Garrett Ainsworth: District Metals Expands the Viken Uranium Story

0:17Trevor Hall: Welcome back into Mining Stock Daily, everybody. Let's cover one of our favorite uranium companies, and that is District Metals. They do trade on the TSX Venture with DMX and on the OTCQX with DMXCF. The company has been hard boots on the ground at the VEcon deposit, plus some other geochemical results coming out from other alum shale projects within the home country of Sweden there. But we're going to talk about this week's new intersections of cumulative alum shale coming out of VEcon. Happy to welcome in CEO Garrett Ainsworth. Garrett, welcome back to the podcast. It's been a busy fall for you.

0:59Trevor Hall: Glad we could find some time to catch up with you. Yeah, definitely Trevor. Great to be on. It's been a while and it has. Yeah, we've been drilling quite a bit actually since about June. Yeah, so let's do talk about the ongoing drilling at VEACAN. I mean, this has kind of been the most news present coming out of real exploration quite some time here. with district metals, but you're hitting really good, uh, wide intercepts here. In fact, this week's 198 meters of cumulative alum shale, uh, number of weeks ago, you reported 155 meters of alum shale coming out of VEcon. These seems to be very wide intercepts for that type of deposit.

1:43Absolutely. They are. Yeah. And I mean, just, uh, to, to kind of set the stage, like, you know naturally occurring alum shell really shouldn't be much more than five or 20 meters thick but um something very special has happened on on the viken property in particular where you've you've had some structural um shifting uh tectonics and whatnot and uh it's thickened the alum shells uh you know in excess of 50 meters in excess of 150 meters almost up to 200 meters in our latest hold that we reported most recently. So it's really exciting to see this. And, you know, it's, you know, big credit to the geophysical survey that we flew last year, the Mobile MT.

2:29It is working extremely well. And yeah, we're really, really happy with being able to pick the best targets here.

2:37Trevor Hall: Yeah. Well, let's talk about this. They're coming from target A. This is where the first initial drills are being targeted. And Target A is basically northwest of that indicated and inferred resource at Beacon. So obviously, you're, I guess, stepping out, I guess you can say. What is the potential here for Target A, Garrett? And why was this the most critical priority for the company with first drill results? Yeah, so we did the preliminary economic assessment on the VEKIN deposit because we used historical drill data from 2006 to 2012 to basically get out an economic study for the PEA and an economic impact study.

3:24We want to do that as quickly as possible. So it'd be under NI 43 101 and we'd be able to talk about the economics of what a potential mine could look like. But we also did the Mobile MT survey with the idea that, you know, we need to take a step back and also look at the broader potential for the project and make sure that wherever we're going to advance to a PFS is the best location on the property. So we flew the Mobile MT and it turned out that target areas A, B, and C actually are larger and stronger in signature than the VEcon deposit itself. So before advancing the current PEA to a PFS, we need to go investigate these other areas, at least target area A and B for sure.

4:08Potentially even target areas GH and I, which we've submitted permit applications for. and I mean the potential for target area a alone I mean if you if you look at the figure it's it's pretty obvious there's potential for at least another vegan deposit to fit in there but one thing we really like about target a is it from an environmental and social license aspect it's uh it's really good so it it um it's quite a there's it's a mix of woodlands and um and kind of swamp or just wet ground. So it's not land that is usable for agricultural purposes. And there's very few homes within target area A as well.

4:53So that is one reason why we're really focused because where the current deposit is, the beacon deposit, it's a mix of forest and farmland, which is okay. I mean, in Sweden, there's many examples of mines that occur in that kind of environment. But I mean, if we can have optionality on the Deacon deposit, that's even better.

5:15Trevor Hall: Yeah. Yeah. This is quite interesting. I guess the next, I don't know if you feel like you cracked the code here connecting the MMT recissivity model, because we're yet to see assay results come from these first five holes, right? But if you can create a correlation between grade and that MMT model, does that really open up this target A? Not only target A, but maybe even B and C to the north. It does to a certain degree, but I would never do a direct correlation on conductivity, resistivity, and grade. And same with radioactivity. So the radioactivity that we're seeing, uh, from holes one to five that we've reported on with the visuals, um, it's, it's very good.

6:10I mean, it's like, we're, we're seeing up to 790 counts per second, um, using a handheld GR110 Exploranium. And, um, and that's, uh, you know, that's higher than what we saw at Osterkallen at Malgami, which we drilled over the summer. and it's in line with some of the historical drill hole from the beacon deposit itself. So we'll see what the geochemical results come back with, but I definitely like the levels of radioactivity that we're seeing. And again, you seem to get an increase in graphite, which is the conductive response in the mobile MT. So there is a correlation, but I would take that correlation very carefully.

6:59Trevor Hall: Okay. Thanks for being with that. What about, I mean, you kind of mentioned the graphite. What about the other critical minerals, the potash, the vanadium, that obviously is correlated to the economics of the vegan resource? Any correlation or any variables that you're seeing or potentially see at Target A? The, yeah, the vanadium and potash, There's no way to tell from radioactivity or conductivity what the levels of vanadium or potash could be. What we do know is that there's sometimes a slight inverse relationship between uranium and vanadium. So when the geological setting was closer to shore, you would have higher uranium numbers in the black shales or the lump shales.

7:51where you're further away from shore in deeper water, your vanadium would be a bit higher. And it's not, it's almost, it's maybe not even material, the amount of difference in grade. It's like, there's not really such thing as a high grade zone within a lump shells. The continuity of grade between uranium, vanadium and potash is all very similar. so it's uh you will get some areas that are slightly higher and you know that might be something to go after especially if it's closer to surface but um yeah and it's within a thick sequence oh and actually one thing i just remember that's very important here is um we're hitting in target area a a good interval of limestone just on sitting on top of the alum shell we actually like this this is really good because that alum shell or sorry that that limestone could come in handy down the track in, in a, in a future mining scenario.

8:57You can, you can take that limestone, crush it up. And then once you have your tailings with, with a lump shell, you can actually mix it in, mix the crushed up limestone, like interlayered with the lump shell tailings. And that is another step you can take. It's very proactive that will stabilize the alum shells from any metals leaching out. But of course, I mean, dry stack tailings, you would also cap it with clay. So you'd minimize water, um, infiltrating in and causing any kind of leachate. But these are all really good things that we're, we're thinking about well in advance. And it's, it's really exciting to be able to tell, um, you know, landowners and, and municipalities that we're thinking about these things, cause they are very important.

9:43And there is an example of a, um, uh, waste site in Norway, off the coast of Norway. It's an island called Langoya. It's, uh, they, they gutted the whole island. It doesn't look so good. They mined out the, the, uh, the limestone and then they've actually backfilled it with a lump shell from, from road work and, and, and, um, developments and, and they've interlayered the alum shell with crushed up limestone to stabilize it. And this is being deposited at Langoya meters away from the ocean. And there is no, um, they're monitoring it and it's all good in terms of no leachate is getting into the ocean.

10:24So it's a modern day example of you can, you can store, um, uh, alum shell. Uh, I mean, this is, this isn't even a alum shell tailings. This is a lump shell with all the metals in it. So I kind of digress, but I'm pretty excited about that as you can tell.

10:40Trevor Hall: Yeah, no, that's interesting. And obviously adds an intricate layer onto a technical report for VEK and what an actual mining scenario for the deposit would look like, right? And there's probably a handful of people that could help figure that out. So it's narrowing it down for you, I would suppose. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So you've reported the conclusion of five holes. Is that it for target A? Where is the drill program now? How many more holes are left at target A? And you also mentioned heading up to target B. yes so the way the drill program is going we're drilling along the road uh that that's for a couple reasons one one being we want to create as little disturbance as possible on the landowner for the landowner we also um yeah it's it's a lot it's a lot yeah and also if there's wetlands and we can't get on it because it's actually been quite warm there um so we're going to basically pick our drilling kind of based along along the road and target area a until things get colder and then we can hopefully move to target area b um and and so there's a few things that are impacting our decision on where we drill next and that's the weather and it's also the landowners so we we've got a good relationship with the current landowner that we're drilling on and um and then we're we're also talking to the one next door getting ready to move over there next.

12:14But, um, but yeah, the, the weather right now is, is the deciding factor before we move to, to target area B. Um, so I can't really tell you how many more holes exactly, or how many more meters, but we're just going to kind of keep, keep going. And, and, uh, I mean, one thing that's very important to note is target area A, we're not even drilling the best part of target area A. Like, um, it's pretty obvious to see from the color contouring on the mobile MT map that, um, The best part is actually further to the east. And that is underneath quite a wet area. So we can't get there right now or like that, that'll be a winter drilling program to get out that way.

12:55But I should also note the good thing about the mobile MT, it does not just, it does not map out the swamp. The reason why the swamp is there is because it's likely sitting right on top of a lump shell, which basically doesn't allow the water to seep down because it's a mudstone, essentially, that's lithified. So, yeah, what we are seeing right now from the drill results, it's not even the best part of target area A. That's important to note.

13:26Trevor Hall: Okay. Is that those best parts? Is that something you hit this winter once the cold sets in? That would be, yeah, that would be a winter, next winter type program. Okay. And are you hearing, what's our timeline? I mean, I ask this question all the time, but what's the timeline to get official assays from these five holes? Hopefully we can get some assays out before the end of the year. So maybe in December for the first hole. Um, and so that's Vic, uh, 26001 and maybe Vic, uh, 26004. Um, if, if we don't get them in time, then it'll have to be in early 2027. Uh, and then from the drill assays, uh, from the lump shell properties, hopefully we'll have those out, um, late, late November or sometime in December.

14:19Okay. Very good.

14:20Trevor Hall: So let's move on here. Real quick comments here on some more geochemical results. Obviously, we talked about those MMT and just really blown up like a Christmas tree at Beacon. But you have announced geochemical results from, again, I'm going to botch this, the Saksjorn uranium property and also the Neonfurs uranium property, both in Sweden. Give us a rundown of these projects and really what you're seeing from early data. Yes. Yeah. So these are not a loam shell properties. These are in kind of conventional uranium mineralization. And the big draw at nine force is Majas Bariet, which is a very large boulder field that historically had boulder assays up to 1.4%.

15:09When we went in and sampled it, we only got up to 937 parts per million. So I think a big part of that is how the sampling was done. So I think there might've been some high grading of sampling by the, by the, the geological survey of Sweden in the 1980s and seventies. Um, and, and also the rock is very hard. So you, you need a, a rock saw to, to really kind of get at some areas and, and that requires a work permit, which, um, we did not want to go for. So we, we were just doing a chisel samples and whatnot. So I think that that's kind of part of the reason for, uh, us getting a lower uranium, uh, response.

15:53But, um, but I think, you know, we're now in a good position with, um, with Nyanforce to, to drill. Um, you know, if, if we decide to do that next year or not, I'm not sure, but, uh, yeah, we're also happy to see that there's, um, you know, rare earth elements such as yttrium and molybdenum in there as well, but the results at Nyanforce and, and then moving to Sockjarn. That's a lot similar in mineralization style between the two properties. There is a historical mineral resource on Sokjorn, just over a million pounds of uranium at a grade of about 680 parts per million uranium. Um, but, uh, yeah, we, we found some really good looking boulders that show, um, the mineralization is, uh, you know, has good potential to expand to the, to the Northwest where it hasn't been drilled and it's open in, in drilling.

16:50So again, we've, I think Sock Jar, I'm very excited about these results. It's, it's left it in a really good spot. And, um, you know, we've also been talking to other, other, uh, groups about potentially, uh, optioning this project as well. um so it's uh yeah we'll see what happens um there's there's a few different options that we have because we're really focused on on beacon yeah yeah absolutely well you are so much

17:14Trevor Hall: focused on beacon i also will ask as we look ahead into next year 2027 where does the other polymetallic projects what is the likelihood of that something changing with that within the portfolio? Yeah. So we've, we've had numerous, uh, parties that are, that have, um, shown interest in, uh, Tom Thibault and Gru Beriet. Um, our last few financings, you know, were, were we raised, uh, funds with, um, uh, Ventum and Pareto. It was very clear that those funds were not to be spent on our base metal projects. So, you know, we honored that very closely. And so we've been, yeah, we're happy to bring a partner in to fund Advancing Tom de Beau and Groove Bariot.

18:05And yeah, hopefully we can figure something out in the future on those two projects as well.

18:10Trevor Hall: Okay. All right. Garrett, we'll probably hopefully be touching base, you know, once or twice again before the end of the year. We will be watching closely for those first drill results coming out of VEACAN. And hopefully we'll see those sooner rather than later. Thanks so much for your time. Safe travels. I know you, along with a lot of other of your peers, are traveling overseas in the next couple of weeks. So best of luck. Thank you, Trevor. Yeah, safe travels to you. It's going to be a busy November, won't it? Yes, it will be. Yes, it will be. All right. That's your update from District Metals, everybody, trading on the venture with DMX and on the OTCQX with DMXCF.

18:51Trevor Hall: The information presented should not be considered investment advice. Mining stock daily and its affiliates are not responsible for any loss arising from any investment decision in connection with the material presented herein. Please do your own research or speak with a licensed financial representative before making any investment decisions. Thank you.