Categories: Energy / Mining Stocks
Topics: General Energy / Uranium Stocks

Cosa Resources (TSX-V: COSA)(OTC: COSAF) CEO Keith Bodnarchuk on Drilling in the World Class Athabasca Basin & Partnering with Denison

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president and CEO of one of my favorite uranium speculations, and I'm not alone. You can ask Denison who have much smarter guys and gals around than I am, but I'm talking of course about President and CEO, Keith Bodnarchuk of Cosa Resources. Keith, it's great to have you back on. How are you today?

Keith Bodnarchuk: Great to be back on, Gerardo. I'm doing great.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, let's get right into it. It's been a busy, frankly, it was a busy 2024 and it's been a busy start to 2025. You completed the agreement to form the joint venture with Denison on several uranium projects. I talked to you off-air for a bit. I mentioned to you that I saw your VRIC presentation. It was received very, very well. It was very well attended. You have the drills turning at Murphy Lake North and look, I think 2025 is going to be a breakout year in the uranium space. I know the consolidation in the space with the spot price in the high 60s, it has gotten a little long in the tooth for a lot of people, but I can't encourage people enough to top off those uranium positions because I think by year-end we're going to be looking back at this time period as a gift. So, I wanted to have you on to chat all things Cosa. How are things going?

Keith Bodnarchuk: Things are going very well for us. As you mentioned, we just in mid-January we closed that truly transformational transaction with Denison Mines, whereby we acquired a 70% interest in three terrific projects from them. And in return, they've now became our largest and really most strategic shareholder, owning just under 20% of our company. And these projects are fantastic. Murphy Lake North, you mentioned, that's the one where we're currently drilling. Murphy Lake North is along trend of, within three to four kilometers of the Hurricane Deposit, which is the highest grade indicated uranium resource in the world. And conveniently it was found by our team in 2018 during our time at IsoEnergy. So, we're very familiar with that area. It's fantastic working in our backyard again. And really it's an area of the basin that I thought we'd never get another chance to explore.

It's such a competitive space to be in. It's one of the most significant areas over the recent past 10 years where Cameco is drilling, obviously IsoEnergy is drilling, and so for us to have a piece of ground in that area is huge for us and really to have that strong shareholder now in Denison. And it's important to note too that they're not giving up on these projects. They're maintaining 30% interest in these projects. They control just under 20% of us, so they want to maintain exposure to what we're doing. These were just projects that they weren't going to get to during this uranium cycle. They're focused on developing their Phoenix deposit. So, it was a win-win for both groups here where we could come together. I obviously worked at Denison for nine years, so there's a familiarity between our two groups and it's just a fantastic outcome. And for us to be drilling within a month of closing that transaction shows how excited we were to get boots on the ground and get drilling to test along trend of the Hurricane Deposit.

Gerardo Del Real: You obviously have quite an accomplished group, yourself, your team, but it's got to be really exciting to have the technical support and the partnership with Denison. Can you speak to how rigorous those negotiations likely were in regards to the joint venture?

Keith Bodnarchuk: For sure. I think if we were going to do a transaction of this magnitude, it had to be with a strategic partner as strong as Denison. And one thing with Denison is obviously they have a very healthy treasury, they have a fantastic technical team on their side. They are pioneering the ISR technology into the Athabasca Basin. But also, importantly, they had some fantastic projects that they just weren't going to be able to get to. They have a huge amount of land. They're focused in and around their Phoenix deposit, because that's the first one that they're going to be working towards putting in production. And so, it just made sense.

And obviously there's a negotiation going back and forth, but really it's two groups that are extremely familiar with each other. There's a history there, and I think there's a level of trust between each groups that we're going to do the best thing for the projects. And if we do have success, Denison's going to be riding shotgun with us, riding in the passenger seat as we are able to push the project forward. And so, I think, like I said, it's a win-win for both groups and we're extremely excited to have our largest shareholder be one of the best uranium development stories in the world in Denison Mines.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's talk Murphy Lake North, because you're really drilling this for the first time with new eyes. This drilling campaign is the first since 2005, but that was some 13 years before the discovery of hurricane. So, I got to imagine the approach is different or more nuanced. Can you touch on that a bit?

Keith Bodnarchuk: So, just like I said, it's one that Denison, they did some terrific geophysics on it, I think to really upgrade the targets. They knew the project had potential, like I said, they just didn't get around to it. And we are drilling along trend of the Hurricane Deposit, but also importantly, there's a parallel trend that exists on Murphy Lake North that is about seven kilometers long and it's seen one or two drill holes. And for perspective, to have that long of trend in the Eastern Athabasca Basin where it's extremely competitive, sitting next to the highest grade indicated uranium resource in the world and to never really have been drilled is rare.

There's not too many spots like that left in the Athabasca Basin. And it's important to note too, that target depth here is 250 meters roughly. A lot of the great deposits in the Athabasca Basin, McArthur River, Cigar Lakes, those are about 400 meters down. So, this is relatively shallow to be looking for these projects, which really means that our dollar can go a lot further. We're able to test these targets for relatively cost-effective exploration. And so, we're testing along strike of the Hurricane Deposit on the northern part of Murphy Lake North, but importantly we have that parallel trend.

And that Larocque Lake Trend, which hosts the hurricane deposit, has a lot of significant intersections along it. Cameco had success in the past prior to Hurricane. They've hit the Larocque Lake zone, which was 30% over seven meters. There's other prospects which are 10% over 3.3 meters. So, it just goes to show how really juiced up this entire area is. And so, we have two great target areas to test initially here, and we're extremely excited by that because like I said, it's very cost-effective exploration right next to the world's highest grade indicated uranium resource. So, we're extremely excited by that.

Gerardo Del Real: Lots of irons in the fire. What's the rest of 2025 look like? You're going to be busy, obviously.

Keith Bodnarchuk: For sure. So, we're going to be completing this drill program here in March, so look for news flow on that. We might head back to Murphy Lake North later this summer or else early next year in 2026. We also have the Darby project, which we haven't even touched on yet. That's the other one we got from Denison Mines. It's sitting right next to Cigar Lake, which is the world's largest uranium mine. It's within 10 kilometers of it. The project butts right up against Cameco's ground. It also hasn't seen much drilling. And like I said, a good way to think about it, as simple as it sounds, the best way to find uranium is next to uranium. That's the easiest way to do it. And so, when you can get these projects that are along trend of these world-class deposits and mines, you better be exploring there. Those are the lowest-hanging fruit. And so, that's why we'll be going to Darby Lake this summer to follow up along trend of Cigar Lake.

Gerardo Del Real: A lot to look forward to. You got the team, you got the background, you got the cash, you got the projects, and you got the right dance partner. Should be a fun 2025. Thank you so much, Keith.

Keith Bodnarchuk: Thanks Gerardo.