes have been submitted to the Saskatchewan Research Council (“SRC”) Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for whole-rock, multi-element and U₃O₈ analyses. Geochemical assay results will be released as they are received and examined by the technical team in accordance with the Company’s internal quality control process.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the technical information contained in this news release, has been reviewed, verified, and approved by Sean Hillacre, P.Geo., VP Exploration of the Company and a “qualified person” as defined in NI 43-101.

About Standard Uranium (TSX-V: STND)

We find the fuel to power a clean energy future

Standard Uranium is a mineral resource exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since its establishment, Standard Uranium has focused on the identification and development of prospective exploration stage uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Standard Uranium’s Davidson River Project, in the southwest part of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, is comprised of 21 mineral claims over 25,886 hectares. Davidson River is highly prospective for basement hosted uranium deposits yet remains relatively untested by drilling despite its location along trend from recent high-grade uranium discoveries. A copy of the NI 43-101 technical report titled “Updated Technical Report on the Davidson River Property, Northwest Saskatchewan, Canada” with an effective date of March 16, 2020, that summarizes the exploration on Davidson River is available for review under Standard Uranium’s SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com).

For further information contact:

Jon Bey, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman
550 Denman Street, Suite 200
Vancouver, BC V6G 3H1
Tel: 1 (306) 850-6699
E-mail: info@standarduranium.ca

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Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, if untrue, could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements contained herein. Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that may cause the Company’s actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statements include, without limitation: the future price of uranium; anticipated costs and the Company’s ability to raise additional capital if and when necessary; volatility in the market price of the Company’s securities; future sales of the Company’s securities; the Company’s ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the success of exploration, development and operations activities; the timing and results of drilling programs; the discovery of mineral resources on the Company’s mineral properties; the costs of operating and exploration expenditures; the Company’s ability to identify, complete and successfully integrate acquisitions; the Company’s ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; health, safety and environmental risks; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); uncertainties related to title to mineral properties; assessments by taxation authorities; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions.

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