Hathor’s summer expansion drilling is underway at Roughrider’s far east zone

Hathor Exploration Limited (TSX:HAT) is pleased to announce that the 2011 summer diamond drill program is underway at the Roughrider Uranium Deposit in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan.

Two rigs are now on site and drilling has begun. The program will run for approximately 8 weeks, with some 7,000 metres of drilling planned. The drill program will be extended for as long as the mineralization at Far East remains open to the east.

Figure 1 shows an aerial view of the overall Roughrider uranium deposit. Figure 2 is a plan map of the current extent of mineralization at the East and Far East Zones, and the location of the diamond drill holes planned for the 2011 summer program. Far East is open to the east, from the eastern-most drill holes which contained the strongest replacement mineralization and produced the highest grade-thickness intersections, including 42.8 m at 3.26% U3O8 in drill hole MWNE-11-698, and 51.0 m at 1.69% U3O8 in drill hole MWNE-11-695 (Figure 3 and Figure 4).

The Roughrider Uranium Deposit is currently estimated to contain 58 M lbs U3O8 in the East and West Zones, including 54 M lbs U3O8 contained in approximately 212,000 tonnes of rock at an average grade of 12% U3O8 (West Zone, SEDAR, January 14, 2011: 17.21 M lbs U3O8 Indicated; 10.60 M lbs U3O8 Inferred; East Zone, News Release, May 17, 2011: 30 M lbs U3O8 at 11.58% U3O8 Inferred). The Roughrider System has not been fully tested. As shown in Figure 5, the Far East Zone, with 15 mineralized drill holes already, presents significant upside to the overall resource potential of the Roughrider Uranium Deposit. Further, as shown in Figure 6, the Midwest Trend, as defined by magnetic and resistivity surveys, has proven potential for additional deposits on the property based on results from 5 drill transects completed to date.

Midwest Northeast Property

The Midwest NortheastProperty is located within the main uranium-producing eastern corridor of the Athabasca Basin. The Property comprises 3 mineral leases covering 598 ha. Infrastructure is excellent. The Property is connected to Highway 955 by a 6 km winter road. The property is 8.5 km north of the infrastructure centre of Points North and the Points North commercial airport, the main service hub for northeastern Saskatchewan. The Property is within 25 km of operating uranium mine, mill and tailings facilities established at Rabbit Lake and McClean Lake during the past 35 years of production in the Athabasca Basin.

Terra Ventures Inc. owns a qualified 10% interest in the largest claim on the Property, carried to the completion of a positive feasibility study and announcement of intent for commercial production. Terra and Hathor recently announced (May 9, 2011) a definitive Plan of Arrangement, which remains subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of all regulatory, court and shareholder approvals, that will result in consolidation of 100% ownership of the Roughrider uranium deposit.

Alistair McCready, Ph.D., P.Geo., Hathor’s V.P. Exploration with responsibility for all of Hathor’s exploration in Saskatchewan, and Michael Gunning, Ph.D., P.Geo., Hathor’s Chief Executive Officer, are Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

Read the full news release here.