Elevate Uranium increases drilling operation at Koppies project in Namibia
Elevate Uranium (ASX: EL8) has entered the second half of the year with its eyes firmly on an aggressive drilling program at its Koppies project in Namibia, southern Africa.
Following up earlier promising exploration results, the company has three drill rigs undertaking resource drilling, while targeting the confirmation of the expanded mineralised envelope in its large Namibian acreage position.
The main focus is on a large resource drilling program at its flagship Koppies project. The company recently added a third rig to the program after have two reverse circulation drill rigs in the field for most of the previous quarter.
During the June quarter, Elevate successfully completed 536 Koppies holes for 14,459 metres.
Large mineralised zones encountered
Most notably the company confirmed large continuous mineralised zones in both target areas at the Koppies 3 area, with most of the resource drilling focused on the southern and central areas.
Drilling also confirmed the mineralised envelope in the northern area of Koppies 3.
Those results are expected to be added to the current JORC resource of 20.3 million pounds eU3O8 at Koppies 1 and 2.
All three drill rigs are continuing to undertake resource drilling, which is targeted for completion by the end of the September Quarter.
Koppies 3 resource estimation
New data compiled at the end of the resource drilling campaign at Koppies 3 will be used in the estimation of an interim resource for that area, which is expected to the completed during October 2023.
With the current drilling will not likely to have covered the full extent of the Koppies 3 mineralisation, Elevate is currently planning further drilling programs for areas outside of the area covered in the interim October 2023 resource estimate.
That drilling is expected to kick-off immediately after completion of the current drilling program.
This will then be followed by a rig move to an area south of the Koppies 2 resource, identified as Koppies 4, where a program will be undertaken to confirm the extent of the mineralised envelope ahead of a resource drilling program in this area.
Regional exploration work
The company is also planning to follow-up previous exploration success at the Capri exploration licence (EPL 7508), where the company has identified multiple additional exploration targets.
In October 2022, Elevate announced the discovery of a 16 kilometre zone of continuous uranium mineralisation at Capri in a maiden drill program.
Previous exploration using airborne electro-magnetic surveys had identified extensive palaeochannels associated with radiometric anomalies in both the western and eastern areas of the tenement.
The subsequent drill program was completed over the palaeochannels in the western half of the tenement, resulting in this new uranium discovery.
A return to the area to follow up that success has been delayed due to changes to land access protocols.
The recent changed for tenements within conservancy areas, which includes Capri, requires that licence holders enter into a land access agreement with the land custodians. Those negotiations are currently underway.