92 Energy prepares for winter campaign at Gemini uranium project
A VTEM survey has identified multiple prospective conductors at 92 Energy’s Tower uranium project.
Aspiring uranium producer 92 Energy (ASX: 92E) has spent the three-month period to 31 December preparing for a winter drilling campaign at the Gemini project located on the eastern margin of Canada’s Athabasca Basin.
The campaign will include an initial 6,600 metres of diamond drilling at the Gemini mineralised zone (GMZ) and the GMZ extension zone (GMX), as well as regional drilling to follow up on historic drillholes which displayed structural deformation, alteration and anomalous uranium concentrations.
During the quarter, 92 Energy’s technical team completed project and logistics planning with a view to commence work later this month.
Contractors are on-site to upgrade the winter access road over the coming fortnight and drill rigs are scheduled to mobilise to site next week.
Discovery hole
The majority of the campaign will follow up a GMZ discovery hole drilled during the summer program to determine the extent of uranium mineralisation.
The hole intersected 5.5m of 0.12% uranium oxide (1,200 parts per million) including 1m of 0.28% (2,800ppm), with the highest-grade assay within the sub-interval being 0.5m of 0.36% uranium oxide (3,600ppm) from between 234.5m and 235m.
The GMX is a 1.8-kilometre-long trend to the north of the discovery hole and is considered highly-prospective exploration ground due to the intersection of an interpreted north-south versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) structural trend with northeast trending calculated vertical gradient (CVG) magnetic low corridors.
Drilling is also planned at Camp West and Wilfried targets to follow-up historic exploration which identified hydrothermal alteration and significant brittle-ductile structures.
Underexplored project
The Gemini project is considered underexplored, despite hosting over 50 drillholes completed during the 1970s.
The majority of these holes are reported to have targeted air photo lineaments rather than the electromagnetic conductors which are the focus of most contemporary uranium exploration in the Athabasca Basin.
Historical prospecting and surface mapping identified numerous radioactive boulders in the southern part of the project area, indicating a radioactive source coincident with elevated uranium values (up to 663ppm) encountered in muskeg (bog) and lake sediment samples.
Despite encouraging results, the area was never drill tested.
Summer drilling
Gemini’s inaugural summer drilling program comprised greenfields regional exploration targeting high-grade, unconformity-associated uranium.
It consisted of four completed drillholes and one abandoned drillhole for a total 1,011m.