CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. said Dec. 23 that De Beers SA has terminated the West Athabasca diamond project option and returned 100% of the project to CanAlaska.

Drilling undertaken at the Saskatchewan-based project by De Beers in September tested seven magnetic targets accessible before winter, mostly in the southern claim groups.

At five sites, the drill holes intercepted magnetic material within the organic overburden, unconsolidated sand and boulders, followed by sandstone.

De Beers has interpreted the 85 large magnetic anomalies scattered across the claims to be most likely associated with magnetic minerals within organic material in the overburden.

CanAlaska President Peter Dasler said the company will now concentrate on evaluating several of the more interesting magnetic anomalies within the remaining 78 targets that it believes are not related to magnetic organic material.

In May, the companies agreed to explore the project for diamonds under a C$20.4 million option deal, whereby De Beers secured the right to earn up to a 90% interest by completing a series of work programs.

CanAlaska is also marketing its Alberta property to third parties for diamonds exploration, and with the return of the West Athabasca project, the company expects there will be parties interested in helping to test the remaining targets.

Additionally, CanAlaska expects Cameco Corp. to provide the 2017 exploration program details and budget for the West McArthur uranium project, also in Saskatchewan, by Jan. 31, 2017.

Cameco holds an option to secure up to a 60% interest in the West McArthur project.