Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1207716
70 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 options to earn a 60% interest through exploration expenditures and completion of a Feasibility Study. Rio Tinto has completed drilling 10 bulk sample holes (trenches) to conclude their program on the company's Star Kimberlite using a trench cutter sampling rig. The Star Kimberlite is located within the Star-Orion South Diamond Project. In 2018, Star Diamond announced posi- tive results of an independent Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Star and Orion South Kimberlites. The PEA estimated that 66 million carats of dia- monds could be recovered in a surface mine over a 38-year project life, with an NPV (7%) of $2.0 billion after tax, an IRR of 19% and an after-tax payback period of 3.4 years. Taiga Gold Corp. [TGC-CSE; TGGDF- OTC], a spin-out company of Eagle Plains, recently completed an 86 line-km airborne geophysical program on the 100%-owned Leland Project 100 km northeast of La Ronge and 23 km southwest of SSR Mining's Seabee Gold Operation. The survey was the final phase of a 2019 exploration program. Property highlights include numerous high-grade gold occur- rences including up to 60 g/t. Taiga's flagship Fisher property is under option to SSR Mining, who can earn an 80% interest in the project. The Fisher property is contiguous to the north, south and east with SSRM's Seabee Gold Operation. Extensive sampling conducted by SSR during 2019 consisted of 936 rock and 5,332 soil samples. High-grade gold min- eralization was identified over a 13-km trend, with values reported up to 166.8 g/t gold. Numerous high-grade gold occur- rences were also discovered. To date, SSR has completed over $8 M in exploration expenditures including 21,000 m of drill- ing in over 48 holes and currently has two rigs turning on the property. Tisdale Resources Corp. [TRC-TSXV], formerly Senator Minerals, holds a 100% interest in the 2,407-hectare Crackingstone uranium project on the northeastern shore of Lake Athabasca. The project contains the historic Gulch Mine which hosts his- torical estimated reserves between 928,000 and 1,650,000 lbs of uranium. UEX Corp. [UEX-TSX] reported results of the 2019 Phase II exploration program at the Christie Lake Project in the Athabasca basin. Summer drilling totaled 8,122 metres in 14 holes. The highlight was the intersection of new uranium mineraliza- tion in hole CB-141. This hole encountered perched uranium mineralization located approximately 8 metres above the uncon- formity that returned 1.17% eU 3 O 8 over 1.9 metres from 498.1 to 499.6 metres. UEX has a 60% interest and can earn a 70% interest in a JV with JCU. UEX is also drilling a 7-hole (2,000 m) brownfields exploration drill program at the McClean South Area of the 100%- owned Hidden Bay Project. n SASKATCHEWAN