Dufferin Project 2026

Dufferin West Project

The 5,994 ha Dufferin West Property is located in northwest Saskatchewan along the southern margin of the Athabasca Basin, approximately 145 km northeast of La Loche, Sask., and is accessible by float-equipped aircraft from La Ronge, Sask. or Fort McMurray, AB. The claims were acquired in 2023, are 100% owned by Eagle Plains, and are highly prospective for unconformity uranium deposits, located approximately 18 km along strike from Cameco's Centennial deposit, where historic drill hole VR-031W3 intersected 8.78% U3O8 over 33.9 m (SMAF 74G12-0061).

      • Saskatchewan
      • Available for option: Yes
      • Uranium

Project Highlights

  • Excellent geology favourable for uranium deposits
  • Significantly underexplored, with the first modern drill program completed in 2026
  • Proven Uranium District - Centennial U deposit is situated along-strike 18-20 km to the ENE
  • Prospective for unconformity- and basement-hosted uranium mineralization in proximity to NE-SW trending faults
  • 2026 maiden drill program (975 m, 3 holes) confirmed a consistent uranium geochemical signature (up to 7x background) immediately below the Athabasca unconformity
  • Multiple untested drill targets remain, including the along-strike extension of the DW26-001 conductor and several targets defined by the 2026 gravity survey
West Dufferin_Uranium_Compilation_20260301

Summary

The 5,994 ha Dufferin West Property is located in northwest Saskatchewan along the southern margin of the Athabasca Basin, approximately 145 km northeast of La Loche, Sask., and is accessible by float-equipped aircraft from La Ronge, Sask. or Fort McMurray, AB. The claims were acquired in 2023, are 100% owned by Eagle Plains, and are highly prospective for unconformity uranium deposits, located approximately 18 km along strike from Cameco's Centennial deposit, where historic drill hole VR-031W3 intersected 8.78% U3O8 over 33.9 m (SMAF 74G12-0061).

From January 2025 through July 2026, Refined Energy Corp. (CSE: RUU; OTC: RFMCF; FRA: CWA0) held an exclusive option to earn up to a 75% interest in the combined Dufferin Project (Dufferin West and Dufferin North), and funded target generation, permitting, a 43-101 technical report, and a three-hole, 975-metre drill program at Dufferin West. On August 17, 2026, Eagle Plains announced that Refined had elected to terminate the option. The Dufferin West property has now reverted fully to Eagle Plains, which owns 100% with no underlying royalties or encumbrances, and is again available for option.

Project Highlights

  • Excellent geology favourable for uranium deposits
  • Significantly underexplored, with the first modern drill program completed in 2026
  • Proven Uranium District - Centennial U deposit is situated along-strike 18-20 km to the ENE
  • Prospective for unconformity- and basement-hosted uranium mineralization in proximity to NE-SW trending faults
  • 2026 maiden drill program (975 m, 3 holes) confirmed a consistent uranium geochemical signature (up to 7x background) immediately below the Athabasca unconformity
  • Multiple untested drill targets remain, including the along-strike extension of the DW26-001 conductor and several targets defined by the 2026 gravity survey

Eagle Plains Exploration

In late 2023, Eagle Plains digitized and imported available historic data into a GIS database. In January 2025, partner Refined Energy Corp. completed a review and interpretation of historical versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) and magnetic survey data, identifying three priority target areas adjacent to the Virgin River Shear Zone. The highest-priority target is a strong EM conductor associated with a distinct magnetic transition, interpreted to extend from the sandstone unconformity well into the underlying basement; the depth to unconformity here is estimated at less than 200 m. Neither this target nor the other two had been previously drill-tested.

In March 2025, Eagle Plains received a drilling permit for Dufferin West from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. In June 2025, Refined filed a National Instrument 43-101 technical report recommending a minimum four-hole, 1,250-metre drill program budgeted at $2,062,500. In December 2025, Refined approved a 2026 exploration program comprising ground gravity and electromagnetic surveys plus a minimum of 1,200 metres of diamond drilling, budgeted at approximately $1.7 million and managed by TerraLogic Exploration Inc.

Ground time-domain EM (TEM) surveying was completed in February 2026 to refine drill targets ahead of drilling. Drilling commenced March 2, 2026, targeting an EM conductor originally defined by airborne VTEM data. Drill hole DW26-001 intersected the targeted graphitic conductor at 381 m, with associated brecciation at an unconformity depth of 332 m. Drill hole DW26-002 was terminated early to allow completion of DW26-003 within the program budget; DW26-003 reached the unconformity at 312 m and intersected two brecciated fault zones - one in the sandstone (104-120 m) and one in the basement (323.7-327.1 m) - testing a significant ground gravity low bounded to the east by a magnetic high, interpreted to represent Archean granite-gneiss basement. The completed program totalled 975 metres across the three holes, on budget at approximately $1.7 million.

A total of 87 samples from DW26-001 and DW26-003 were submitted to ALS Canada Ltd. for geochemical analysis. Ten samples returned weakly anomalous uranium values, with the highest assay returning 5 ppm uranium (up to 7x background) from DW26-001 immediately below the unconformity. A detailed review incorporating U/Th and Pb-isotope ratios and alteration indicator elements including boron identified 10 anomalous sample intervals of interest, with uranium enrichment dominant over thorium immediately below the unconformity - a geochemical signature consistent with uranium mineralization potential.

Prior Agreements

Refined Energy Corp. held an exclusive option, entered into in early 2025, to acquire up to a 75% interest in the combined 10,140 ha Dufferin Project (Dufferin West and Dufferin North). On August 17, 2026, Eagle Plains announced that Refined had elected to terminate the option agreement. The Dufferin Project, including Dufferin West, has reverted fully to Eagle Plains at 100% ownership with no underlying royalties or encumbrances.

Future Work

Priority next steps identified from the 2026 program include deepening drill hole DW26-002 to unconformity target depth to test coincident geophysical indicators - a strong conductive response, proximity to a low magnetic lineament, and an associated sub-kilometric-scale gravity low anomaly. Four additional untested DDH targets remain from the geophysical data compilation, and several further targets have been defined from the 2026 ground gravity survey. Eagle Plains will evaluate these priorities in the context of its broader Athabasca Basin portfolio, including Dufferin North.

Details

Geology

The geology of northwestern Saskatchewan comprises northeast trending belts of metamorphosed Archean-Proterozoic supracrustal and plutonic rocks of the Rae-Hearne craton overlain by siliciclastic rocks of the Proterozoic Athabasca basin. Archean-Proterozoic basement rocks are strongly deformed and metamorphosed from orogenic episodes 1.9 Ga and 1.8 Ga and capped by weathered regolith formed during surficial exposure prior to Athabasca Basin formation. Sedimentation of Athabasca fluvial sandstones and conglomerates occurred from ~1750-1540 Ma, creating the <2km thick sedimentary basin preserved today.

High-grade metamorphic and granitoid rocks of the Rae and Hearne provinces were accreted together during an orogeny ~1.9 Ga and sutured along a structural corridor called the Snowbird Tectonic Zone, south of the Athabasca basin, this zone is expressed by the Virgin River Shear Zone (VRSZ). The VRSZ is a major structural and tectonic feature comprising mylonitic and cataclastic rocks dividing the Rae province on the west from the Hearne province to the east. As a major tectonic feature, this zone has also hosted post-Athabasca brittle fault reactivations and brittle faulting along lithologic contacts and fabrics.

The major unconformity between metamorphic and granitic basement rocks and the overlying Athabasca Basin hosts the highest-grade uranium deposits in the world. The currently accepted model of uranium formation along the Athabasca unconformity is the reduction of oxidized uraniferous hydrothermal fluids flowing along reactivated basement faults. Reducing conditions are often attributed to graphitic rocks and shear zones where uranium mineralization is most commonly found. Most discoveries in the basin are concentrated along the unconformity edge where the sedimentary cover is the thinnest, but the discovery and tracing of faults below the basin cover is driving exploration further into the basin. In the Dufferin West area, unconformity uranium mineralization is found near faults parallel to and within the VRSZ.

The Dufferin West property is located along the southern edge of the Athabasca Basin, ~1.5km from the unconformity edge. This property overlies ~200m of the conglomeratic Manitou Falls Formation underlain by granitoid gneisses and high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Taltson domain. The NE-SW trending trace of the VRSZ below the sedimentary cover occurs approximately 4km SE of the Dufferin West property.

Mineralization

There are no documented mineral occurrences within the Dufferin West tenure although several monometallic and polymetallic unconformity uranium occurrences are found along the Dufferin Lake fault and other NE-SW trending faults that transect the Dufferin West property. Sandstone- and basement-hosted uranium mineralization is predominantly found along these brittle post-Athabasca faults.

The most significant mineral occurrence in the region is the Centennial Zone which hosts sandstone- and basement-hosted unconformity uranium mineralization extending ~600m along a NNE trend where diamond drilling has intersected grades up to 25.6% U3O8 over 0.5m and 8.78% U3O8 over 33.9m. A relatively high concentration of secondary U-bearing minerals indicate uranium remobilization may play an important role in this region of the Athabasca Basin.

History

Diamond drilling in the surrounding area has been conducted from the late 1970s until recent, but no drilling has been completed at the Dufferin West property itself.

Exploration in the area began in 1969 when Ranger Oil conducted an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey followed by two drill holes (353m). Drilling did not intersect anything of significance and further exploration was halted.

From 1974-1978 Uranerz Exploration and Mining completed multiple airborne and ground EM, magnetic, and radiometric geophysical surveys, prospecting, mapping and geochemical surveys including lake sediments, lake water and bog soils. A seven-hole drill program (1207m) was also completed. An airborne radiometric survey discovered an anomaly associated with three individual radioactive springs located approx. 3km SW of Dufferin West, and an airborne EM survey discovered NE-SW trending EM conductors. The natural radioactive springs registered 500cps when measured at ground level, and measured 3.5x the background on the U-channel during the airborne radiometric survey. The springs were 200-300m apart, flowing out of the base of a sandstone cliff and precipitating red iron oxides at surface. Diamond drilling aimed to test the NE-SW trending EM conductors and intersected faulted and hydrothermally altered rocks in three of seven holes. Drilling also intersected a uranium showing SW of Dufferin West assaying up to 0.12% U over an undisclosed length.

In 1982 Uranerz Exploration and Mining conducted additional geophysical surveys in Dufferin West area including airborne and ground EM and magnetometer surveys, VLF-EM survey, and VL-EM and HL-EM surveys. Surface geochemistry work was done including till sampling, prospecting and trenching.

In 1998, Uranerz Exploration and Mining Ltd. completed eight diamond drill holes (6705.1m) drill core geochemistry and petrography, and an airborne GEOTEM geophysics survey in the Dufferin West area. Geophysics discovered NE-SW trending conductors parallel to major faults/shear zones. Drilling aimed to test EM conductors and projections of mineralization trends, and intersected mineralized intervals of Athabasca sandstone assaying up to 2% U over 0.2m near the Dufferin Lake fault.

In 2005, Dejour Enterprises Ltd. conducted an airborne EM and GEOTEM survey over the Dufferin West area. The survey outlined a magnetic low and a conductor axis along the Dufferin Lake fault and a weak NE-SW trending conductor in the NE corner of the Dufferin West tenure.

From 2007-2008, Titan Uranium completed an airborne VTEM geophysical survey and lake sediment, soil, and tree geochemistry surveys in the Dufferin West area. Exploration discovered a weak NE-SW trending conductor along a magnetic low identified as a target for future exploration.

In 2019, NexGen Energy Ltd. completed an airborne EM and magnetic survey in the Dufferin West area. They identified several conductive zones throughout the wider area and mapped unconformity isopachs. One conductive zone identified as a future target is a NE-SW trending zone in the NE corner of the property, overlapping a previously identified conductor of interest from 2005.

Eagle Plains - A Project Generator

Eagle Plains Resources is a project generator with several mineral exploration properties of merit that meet qualifying transaction requirements.  We facilitate the listing process for capital pool companies and initial public offerings while providing technical expertise for exploration programs.  Companies interested in co-operatively exploring any of our projects please contact: Chuck Downie at ccd@eagleplains.com or Andrew Wilson at abw@eagleplains.com or call 1 866 Hunt Ore (486 8673).

Updated August 18th, 2026