A fresh round of drilling near Uranium City has put one of Saskatchewan’s historic uranium districts back in focus. Xcite Uranium and project owner Eagle Plains Resources reported on August 26 that the first three holes of the 2026 Don Lake program all encountered anomalous radioactivity, with a peak handheld spectrometer reading of 51,978 counts per second at 55 metres in hole DN26001. The result is notable because the drilling is targeting shallow, structurally controlled uranium mineralization in an area worked intermittently since the late 1940s. It is also preliminary: laboratory geochemical assays are still pending and the true thickness of the reported intervals has not yet been determined. That makes the early readings an exploration signal worth watching, rather than a finished statement about uranium grade, tonnage or economic viability.
The First Three Holes Produced Multiple Radioactive Intervals
The first three holes produced considerably more information than the headline 51,978-cps number alone. Hole DN26001 returned a 1.9-metre interval beginning at 54.93 metres with a maximum downhole gamma reading of 27,474 cps and an average of 11,571 cps. Farther down the hole, a 3.9-metre interval from 58.93 metres reached a maximum of 34,254 cps, including a 0.9-metre section averaging 13,428 cps. The headline 51,978-cps reading was recorded separately with a handheld spectrometer on drill core at approximately 55 metres.
DN26002 also encountered several radioactive intervals. A 2.7-metre section from 31.13 metres averaged 8,186 cps and reached a maximum of 33,940 cps, while another 1.1-metre interval averaged 11,753 cps. DN26003 produced lower readings but still crossed numerous anomalous zones, including 1.2 metres from 38.53 metres with a maximum of 10,320 cps. Finding anomalies in all three opening holes gives the exploration team several geological data points to evaluate rather than one isolated radioactive spike.
Why 51,978 cps Is Important — and What It Does Not Prove
Counts per second, or cps, are widely used during uranium exploration because gamma-detection instruments can identify radioactive material quickly in drill core and boreholes. At Don Lake, the companies classify anomalous intervals using readings greater than three times average background, with thresholds above 800 cps for the RS-230 handheld instrument or above 900 cps for the downhole spectral gamma probe, together with geological characteristics consistent with uranium mineralization. The downhole equipment recorded data at 10-centimetre intervals, while the peak 51,978-cps measurement came from the handheld instrument used on recovered core.
The important limitation is that cps is not the same thing as uranium grade. A reading of 51,978 cps cannot simply be converted into a stated percentage of U3O8 without appropriate calibration and supporting analytical work. Gamma response can be affected by equipment, geometry and the radioactive material producing the signal. Geological laboratories therefore use chemical assays to establish actual uranium concentrations. Eagle Plains specifically warns that gamma measurements can indicate uranium content without necessarily correlating directly with chemical assays. For Don Lake, those laboratory results remain one of the most important pieces of information still to come.
The Rock and Fault Structure May Matter as Much as the Peak Reading
The geology intersected by the drilling helps explain why the companies view the early results as meaningful. All three holes were completed in the Don Main A Zone and encountered mainly gabbroic gneiss with quartz veining, silicification, potassic alteration and hematization. Other rocks included semi-pelitic gneiss and occasional mafic dykes. The companies reported that anomalous radioactivity was generally associated with the gabbroic gneiss, giving geologists a potential rock and alteration package to follow as drilling progresses.
That fits the broader exploration model at Don Lake, where uranium mineralization is interpreted as structurally controlled and associated with fractures, veins, faults and shear zones. The 2026 holes are designed to investigate intersections between northeast- and northwest-trending structures west of the Black Bay Fault and north of the Townsend Fault. Drilling around the Don target is testing beneath historic A, B and C Zone trenches and the Hawker trenches. At the Midas target, another part of the program is aimed at a uranium geochemical anomaly that overlaps a strong radiometric anomaly identified during 2026 fieldwork.
Don Lake Is Being Revisited More Than 75 Years After Its First Uranium Work
Don Lake comes with a lengthy exploration record. Eagle Plains says anomalous radioactivity on the property was first documented by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1948, followed by claims recorded by Eldorado Mining and Refining. Exploration continued through subsequent decades. Matrix Exploration carried out roughly 1,200 metres of diamond drilling in 37 holes across the A, B and C zones in 1969. Historical work at Zone A reported a drill intercept of 10.7% U3O8 over 0.3 metre, while trenching produced values reaching 8.57% U3O8 over 0.91 metre.
The surrounding Beaverlodge district has an even larger mining legacy. Eagle Plains estimates historical production of approximately 70.25 million pounds of U3O8 between 1950 and 1982, at an average grade of about 0.23% U3O8. Federal records confirm that the nearby Beaverlodge mine and mill operated from 1952 until 1982 before being decommissioned. Those historic numbers provide geological context rather than proof of what the current program will find. Eagle Plains cautions that many historic Don Lake results came from previous operators and have not been independently confirmed to modern standards.
The Current Results Represent Only the Beginning of a 14-Hole Program
The three holes disclosed so far make up only the opening portion of Don Lake’s 2026 drilling campaign. The full plan calls for approximately 1,500 metres of diamond drilling across 14 holes from six pad locations. DN26001 was drilled to 96 metres, DN26002 to 111 metres and DN26003 to 105 metres, highlighting the relatively shallow nature of the initial testing. The companies have also identified four additional targets for drilling at Don Lake, allowing the program to move beyond the opening A Zone holes and evaluate whether similar radioactive and structural features occur elsewhere.
Eagle Plains has placed the approved 2026 Don Lake budget at approximately C$1.1 million. About C$200,000 was allocated to fieldwork that the company says has already been completed, with another C$900,000 earmarked for drilling. Apex Drilling was contracted for the drilling campaign, with crews operating from Uranium City, while TerraLogic Exploration manages the exploration work. The next holes therefore matter for more than generating additional high cps readings. They can begin showing whether the structures identified in the first holes continue consistently across the target area or break into isolated pockets.
Don Lake Is Part of a Much Larger Uranium City Exploration Package
Don Lake is one component of a six-project uranium arrangement between Eagle Plains and Xcite. Eagle Plains owns the properties and has granted Xcite the opportunity to earn as much as an 80% interest in Don Lake, Beaver River, Black Bay, Gulch, Lorado and Smitty. Across the six agreements, the earn-in terms contemplate an aggregate C$19.2 million in exploration expenditures, 4.5 million Xcite shares and C$330,000 in cash payments. If the relevant requirements are completed, the structure calls for an 80/20 joint venture, with Eagle Plains retaining a carried interest until delivery of a bankable feasibility study as well as a 2% net smelter return royalty.
The broader package covers 54 Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index occurrences and five past-producing uranium mines, according to Eagle Plains. The Uranium City projects are also included in a formal exploration agreement with the Ya’thi Néné Lands and Resource Office, which represents Athabasca Denesułiné First Nations and several northern communities. That wider context shows that Don Lake is not an isolated exploration bet. It sits within an attempt to systematically reassess a historic uranium district using modern geophysics, geochemistry and drilling.
Assays and Continuity Will Determine How Significant the Result Really Is
The next major milestone is straightforward: laboratory chemical assays from the drill core. Those results should establish how much uranium is present in the radioactive intervals and allow the market to compare actual U3O8 grades with the preliminary gamma readings. Additional drilling must then establish whether mineralization continues over meaningful widths and distances. The companies have already said that all intervals reported so far are downhole measurements and that true thicknesses cannot yet be calculated. Until those questions are answered, descriptions such as “high-grade discovery” or “economic deposit” would go beyond the information currently available.
There is nevertheless a strong industry backdrop for renewed uranium exploration in Saskatchewan. Provincial data show uranium sales reached a record approximately C$3.2 billion in 2025, while Saskatchewan continues to describe itself as the world’s second-largest uranium producer. The province expects overall mineral exploration spending to reach approximately C$483 million during 2026. Don Lake remains an early-stage project within that much larger industry, but the setting gives its first drill results added interest: modern exploration is testing whether decades-old uranium occurrences near a historic mining centre can be connected into a coherent mineralized system.
