Posted by Daniel Gleeson on 6th September 2024
Through an expanded deployment of Fleet Space’s end-to-end mineral exploration solution, ExoSphere, IsoEnergy completed surveys of highly prospective and minimally explored areas at its Larocque East project near the Hurricane uranium deposit in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, the technology company says.
The real-time 3D subsurface imaging capabilities of ExoSphere identified six new high-priority targets on strike with the Hurricane deposit east of the project. IsoEnergy’s summer exploration program focused on drilling targets defined by ExoSphere in 2023, which confirmed an extension of a hydrothermal system on strike with Hurricane as well as alteration and structural disruption consistent with potential uranium mineralisation. These new findings have led IsoEnergy to prioritise the new targets identified by ExoSphere as part of their ongoing summer program and accelerate exploration of the site.
“ExoSphere’s proprietary end-to-end technology stack – combining powerful advances in space technology, 3D multiphysics, and AI – is driving a paradigm shift in the global exploration landscape,” Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO & Co-Founder of Fleet Space, says. “The cross-scale insights and enhanced targeting enabled by ExoSphere’s real-time 3D imaging have redefined the untapped potential of Canada’s Athabasca Basin, enabling IsoEnergy to deploy resources toward opportunities faster while minimising environmental impact. We are excited to partner with exploration leaders in the Athabasca Basin to streamline their exploration journey with next-level insights and precision needed to rapidly narrow the search space and realise the potential of Canada’s premiere uranium-producing region.”
Home to the highest-grade and largest uranium mines, such as McArthur River and Cigar Lake, the Athabasca Basin in Canada’s Northern Saskatchewan provides nearly 20% of the world’s supply of uranium. Only 40 km away from the McClean Lake Mill, IsoEnergy’s Larocque East property is within the Hurricane Zone, which contains the world’s largest indicated uranium mineral resource. IsoEnergy has positioned itself to be a near-term uranium producer, progressing its exploration under the harsh conditions, rugged terrain, seasonality and remote location of its project in the Athabasca Basin with highly scalable and rapidly deployable exploration techniques to drive results in line with Canada’s regulatory framework and ESG objectives. This led IsoEnergy to use the real-time 3D imaging of ExoSphere at the Larocque East project to enhance their geological understanding of the area and determine potential targets.
Dr Darryl Clark, Executive Vice President of Exploration and Development at IsoEnergy, says: “ExoSphere’s real-time imaging and targeting capabilities have been critical technologies during our Winter and Summer exploration programs. Drilling results from the initial targets generated by ExoSphere confirmed strong hydrothermal alteration and potential uranium mineralisation – validating the potential of ExoSphere to significantly enhance targeting and reduce time to discovery at scale. The predictive and real-time capabilities enabled by ExoSphere have played a vital role in helping us accelerate our exploration program by identifying targets faster and more sustainably, underscoring the residual prospectivity and untapped potential at the Larocque East project.”
ExoSphere’s deployments in the Athabasca Basin with IsoEnergy builds on the rapid global adoption for Fleet Space’s solution among top exploration companies around the world. Barrick Gold recently used ExoSphere across 1,150 sq.km of its Reko Diq project in Pakistan to generate 3D subsurface maps of copper porphyry complexes for multiple zones of interest. Encompassing over 1,818 sq.km of projects in Australia’s premiere copper province, Fleet Space also conducted the world’s largest real-time ambient noise tomography survey across Inflection Resources’ tenements in the Macquarie Arc. Fleet Space also helped identify multiple previously unknown large-scale targets for Eagle Mountain at its Silver Mountain project in Arizona within the Laramide Arc.
Harnessing Fleet Space’s satellite constellation, smart seismic sensors and AI engine, ExoSphere integrates data acquisition, processing, interpretation, and targeting into a single end-to-end solution. By delivering real-time 3D imaging and AI-enhanced targeting insights, ExoSphere optimises the speed and precision of data-driven decision making, unlocking more efficient and sustainable outcomes across the exploration lifecycle, the company says.