US supply needs guide Pioneer in its exploration drive for uranium

Pioneer Lithium (ASX:PLN) has noted the U.S. government’s growing focus on securing a domestic uranium supply, as it announced a two-phase soil sampling program at its Skull Creek uranium project in Colorado.

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The latter will aim to define targets for a maiden drilling program at Skull Creek, focusing on four strategically significant prospects – County Line, Blue Mountain, Skyline, and Railroad. Sampling these will also help to define the lateral extent of widespread surface uranium anomalies.

Pioneer is bolstered in this work by previous exploration, which has yielded high-grade uranium rock chips up to 1,240 parts per million (ppm) U₃O₈ (triuranium octoxide) confirmed in Sego Sandstone and Carbonaceous Shale.

The project’s prospectivity has also been underscored by radiometric anomalies peaking at 10,100 cps detected in key target lithologies.

Chief executive officer Michael Beven said the company was building on previous assessments of the territory.

“The previous surface exploration, which comprised geological mapping, rock chip sampling and the use of a spectrometer to detect radiometric anomalies, has been successful in identifying widespread uranium mineralisation across the exposed strike length of prospective lithologies, indicating the potential for large-scale uranium mineralisation to be hosted at depth,” he said.

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“The soil sampling program will enable us to potentially determine the lateral boundaries of the anomalism at the County Line, Blue Mountain, Skyline, and Railroad prospects, where known mineralisation exists prior to commencing phase two.

“Phase two will be aimed at sampling on a much broader scale [to detect] mineralised sandstone and shale layers elsewhere that are potentially buried under cover.”

PLN has been trading at 11 cents.

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