Of the 15+ compelling stories told at our first ever Subscriber Investment Summit in Vancouver last week, one that stood out was NexGen Energy (NXE:TSXV), which made a rapidly growing Canadian uranium discovery in 2014 at the Arrow Zone.
NexGen's CEO, Leigh Curyer, previously managed a $500 million private equity fund with the mandate of finding undervalued uranium assets to turn around for a profit. After leaving private equity he formed NexGen with the current Chairman and ex-Rio Tinto executive Chris McFadden.
Curyer, the accountant, says he focuses on a technical approach to mineral discovery and respect for the exploration dollar.
"This will be the lowest cost discovery in the Basin's history," Curyer told the audience of natural resource investors. "I'm a Chartered Accountant by trade so it's inherent in my nature to be fierce with the (exploration) dollars."
He says NexGen is spending approximately $8.50 on exploration for every $1.00 that is spent on corporate G&A (salaries, office rent, etc).
This was Curyer's first public presentation since the release of hole AR-14-30 which stands as one of the best holes ever drilled in Saskatchewan, Canada's Athabasca Basin, home to the world's largest and richest uranium deposits.
Hole AR-14-30, which was drilled into the Arrow zone, hit multiple high-grade uranium intercepts including:
- 7.54% U3O8 over 63.50 metres
- Including 10.32% U3O8 over 46.00 metres
- Including 35.19% U3O8 over 7.00 metres
- Including 66.80% U308 over 0.50 metres
Curyer said, "Arrow, in a very short space of time, is developing into a significant world-class uranium discovery."
NexGen has drilled 32 holes at the Arrow zone with 30 of them hitting high-grade uranium mineralization.
We visited the project this summer and were very impressed with what we saw (read: "All Signs Point to Arrow").
Curyer and his exploration team led by Garrett Ainsworth (who received the Colin Spence Award for his part in discovering the Patterson Lake South deposit) have already identified an area of mineralization spanning 215 metres by 515 metres and starting from 100 metres deep to a depth of 730 metres.
They identified the high-grade uranium mineralization at Arrow by drilling large step-out holes; 200 metres along strike and 50 metres in width.
"You can miss Cigar Lake drilling step-outs at those distances, but we hit (mineralization) in 30 of 32 holes which tells you this thing was too big to miss," explained Curyer.
Shortly after the release of AR-14-30, Cormark Securities announced a $10 million bought deal financing at a significant premium with NexGen. As a result, the company is cashed up with roughly $16 million in the treasury.
NexGen is already working to define and refine drill targets for a large winter drill campaign starting in January 2015. They also have another 16 assays pending from the summer 2014 program.
Watch Mr. Curyer's video presentation above.
Visit www.nexgenenergy.ca for more information.
Disclosure: NexGen Energy Ltd. is a client and the author owns shares. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell securities. Always do your own due diligence.