Appia Announces Alces Lake 2022 Prospecting Program Discovers Massive Monazite at the West Limb Radiometric Anomaly Returning up to 36 wt.% TREO

December 06, 2022 10:08 AM EST | Source: Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - December 6, 2022) - Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQX: APAAF) (FSE: A0I.F) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE) (the "Company" or "Appia") is excited to announce the receipt of assay results from the 2022 prospecting program at its wholly owned Alces Lake Rare Earth Elements Property, Northern Saskatchewan.

Highlights from the program include:

  • 36.11 wt.% TREO returned from samples of MASSIVE TO SEMI-MASSIVE MONAZITE in outcrop at the West Limb anomaly, first discovered in 2022.
  • 3.34 wt.% TREO returned from a mineralized biotite shear zone at the West Limb anomaly
  • 4.34 wt.% TREO returned from VISIBLE MONAZITE in a shear zone at a previously unexplored and un-named radiometric prospect south of the Magnet Ridge zone
  • 2.03 wt.% TREO returned from VISIBLE MONAZITE discovered in the Western Anomaly

Vice President Exploration Irvine Annesley says "Continuing to find new occurrences of visible and massive monazite on the Alces lake property show the property's amazing potential. Multiple results exceeding one percent total rare earth oxides from new targets, not explored before 2022, tells us we are just scratching the surface at Alces Lake. With so much area left to explore we are excited about what remains to be discovered and new targets to be drilled."

Following up on the success of Appia's 2021 geological field work, a team of two field geologists conducted reconnaissance prospecting of previously unexplored or underexplored radiometric Th (and U) anomalies during the 2022 field season. The team documented 13 new occurrences of visible monazite across the central portion of the Alces Lake property. Grab samples of anomalously radioactive bedrock were collected whenever possible. Of 34 outcrop grab samples, four returned grades exceeding 2 weight percent Total Rare Earth Oxides (wt.% TREO) and greater than half exceeded 0.1 wt.% TREO.

With another successful year following up on the results of Alces Lake 2021 airborne radiometric survey, Appia has engaged a geophysical contractor to expand the survey coverage to all of the 35,682-hectare Alces Lake property.

Appia CEO Tom Drivas said "The 2022 prospecting results have shown just how effective and valuable a tool the airborne radiometric data is. After the 2021 survey guided our team to excellent results from new targets for the second season in a row, including the stunning 36.11 wt.% TREO sample in the West Limb, we have decided to expand the survey to cover the entire property. This is an important step for unlocking the full potential of Alces Lake as part of an emerging Rare Earth Elements district."

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Figure 1. Results and locations of 2022 prospecting sampling. Point labels identify the calculated wt.% TREO of each outcrop grab sample, as further elaborated on in Table 1 below.

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Figure 2. Current coverage of airborne radiometrics at Alces Lake. Appia has engaged a geophysical contractor to extend the survey to the complete extents of the claim group at the beginning of the 2023 work program.

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Table 1. Locations and Calculated Wt. % TREO of 2022 outcrop grab samples as displayed in Figure 1. Wt.% TREO = ([CeO2 ppm] + [Dy2O3 ppm] + [Pr6O11 ppm] + [La2O3 ppm] + [Nd2O3 ppm] + [Sm2O3 ppm] + [Eu2O3 ppm] + [Gd2O3 ppm] + [Tb4O7 ppm] + [Ho2O3 ppm] [Er2O3 ppm] + [Yb2O3 ppm] + [Lu2O3] ppm + [Y2O3 ppm] ) / 10000

 Easting (m) Northing (m) Elevation (m) Sample ID Type TREO (wt.%)
666087 6617079 492 8233  Outcrop36.114 
668489 6615445 433 8221  Outcrop4.338 
666087 6617065 492 8219  Outcrop3.343 
663441 6614728 447 8236  Outcrop2.030 
661297 6610836 516  8214  Outcrop0.729 
661922 6611569 453 8213  Outcrop0.391 
667723 6616654 488 8228  Outcrop0.349 
661962 6611612 461 8212  Outcrop0.287 
661289 6610831 516 8215  Outcrop0.237 
661445 6611280 452 8217  Outcrop0.219 
668464 6615569 441 8220  Outcrop0.206 
666243 6617494 488 8235  Outcrop0.204 
667713 6616673 489 8227  Outcrop0.181 
661444 6611310 448 8216  Outcrop0.178 
661910 6611203 409 8208  Outcrop0.149 
667717 6616682 489 8224  Outcrop0.146 
664174 6611294 439 8205  Outcrop0.135 
666186 6617430 486 8234  Outcrop0.121 
666078 6616950 490 8218  Outcrop0.098 
664336 6611228 442 8207  Outcrop0.078 
668309 6615660 435 8223  Outcrop0.072 
666087 6616621 462 8230  Outcrop0.058 
661946 6613288 422 8232  Outcrop0.052 
662006 6611207 415 8209  Outcrop0.048 
663869 6610986 496 8201  Outcrop0.041 
664124 6611240 436 8204  Outcrop0.041 
667689 6616663 489 8225  Outcrop0.030 
663885 6610980 497 8202  Outcrop0.029 
667700 6616652 488 8226  Outcrop0.027 
668520 6615530 442 8222  Outcrop0.025 
663854 6612821 419 8229  Outcrop0.021 
664340 6611257 437 8206  Outcrop0.015 
662185 6611372 438 8211  Outcrop0.014 
664446 6612794 369 8231  Outcrop0.011 

 

About the Alces Lake Project

The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REEs and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within several surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.

* Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)).

Appia resumed drilling at Alces Lake in mid-March 2022, with significantly deeper holes compared to the 100 holes (approximately 8,076 metres) drilled in 2021. Total meterage in 2022 was 17,481. This was designed to allow Appia to determine continuity at depth and along the identified REE mineralization trends as the Company works towards an initial resource estimate in accordance with NI 43-101 for the area. With high-grade REE mineralization now identified in many locations within an area covering approximately 27 km2 of the Alces Lake block. the Company believes the project has the potential to be a world-class source of high-grade critical rare earth bearing monazite.

The Alces Lake project is located in northern Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that is developing a "first-of-its-kind" rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council, with the first stage scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682 hectares (88,173 acres) in size and is 100% owned by Appia.

To ensure safe work conditions are met for the workforce, the Company has developed exploration guidelines that comply with the Saskatchewan Public Health Orders and the Public Health Order Respecting the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District in order to maintain social distancing and help prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

Grab samples were collected with the use of a rock hammer where possible and sample selection location was determined by the use of handheld scintillometer. The area of highest scintillometer readings may or may not have been sampled. All lithogeochemical assay results of grab samples were provided by Saskatchewan Research Council's Geoanalytical Laboratory, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (CAN-P-4E) certified laboratory in Saskatoon, SK. All analytical results reported herein have passed internal QA/QC review and compilation.

The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of Appia and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.

Appia is a publicly traded Canadian company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 110,997 hectares (274,280 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario.

Appia has 128.1 million common shares outstanding, 151 million shares fully diluted.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Drivas, CEO, Interim President and Director, (cell) 416-876-3957, or (email) appia@appiareu.com

Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/146909

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