Gibb River acquires strategic uranium prospects in Namibia’s Erongo district
Gibb River Diamonds (ASX: GIB) has joined a growing number of Australian miners targeting uranium riches in the African nation of Namibia.
Identified by the World Nuclear Association as having the capacity to provide 10% of the world’s uranium mining output, Namibia has become the target of a land rush on the back of a number of recent significant discoveries.
Best known as a diamond miner in Australia, Gibb River is targeting the significant uranium upside in Namibia at a time when uranium prices continue to rise amid growing nuclear power expansion across the globe.
On-ground inspection
One of the hottest areas of interest in Namibia is the renowned Erongo uranium district, where Gibb River has obtained two large landholdings.
The newly acquired Erongo project (48 square kilometres) and the 1,780 sq km Kunene project consist of six exclusive prospecting licences in the heart of the Erongo district.
The company elected to peg the two licence areas after executive chair Jim Richards conducted an on-ground inspection of the Erongo site during a field trip earlier this year.
Busy neighbourhood
Gibb River’s new neighbours include the world-class Langer Heinrich uranium mine, 20km to the north of Gibb’s Koppies North prospect.
Majority owned by Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN), Langer Heinrich’s estimated ore reserves are 84.8 million pounds at a grade of 448 parts per million triuranium octoxide, more commonly known as “yellowcake”.
Deep Yellow’s (ASX: DYL) Tumas deposit lies just 7km south-east of Koppies North and has an estimated ore reserve of 67.3Mlb at a grade of 345ppm triuranium octoxide.
Elevate Uranium’s (ASX: EL8) Koppies uranium project, which has an inferred mineral resource of 57.8Mlb at a grade of 195ppm triuranium octoxide, is located directly south of Gibb River’s EPL9924 permit.
Work program planning
Gibb River is currently refining a work program to be conducted at the Erongo project over the next 12 months.
The initial focus is on environmental, heritage and consultative work required for the grant of an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) for the two permits.
Desktop studies will also be undertaken, investigating historic data compilation including analysis of existing airborne magnetics, radiometrics and planning of upcoming fieldwork.
Target definition
The company plans to move quickly once the ECC is granted to undertake on-ground exploration work to define and prioritise the best drill targets.
This work is expected to include a combination of mapping, sampling, radon-cup surveys and ground-truthing of drill targets.
Gibb River is also considering acquiring either an airborne or ground electromagnetic geophysics survey.
Once the targets have been identified, Phase 1 drilling will commence to identify areas with potentially commercial mineralisation, followed by Phase 2 in-fill drilling of promising areas identified during Phase 1.