Categories: Energy
Topics: General Energy

Standard Uranium (TSX-V: STND)(OTC: STTDF) President & VP Exploration Sean Hillacre on Positive Drill Results at Partner-Funded Canary Uranium Project, Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & VP of exploration for Standard Uranium — Mr. Sean Hillacre. Sean, it’s great to have you back on. How are you?

Sean Hillacre: I’m doing well, Gerardo. It’s good to be back here to talk about Canary.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's talk about Canary. You have a lot going on. We spoke a bit off air. I am curious and intrigued to hear your thoughts on the latest release. The headline reads, “Standard Uranium intersects local anomalous radioactivity and hydrothermal alteration at Canary Project and concludes inaugural drill program.” 

First and foremost, what was the goal of the drill program, and what were the targets there?

Sean Hillacre:  Sounds good, Gerardo. Canary is one of our eastern Athabasca Basin projects. We're in really good company in this area. We're surrounded by companies like ISO Energy, Orano, and Cameco. We have some really fantastic drill targets on this project and they’re relatively shallow.

That being said, our targets here are classic unconformity-related uranium mineralization but also basement-hosted uranium. Looking at analogs like the Hurricane deposit, MacArthur River, Phoenix, and Cigar Lake; only a bit shallower even. Really, really good targets here at around 200 to 250 meters deep to the unconformity and, then, just a little bit deeper into the basement structures as well.

It was our first go at this project on one of three conductors, Gerardo. The thing about Canary is that we've got essentially three different stories happening here, and we’ve just started to test one of those. We’re really excited for what the future holds for this project and to talk about what we’ve found on our first-pass on the northern conductor.

Gerardo Del Real: This project is under a three-year earn-in option with Mamba Exploration, correct, where they can earn 75% interest by funding, I believe, C$6 million in exploration?

Sean Hillacre:  That is correct, and this is going towards their year-one spend with this inaugural drill program. Like I said, we’re just testing one of several different target areas. Over the next three years, they can earn up to 75% interest in the project.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. You have a lot of irons in the fire. How is the rest of the portfolio shaping up given that we're six months into the year and have another six months left?

Sean Hillacre: Yes, we're just at the beginning of June here, and we've already completed two drill programs on two different projects. That's something that not a lot of companies can say… and we're happy to be able to say that. Like you said, we're just wrapping up this one, and we have a lot of work to do here in the month of June before we head up to the next one.

Our next drill program is going to be up at our Sun Dog project, which is in the Uranium City area. That one is a deal with Arrow Energy, and we're going to be kicking that one off here at the beginning of July. We've got a few weeks off back in the office to put everything together and put some bows on the previous programs. And, as results roll in from our first program at Atlantic from the winter, we're finalizing targets for the third program.

A lot of irons in the fire, like you said… and it’s keeping everybody busy.

Gerardo Del Real: I like it. I'm looking forward to the eventual discovery. It's why we're all in this game. What are your thoughts on the uranium sector as it stands now? Speculators and investors seem to be bored with the US$90 per pound uranium price that has been put in, which, by the way, is a heck of a floor. 

It's a heck of a floor if this is the floor before the inevitable next leg up. What are your general thoughts on the apathy right now in the uranium sector?

Sean Hillacre:  I think you hit the nail on the head, Gerardo. For those of us who've been in the industry for a decade or more, like you said, US$90/lb is a fantastic floor and one we’d been hoping to see. And now, we're finally here. We’re just seeing a little bit of investor burnout and apathy, like you said, especially in the junior market.

The majors and some of the larger caps — C$50M to C$100M market cap companies — have been seeing some pretty steady love. There are lots of things going on on the macro side of things. I think in terms of the uranium story, as a whole, the fundamentals have never been better. I think we're just at the beginning of this run, and we could see stocks like Cameco up around C$100 per share by the end of the year. It's sitting around C$75 right now.

I think there's still lots to come. There's a ton of exploration happening, and we just want to start to see a little bit more love for the sub-C$20 million market cap companies that are out here doing the work. The boots are on the ground, they're putting their money where their mouths are — us included.

There's a lot of really interesting results and things happening that aren't really reflected in our stock price versus what we’re seeing with some of the bigger companies. I really hope we get there. I think there's a lot of room to run for the rest of the year, especially with a lot of the catalysts that ourselves and some of our peers have coming out.

I'm still really excited. I think we're going to the moon here and making discoveries, and, like you said, having irons in the fire and shots on goal is going to allow us to do that quicker. We're all really excited about it and we're not going to stop. Hopefully the market catches up soon.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, I'm a happy shareholder; I haven't sold a share. I'm looking forward to exercising warrants and hopefully writing checks at much higher prices. Thank you so much for your time, Sean. Anything to add to that?

Sean Hillacre:  We feel the same way, Gerardo. And it's a great time to be investing in us and other juniors as well. We've got a lot going on, and, like I said, we're on to the next drill program here. We're coming off of some really good results on two projects this year that we had never drilled before. 

We're excited to get back out there throughout the rest of this year with some more work and then drilling again next year. It's a great time to get in. Thank you for being a shareholder, and we're all really excited for what's to come.

Gerardo Del Real: Good stuff. Appreciate it, as always. Thank you so much, Sean.

Sean Hillacre: Absolutely. Take care, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, chat soon. Cheers.