Deep Yellow returns more uranium results from Tumas 3 infill drilling
First pass delineation drilling by Deep Yellow has opened a multiple mineralised channel system ready for follow-up resource drilling.
Uranium explorer Deep Yellow (ASX: DYL) continues to return positive results from a reverse circulation (RC) infill drilling program at the Tumas 3 Central deposit in Namibia with a resource update expected later this month.
The company today announced the completion of the drilling program, which aimed to convert the deposit’s remaining inferred resources to indicated JORC status and define its periphery to expand the definitive feasibility study (DFS) mine life to more than 20 years.
A total of 359 RC holes for 7,634m were completed at Tumas 3 Central by late May with work now progressing at the Tumas 3 West deposit.
According to Deep Yellow, drilling at Tumas 3 Central indicated expectations for the conversion rate to indicated resource category were being met, with 48% of the 359 holes returning uranium mineralisation greater than 100 parts per million equivalent uranium over 1m and a quarter of the results showing uranium mineralisation greater than 200ppm equivalent uranium over 1m.
Best intersections included 10m at 1,945ppm equivalent uranium from 28m; 8m at 2,242ppm from 10m; 9m at 1,897ppm from 7m; 5m at 1,222ppm from 16m; and 8m at 754ppm from 16m.
Resource upgrade drilling program
The mineralisation at Tumas 3 (comprising Central, West and East deposits) occurs as a discrete mineral deposit separate from other deposits so far discovered within the highly uranium-fertile Tumas palaeochannel system, including Tumas 1, Tumas 2 and the Tubas red sand/calcrete deposits.
Deep Yellow’s infill drilling program is currently continuing at the Tumas 3 West deposit with the primary objective of the overall program being to expand the life of mine as defined in the pre-feasibility study from 11.5 years to more than 20 years.
Once this drilling is completed, a new mineral resource estimate will be undertaken at the Central, East and West deposits with an expected release date in late June.
A final phase of drilling is then planned for the Tumas 1 East deposit, which will be followed by a new resource estimate for incorporation into the Tumas DFS to enable this 20-plus year life-of-mine consideration.
The DFS ore reserve base will be derived from testing only 60% of the known regional Tumas palaeochannel system. According to Deep Yellow, this means that significant exploration upside potential exists to increase the resource base beyond that associated with the current DFS footprint with 50km of channel systems remaining to be tested.