Elevate Uranium on track to complete U-pgrade demonstration plant in 2025

Elevate Uranium (ASX: EL8) is on schedule to complete construction of the demonstration plant for development and potential commercialisation of its game-changing U-pgrade technology.

Elevate developed U-pgrade in-house to capitalise on the company’s portfolio of near-surface uranium projects in Namibia and will initially used it to beneficiate ore from its Koppies project.

The company intends to use the plant to confirm that the U-pgrade beneficiation process can remove gangue waste material and concentrate the uranium mineral into a low-mass, high-grade concentrate before leaching at a scalable size.

Construction on schedule

Elevate managing director Murray Hill said the design and construction of the plant are on schedule, and expects completion by the end of the first half of CY2025.

Elevate awarded the contract for the construction of the containerised U-pgrade demonstration plant at Koppies to Fremantle Metallurgy in December 2024.

Fremantle Metallurgy has extensive experience – including the construction of pilot plants for clients ranging from BHP Group (ASX: BHP) to junior resource companies – and the expertise to support the project.

Factory acceptance testing

Following construction completion, the plant will undergo factory acceptance testing in Perth before being containerised and shipped to Namibia to be reassembled and used to process at least 60 tonnes of Koppies ore.

Mr Hill said results from the operation of the demonstration plant would inform the design of a full-scale commercial U-pgrade processing plant.

“Our metallurgical team’s recent visit to Namibia was productive and we are moving forward with the necessary approvals,” he added.

“We are excited about the potential of this demonstration plant to validate our U-pgrade process for the commercialisation of the Koppies uranium project.”

Koppies project growth

Elevate is also making good progress with resource growth drilling at its Namib IV target.

While it was discovered in 2021, initial work at Namib IV was deferred in favour of the company’s highly successful drilling programs that would ultimately grow the Koppies resource to 66 million pounds.

The current program is systematically testing the extent of mineralisation, with future infill drilling aimed at delineating a maiden resource in 2025.

Namib IV is only 20 kilometres from the southern portion of the Koppies uranium project and additional resources from Namib IV will enhance the overall Koppies resource and may extend the mine life or increase production rates at any future mining operation at Koppies.