A new leaf: These 4 explorers have revealed important project acquisitions

Zinc explorer Superior Lake Resources (ASX:SUP) is jumping on the uranium bandwagon, announcing a deal to acquire an advanced project in the US State of Oregon.

Recently, the spotlight has been on junior uranium explorers in the US.

Over the past 12 months, the Trump Administration has shown a strong desire to revive the domestic uranium industry to reduce its overwhelming reliance on imported uranium.

Superior Lake says Aurora was first discovered during the 1970s and since then, ~$20m has been spent on exploration and development.

It has a non-JORC 2012 resource ~38Mlbs U3O8, all within 100m of surface. The higher-grade stuff is generally ~50m from surface, Superior Lake says.

The company is also investigating “other uranium project opportunities” in the US.

READ: Is this uranium’s renaissance or another false dawn?

Gold-lithium explorer Dark Horse Resources (ASX:DHR) is running the ruler over some new gold and tungsten projects in Finland and Sweden.

At the Tampere permits in Finland, previous drilling returned numerous thick, shallow and high-grade intersections like 11.5m grading 19.4 grams per tonne (g/t), 30.6m from surface.

Following a capital raise, Dark Horse will commence a “complementary” drilling program to test these results reported by project vendor Sotkamo.

The ~$270,000 acquisition could represent the beginning of a new multi-jurisdictional strategy for Argentina-focused Dark Horse.

Gold opportunities in other favourable mining jurisdictions are also being considered for acquisition, the company says.

Dark Horse now has 45‐day exclusivity period to complete due diligence, obtain approvals from relevant government authorities in Finland and Sweden, and finalise transaction documentation.

Victorian gold explorer Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) has picked up ground covering historical Jubilee gold workings, 25km southwest of the 12-million-ounce Ballarat Goldfield.

Jubilee produced ~130,000 ounces of gold at a very high recovered grade of 12g/t between 1887 and 1913.

Since mine closure in 1913, “there has been no reported modern attempts at sustained exploration, and no drilling has occurred”, Navarre says.

“While the focus of Navarre is the ongoing diamond drilling program at Resolution Lode within the Stawell Corridor gold project, the acquisition of a highly prospective gold tenement within close trucking distance of an operating 12-million-ounce goldfield is a significant step forward for the company,” managing director Geoff McDermott says.

“A systematic exploration program will target extensions and repetitions of the historically mined quartz reefs which we anticipate drill testing towards the end of this year.”

And revitalised European Cobalt (ASX:EUC) is already looking to expand its landholding around the recently acquired Edleston project in Ontario, Canada.

Inspired by the high gold price, a number of ASX-listed explorers are now planning to resurrect historic, unloved gold fields in North America.

Last week, European Cobalt announced plans to acquire the 64.33sqkm Edleston project, where +$10.8m has already been spent on drilling and geophysics by a previous owner.

This pre-2012 drilling hit high grades like 5.3m at 81.39g/t gold, 110m from surface.

The explorer has now signed an exclusive option agreement to acquire tenure neighbouring Edleston which “provides further exposure to the prospective greenstone belt”, managing director Rob Jewson says.

“An expanded project-wide analysis of all previous exploration that has been undertaken is presently underway with the aim of defining the exploration potential, ranking relevant targets and devising suitable work programs to test the delineated targets,” he says.

“Further updates will be provided to market upon completion of this targeting program inclusive of a timeline of activities.”