Post by
Alphastox on Aug 27, 2013 1:23pm
Q&A Session with Roger Leschuk, Corporate Communications Manager at Lakeland Resources
I had a chance to catch up with Roger Leschuk, Corporate Communications Manager at Lakeland Resources (LK.V) to hear his thoughts on the Athabasca Basin and why he thinks his projects are the ones to watch.
As a new entrant into the uranium space, introduce us to Lakeland Resources.
Lakeland Resources is a new pure play uranium exploration company focused entirely on the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan. We have just begun the process of building the company and we are assembling a strong management group and technical team with a track record of discovery.
Why are investors focused on the Athabasca Basin?
One of the biggest factors driving interest into the Athabasca Basin currently has been the recent discovery of high grade uranium at Patterson Lake South (PLS) by Fission Uranium (TSXv: FCU) and Alpha Minerals (TSXv: AMW). The discovery, in an underexplored region on the southern end of the Basin has taken Alpha from around C$0.20 per share to C$7.25 in less than 12 months (Fission is up over 300% as well) and the combined market capitalization of Alpha and Fission now exceeds C$350 million. The discovery along with others in the Basin over the last several years have shown that there is still a great opportunity for new discoveries to be made in the Basin and the juniors with new thinking and more of an entrepreneurial spirit are best situated to make them.
Tell me a little bit about your flagship property and plans.
Our flagship property is Riou Lake, which is located on the northern end of the Basin. When Fission and Alpha made their discovery at PLS several companies started to stake in the south around the area of the discovery. With Riou Lake we took a step back and noticed that based on regional magnetics and geology the same positive factors that gave rise to PLS were repeated to some extent on northern end of the Basin.
Once we focused in on Riou Lake the area was particularly attractive to us because there was a wealth of historic exploration for the property that had yet to be followed up in a serious way, several targets had already been identified for drilling, and depths to the known targets were relatively shallow which is critically important in our project selection. There were also boulders in the region of the property with up to 11.3% uranium of which the source still has yet to be identified. We were picking up on a lot of historic data that is quite attractive to our team.
Our initial priority at Riou Lake will be the Gibbon’s Creek Target. This fall we will be doing the necessary field work to further prepare the target for drilling which will include some combination of prospecting, ground geophysics, soil geochemistry and radon surveys which will be followed by a drill program.
What differentiates Lakeland from the other juniors in the Basin?
I believe a number of things. Currently, the company has about 22 million shares fully diluted and management and insiders have more than 40% of that. So we have a good share structure with high insider ownership. Secondly, I would say the quality of the properties and the projects we have acquired. Thirdly, and most importantly the people who are involved with Lakeland Resources; from our advisory board through to our management. Our Advisory Board includes people like Tom Drolet, a uranium and nuclear industry specialist and Rick Kusmirski, former Exploration Manager for Cameco Corporation (TSX: CCO) and later President of JNR Resources that was acquired by Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) in February of 2013.
Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. will be handling all the field work and their track record is impeccable. Of the last four major finds in the Athabasca Basin Dahrouge Geological has been instrumental in the last two. We like that kind of a track record.
Also as Lakeland is a new company it currently has a start-up valuation of approximately C$2.5 million. Our peers in the Basin include NexGen Energy Ltd. (C$50 million), Azincourt Resources Inc. (C$8.1 million) and Forum Uranium Corp. (C$7.8 million). So we currently present good value for investors.
What do you expect in terms of news flow for the next 2-3 months?
There will quite a bit going on over the next 2-3 months; everything from the work in the field, what the progress is all along the way, to getting the drills turning. As well, we will keep the investors informed of any additions and changes that will be going on in regards to the management side and we are continuing to review and acquire assets as they become available.
Why should investors be following Lakeland Resources now?
With Lakeland Resources you have a new company with very few shares outstanding in the right space backed by a team that is very well versed in the uranium sector with a great track record.
Roger Leschuk CIM, FCSI