Over the past two months, an ASX-listed junior focused on developing green energy metal assets has expanded its international footprint as it pursues exploration targets in Canada and Sweden.
In early April, Western Australian-based Basin Energy Ltd told the market it had staked two additional claims at its 60 per cent-owned Geike uranium project in the south eastern section of Canada’s Athabasca Basin, bringing its total tenure to 373.1 square kilometres.
The newly-acquired 351km² land is contiguous to the Preston Creek prospect, where 2004 drilling outlined a large-scale hydrothermal system within a complex structural corridor containing uranium anomalism.
Meanwhile, in mid-March, the company said it had received positive rock chip assays at its Prästrun and Håkantorp projects in north-west and central-south Sweden respectively, where the combined mineral inventory includes niobium, uranium, tantalum and rare earth elements.
In terms of Geike, wherein which Basin has an earn-in agreement with CanAlaska Uranium Ltd, Preston Creek ‒ situated to the north-west ‒ has shown all the key ingredients required for the formation of high grade basement-hosted uranium mineralisation, with field work suggesting that a previously identified gravity low in the area is related to a broad hydrothermal fluid system.
The current drill spacing in the southern portion of the target is between 80 to 115 metres, with only one hole fully testing the gravity anomaly correlated to the pervasive alteration within two intersections.
An additional 1.5km of prospective strike length of gravity anomalism remains untested to the north-east extending into the newly staked claims.
According to Base Energy’s managing director Pete Moorhouse, the anomaly exhibits all the key elements typically found in basement-hosted high grade uranium mineralisation.
“Securing the tenures contiguous to this system is a fantastic addition to the Geikie project,” he said.
Over in Sweden, of nine samples collected at Håkantorp, five returned strongly anomalous total rare earth element oxides, with two of these comprising uranium oxide values above 3000 parts per million.
Moreover, assay results from Prästrun confirmed anomalous niobium (4350ppm), uranium (1153ppm) and tantalum (185ppm).
Moorhouse said the company’s priority at Håkantorp was to establish both surface and subsurface extensions of the rare earth and uranium rich skarn layers.
Further field reconnaissance, including structural mapping where feasible, as well as magnetic and radiometric surveys, were are considered as next steps in 2025.
Prästrun is located in Sweden’s Jämtland County, about 25km from the Norwegian border.
The region is known for its polymetallic deposits including uranium, vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, copper, zinc and potash.
Exploration conducted in the 1980s by the Swedish Geological Survey highlighted anomalous results in rock chip samples up to 1.2 per cent niobium, 0.45 per cent uranium oxide 0.07 per cent tantalum and 0.26 per cent zirconium.
Sampling at the time occurred within anomalous outcrops over a 1400m strike length, with the remainder of the prospect being covered by a thin glacial till.
Mineralisation is present as betafite (a uranium-niobium-tantalum mineral) hosted in nepheline syenite gneiss of the Seve nappe of the Caledonian tectonic zone.
No drilling is known to have been completed at the prospect, however, high quality geological and mineralogical studies were completed.
“The latest multi-element assay results are highly encouraging, confirming the potential presence of strategically important minerals within a multi-element mineral system,” Moorhouse said.
“With growing global demand for critical minerals essential to clean energy technologies, including nuclear power and advanced materials, these results position our project as a potential strategic asset.
“We look forward to integrating these results into our broader exploration model and continuing cost effective field work as the next steps to establish the full potential of these mineral-rich systems.”
