TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Project generators Aldrin Resource Corp and Fission 3.0 have entered into an option agreement that could see Aldrin acquire interest of up to 50% in Fission’s Key Lake property package in the south-eastern Athabasca basin region.

Under the terms of the option agreement, Aldrin had agreed to incur $6.9-million over staged yearly exploration efforts and expenditures by May 1, 2019, the company stated on Thursday.

Aldrin had agreed to spend $1-million in 2016 and $1.7-million in 2017 to garner 20% interest in the property package, $2-million in 2018 for a further 10% interest and $2.2-million in 2019 to secure its final 20% interest in the project.

The company would also pay Fission $100 000 in cash and issue 1.9-million shares after the agreement had received the necessary approvals.

The Key Lake property package comprised five separate noncontiguous properties, comprising 61 mineral claims covering about 18 392.7 ha. The five properties were referred to as River Lake, Costigan Lake, Karpinka Lake, Millson Lake and Hobo Lake.

The project had excellent road access to highway 914 – the main, year-round maintained access road servicing the operational Key Lake mill.

The project was located within the prospective Wollaston Mudjatic Transition zone – the same group of basement rocks that hosted most of the major uranium deposits on the eastern side of the Athabasca basin.

Aldrin said it believed the Key Lake land package had the potential to host near-surface, high-grade uranium mineralisation similar to the nearby historic Key Lake deposits that produced 209.8-million pounds of uranium from 1983 to 2002.

"As a project generator, we identify and acquire properties that have the potential to host high-grade uranium. When it comes to exploration, our joint venture partners provide the financing, while our award-winning technical team, led by COO and chief geologist Ross McElroy, which has made two major discoveries in the last four years, operates the project.

“This latest agreement gives Aldrin and its shareholders the opportunity to partner with the top technical teams in the uranium exploration sector and enables Fission to explore a highly prospective part of its project portfolio,” Fission 3.0 chairperson and CEO Dev Randhawa advised.

The company´s management, headed up by Randhawa and McElroy, was the team that founded Fission Uranium and made the Patterson Lake South (PLS) high-grade discovery.

The same team also founded Fission Energy Corp, making the J-Zone high-grade discovery in the Athabasca basin, and built Fission into a TSX Venture 50 company.

In April 2013, Fission Energy sold the majority of its assets to Denison Mines, including its Waterbury Lake property, and Fission Uranium Corp was spun out of the deal with Denison. Fission 3.0 is the third iteration of the original Fission company.