CanAlaska said it has become operator and 70% owner of West McArthur and a budget of C$2.4 million (US$1.8 million) was accepted for drilling and geophysics in 2019.

Cameco had been working on the project and gave notice in October it wanted to acquire 30% and form a JV over West McArthur, which lies within kilometres of its mothballed McArthur River project.

CanAlaska president Peter Dasler said the company looked forward to operating the project and drilling to extend the mineralised zones, where intercepts of up to 5.5m at 1.51% U3O8 had been reported.

"The C10 conductor package within the West McArthur property, just 4km west of the Fox Lake uranium deposits, is showing strong evidence of multiple zones of uranium mineralisation associated with cross-trending fault structures," he said.

Meanwhile, the uranium spot price has strengthened to a 2.5-year high of US$29.15/lb amid production cutbacks and increased spot market purchasing.

However CanAlaska shares closed down C4.5c to 28c, near a one-year low, putting its value around $9.2 million.

Cameco (TSX: CCO) shares are near the upper end of its 52-week range but closed down 6c to $15.62, to capitalise it close to $6.2 billion.