Beatty River

Overview

The Beatty River Project comprises two mineral claims (MC00017128, 17129) covering an area of approximately 576 hectares (5.76km²). The claims are located approximately 25km south-west of the Company’s Cluff Lake Uranium Project within the Athabasca Basin.
Trenching and surface sampling by previous explorers reported assays up to 8.75% TREO¹ with up to 1.15% Dy₂O₃.
The dominant rare earth mineral is xenotime, with heavy rare earths consistently comprising >90% of TREO.
The mineralisation style and geological setting share similarities with hydrothermal unconformity-related REE deposits (“HURREE” type) such as Northern Minerals’ (ASX:NTU) Browns Range Project in WA and Maw Zone in the eastern Athabasca Basin.
Limited, wide-spaced shallow drilling (14 holes for 1,002m) was completed by a previous explorer in 2010, which intersected zones of strong hematite alteration but no significant REE mineralisation. Valor considers that this drilling did not adequately test the target zones and wider area for REE mineralisation given the geological model for hydrothermal unconformity-related REE deposits.
First field program schedule to commence in late 2023 to validate historical exploration results.

Historical exploration

The REE occurrence at Area 10 (SMDI 2141²) was originally discovered in 1979 during uranium exploration by Marline Oil, along with two other areas of anomalous yttrium (Area 2S and Area 11 (SMDI 2142²)). Outcrops with anomalous yttrium were trenched and sampled by Marline Oil.
The most recent exploration was completed around 2009-2010 by Great Western Minerals Group (GWMG). Rock chip and grab sampling (18 samples) by GWMG of the historical trench at Area 10 reported several assays >1% TREO¹and up to 8.75% TREO¹ with 1.15% Dy₂O₃.
A further 36 samples were taken by GWMG with assays up to 4.48% TREO⁴. Of the 36 samples, 13 returned assays >1% TREO⁴, with consistent HREO⁵ greater than 90%. Mineralogical analyses and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) of samples collected from the showing by GWMG indicate that the dominant rare earth mineral is xenotime.

To follow-up on the mineralisation identified in the historical trench (referred to as Marline Trench), five additional trenches were excavated by GWMG in late 2010. Three of the five trenches were found to contain further mineralisation with assays up to 4.24% TREO⁴. A total of 143 samples were collected in this program with 27 returning assays >1% TREO and HREO⁵ >90%.
GWMG reported the HRE mineralisation to occur in hematised and bleached (silicified) Athabasca sandstone. Significant HRE enrichment is reported over widths of up to 9m.
In September 2010 GWMG implemented a 14-hole diamond drill program for 1002.6m. Seven selected targets were tested with two holes per target to a depth of around 70m. The first six holes targeted the mineralised structures observed in the trenches but did not intersect any significant REE mineralisation. Several holes also targeted surface geochemical anomalies and despite intersecting zones of strongly hematised sandstone, did not intersect any significant REE mineralisation.

Valor believes that this drilling did not adequately test the target zones or the wider area for REE mineralisation given the geological model for unconformity-related HREE mineralisation at Beatty River.
A second REE occurrence (SMDI 5627²) is reported within the claims, located about 1.4km south-east of Area 10. This work was completed in 2010 by Mega Uranium who completed outcrop, boulder and till sampling, mostly to the south of the two new mineral claims but did report boulder samples with assays up to 0.256% TREO³ located in the southernmost claim.
Another REE occurrence is reported around 3.5km north-east of Area 10 (SMDI 2142²), outside of the Company’s claims, where further outcropping xenotime mineralisation was recorded.

Geology and exploration model

At a regional scale, the xenotime mineralisation at Beatty River occurs in a geological setting analogous to the ‘HURREE’ deposits at Northern Minerals’ (ASX:NTU) Browns Range Project in Northern Australia and the Maw Zone in the eastern Athabasca Basin. The Maw Zone is a xenotime deposit hosted in brecciated sandstone (Athabasca Group) above the regional unconformity, and is associated with silica, hematite and tourmaline alteration.

Valor’s exploration program will target faults and structures that potentially transect the regional unconformity and act as conduits for mineralising fluids. Deposits of the HURREE-style can have a small areal footprint (<200m) which may require detailed geological mapping and close-spaced drilling.

The initial field program will be to confirm the xenotime mineralisation at Area 10 and other REE occurrences within the claims, along with geological mapping, ground radiometrics and systematic sampling.

¹ TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides = Total of La₂O₃, CeO₂, Pr₆O₁₁, Nd₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Lu₂O₃, Y₂O₃(Does not include Sm₂O₃ and Yb₂O₃ – GWMG did not consistently assay for these elements)

2 Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index SMDI 2141, 5627, 2142
https://applications.saskatchewan.ca/mineral-deposit-index

³ TREO– Total of La₂O₃, CeO₂, Pr₆O₁₁, Nd₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Y₂O₃ (Does not include Tm₂O₃and Lu₂O₃ – Mega Uranium did not assay for these elements) (converted to oxides for this report).

⁴ TREO = Total Rare Earth Oxides = Total of La₂O₃, CeO₂, Pr₆O₁₁, Nd₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Lu₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Y₂O₃

⁵ HREO % = Heavy Rare Earth Oxides % – Total of Sm₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₄O₇, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Lu₂O₃, Y₂O₃ as a percentage of TREO