when you look at the transcripts it tells a different tale to the whether PCE is material or not. clearly when they talk to shareholders and analysts the message is vastly different and they talk up that PCE is completely material in all its indications.
the question about the scintillometer, where a reading of 10,000 roughly equates to a 1% grade uranium and the reading of around 60,000 gets you a range of between 30% and 40% really is honestly answered as "YES" that is correct. Arrow only had one Zone with this reading, PCE has 4 .... i dont think anyone gets this... its being clearly stated by leigh that its a significant difference, but clearly the market is missing this point.. 4 holes with the equivalent of Arrows valuable high grade heart is a big deal... its a very very big deal...
NexGen Energy Ltd. (NYSE:NXE)
Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call
August 08, 2024, 08:30 AM ET
To exploration, in March, we announced a new greenfield discovery on Patterson Corridor East, PCE, 3.5 kilometers East of Arrow on our 100% owned SW2 Rook I property. We continue to build on these positive results with this morning announcing very exciting preliminary summer drilling results.
To date, 8 of 12 summer drill holes intersected mineralization, which is indicating a large mineralized footprint with remarkable continuity. Referencing figures one and two in this morning's news release, the footprint of PCE is currently larger than Arrows at the same stage of meters drilled, with the geological setting indicating a tremendously prospective basement-hosted system with many geological similarities to Arrow.
In the first 15 holes at Arrow, mineralization was defined over 550 meters vertical extent, 500-meter strike length and 150 meters width. PCE 550 meters vertical extent, 500-meter strike length and 150 meters width. PCE already exhibits broader vertical and strike lengths of 600 meters and -- 600 meters and 540 meters, respectively, with the width currently of 75 meters.
Further, there is the presence of intense mineralization greater than 61,000 counts per second, which is the ultra-high grade mineralizationin four holes at PCE. Whereas at Arrow at the same stage, we have not intersected that until AR 14, 15, the 15 cold drilled. Which then led to the vectoring in and discovery of the A2 high-grade heart, which represents approximately 180 million pounds at just under 20% of average grade.
When you consider the combination of these broad spaced holes at PCE and the similarities to Arrow, the growth potential here is obvious. The drilling program at PCE is now specifically targeting two aspects. Continued broad space drilling to define the extent of mineralization and two, vectoring into the ultra-high-grade zones within the area of mineralization. Discoveries of the calibre of Arrow will take their own path in terms of time and extent of drilling to fully define a world-class ore body.
PCE is now commencing its path, showing all the characteristics of Arrow at the same stage. PCE validates the continued prospectivity of the NexGen land package is incredibly immense and underpins the Southwest section of the Athabasca Basin as the future of Canada's uranium industry's growth from the latter part of this decade and throughout the balance of this century.
Our summer drilling program is likely to be extended into the winter, incorporating a short break during the change of seasons and more information regarding this will be disseminated once approved.
Andrew Wong
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So, Leigh, I was curious, like what are your thoughts on how the Patterson Lake area should be developed in the future? I mean it's pretty clear that there's a lot of uranium in the area, it's very high to prospective. You have the PLS project just come across the lake from Rook I. So does it make sense to develop these areas separately or could they be developed together to share infrastructure and capital to maybe more efficient?
Leigh Curyer
Yes. That's a good question. And look with respect I can only really answer for ourselves, we are very focused as you know having discovered this project in February of 2014 and it clearly looks like we're on to another magnificent discovery. This area is going to be the future growth of Canada's uranium industry. Look, we are obviously clearly advanced in our project. We are looking forward to the federal approvals. And we've built this or rather designed this project to service ore from nearby deposits as well, obviously, clearly subject to subsequent approval. Federal permitting and provincial permitting aspects. How it's optimally done or accessing ore from other projects coming into our mine site remains to be seen. There's clearly some synergies for those other deposits to access the Rook I mill. And at the appropriate time, those discussions will be had and if concluded we'll go through that. But we're focused on our Arrow deposit first. Obviously, mineralization that is in and around Arrow and everyone is aware that Arrow is open at depth as well on the basis that PCE shapes into something similar to Arrow. Well, we're going to be very busy for many, many decades, just focus on our own work. So yes, it's a good question, Andrew. We as I said, I can only really answer it from our perspective based on what we have in the company's portfolio as we speak.
Your next question comes from the line of Gordon Lawson of Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead.
Gordon Lawson
Hi. Good morning, everyone. On the drill results, so my understanding of the scintillometer that or reading of 10,000 roughly equates to a 1% grade uranium and this tapers off such the reading of around 60,000 gets you a range of between 30% and 40%. Is that in line with your estimates?
Leigh Curyer
It varies depending on the deposit. But if -- Yes, it's a reasonable assertion or assumption if you -- or correlation, if you'd like to make it. We always released the assays subsequently. And so that correlation factor gets more accurate over time and every deposit is different.
Gordon Lawson
Yes. Fair enough. Next question is on the remaining permitting and construction process. I mean it can be a volatile timeline. I understand that but what's your best estimate for timing of the first production and duration of ramp-up at this point?
Leigh Curyer
It would be 40 months, 40 post the federal approval and we are expecting end of this month, early next reply from the CNSC with respect to those 49 aspects. They will then determine the timing of those final approvals. And from there, it will be 40 months construction. So I'm respecting the CNSC's timeline. We have fulfilled all of the answers for those remaining 49 aspects. We look forward to the reply at the end of this month, early next and its conclusion. So I'll allow you to determine how quickly they may reciprocate and add 40 months to that.
Brian MacArthur
Okay. Great. Just to be clear. And then the third question, obviously, very interesting exploration results. Technically, the way you worded at this now is you can produce up to 30 million pound under the new economic study. But just to be clear, in the permitting is your capped at 30 million pounds? Or is it a cap per tonne per day? I guess where I'm going with this is, obviously, before you if you start to be very successful in PCE, you can extend the mine life a lot and therefore, you may even have a strong market. Maybe you want to produce more than 30 million pounds in the early years. Would you be able to do that technically under the permit? Or are you actually capped at 30 million pounds, because obviously, if you can extend the mine life a lot with PCE, it changes maybe what you want to do in a strong market.
Leigh Curyer
Yes. I think, Brian, you need to look at that on the -- obviously, there's permitting battery limits. There is flex in that in the design of what we've put forward. But I wouldn't say, it's material flex. Any material change to the project would require a subsequent permitting amendment. So I think you should think of any new discovery as adding mine life at that 30 million pound per annum capability.
Leigh Curyer
Yes. Thank you, Calvin, and thank you, everyone, for listening in today. Incredibly exciting time for the company, the dual process of being in the final stages of federal approval respecting the CNSC's process. And at the same time, has lightning strike twice with respect to mineralization on the Rook I property. It's -- as everyone is aware, Arrow is a geological phenom, and we found it very, very early in our drilling on the Rook I property, the 21st drill hole, but it was actually the first drill hole within a 4.5 kilometer radius.
We and everyone involved with that program did an amazing job. But I always -- we always felt do we find the only motherload so early on the 320,000 hectare exploration portfolio. Probability was that we only found one of the number. And what we're seeing in the very early stages of PCE is incredibly exciting and right next door to it's probably is most analogous comparable. And to get the high-grade intercepts, the ultra-high grade greater than 61,000 cps in four of the holes over large distances.
Incredibly exciting because when you consider how to intercept those so frequently over such large distances, we have all the ingredients of another phenomenal discovery. Time will tell and this deposit will go down in same path, but we have all the characteristics of another significant mineralized zone. And we look forward to those drill rigs turning going forward. So thank you, everyone, for your time and interest. And as always, myself, Travis, Monica, Stacey and the team are available to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you
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