Skyharbour, Orano Plan Summer Uranium Drill Program at Preston Lake

Orano Canada plans a summer 2026 exploration campaign at the Preston Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, the company said June 23. The program, a joint venture with Skyharbour Resources, includes a helicopter-borne gravity survey and up to 3,500 metres of diamond drilling starting in July.

Orano holds a 79.2% interest in the 49,635-hectare property and is funding the work. Skyharbour owns the remaining 20.8%. For Skyharbour shareholders, the program represents a de-risking event funded by a partner with deep pockets and technical expertise. Orano is a uranium producer with 60 years of experience in the basin, operating the McClean Lake mill and the SABRE mining method.

The gravity survey will cover a high-priority corridor in the northern portion of the property, including the FSAN and Canoe Lake grids. Previous drilling there returned anomalous uranium values along the FSA conductive corridor, a zone of segmented conductors that Orano's technical team interprets as faulting and structural complexity favourable for uranium deposition. The survey uses a helicopter-borne AGG system flying at 35 metres with 100-metre line spacing, expected to take about two weeks. Ground gravity follow-up at 25-by-25-metre spacing is planned for early 2027.

Drilling will start in July with roughly ten holes averaging 300 metres depth. Six to eight holes will target the FSAN area, testing four to six targets identified by coincident magnetic and gravity lows. Two to four holes will test the Area B conductive corridor, the last large untested conductive trend on the property. Orano said five lines of DC resistivity data collected in 2020 support the targeting.