The company said Tuesday several drill holes among 20 that intersected high-grade mineralisation in all A2 and A3 targets encountered composite intersections with off-scale radioactivity of greater than 10,000-to-61,000 counts per second (CPS), with several holes encountering massive-to-semi massive pitchblende with minimum-greater-than-61,000cps radioactivity.
"These continuing high-grade results received from sections of the ore body focused on the mine plan, highlight the extraordinary high grade and robustness of Arrow," said CEO Leigh Curyer.
"In parallel, the feasibility-stage engineering, metallurgical and environmental studies are all advancing extremely well, together with permitting and our community programmes."
VP for operations and project development Troy Boisjoli added the continuity of mineralisation within the high-grade core of Arrow was "remarkable".
"These results highlight the technical advantages at the Arrow deposit: mineralisation hosted within a stacked shear system (allowing holes to intersect multiple targets with one drill hole, minimising total meterage), stable crystalline basement host rock, and extremely high-grades. These high-grade results in all twenty holes will be incorporated into an updated resource estimate which will form the basis of the feasibility study, scheduled for release in H1 2020."
NexGen is expediting Arrow to the feasibility stage through a two-stage, 10-rig high-density programme focused on mine optimisation plans based on measured and indicated resources. The project currently has 256.6Mlb grading 4.04% uranium oxide in the indicated category.
Late in April, NexGen received acceptance of the Rook I technical proposal by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. The acceptance marked the start of the project's environmental assessment.
NexGen currently has about C$90 million cash on hand, which it said fully funded all planned drilling, feasibility and development programmes this year.
Uranium spot prices continue to crawl sideways, having recently dipped below US$25/lb. The spot price has not traded above $30/lb since early 2016.
The company's Toronto-listed equity is currently trading 25% lower than a year ago at C$1.88 and is down 20% since the New Year, having recently touched a new 12-month low. The company has a market capitalisation of $666 million.
