Gladiator Resources powers up uranium grades at Tanzanian Southwest Corner prospect

Gladiator Resources (ASX: GLA) has confirmed the high-grade uranium potential of the Southwest Corner (SWC) target within its 724 sq km Mkuju uranium project in Tanzania with the receipt of new assay results.

In strong early trade for uranium stocks, the company’s share price was up markedly on news of the positive re-analysis of samples acquired in trenching at SWC in 2023.

Gladiator revealed in late December that trenching at SWC had revealed high-grade uranium mineralisation supporting its model of gently dipping uraniferous sandstone layers with considerable strike extent.

An original analysis was undertaken using X-ray fluorescence technology, which has an upper detection limit of 4,245 parts per million for uranium.

The re-assayed uranium samples were initially considered to be above that detection limit and so were re-analysed using sodium peroxide fusion and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy technology.

That assessment proved accurate, with the company receiving final grades as high as 7,139ppm for the SWC samples.

Trenching program

Gladiator completed five trenches at the SWC target in October: four at the South Limb zone and one at the North Limb zone.

A total of 454 metres of trenching was completed at a depth of between 3.0m and 3.9m.

Sampling was taken from vertical channels at 4.0m intervals along one sidewall of each trench.

Most notable were the initial results obtained from trench 4 at the North Limb zone, where the upper part of the layer (~2m true thickness) returned an average grade of 1,935ppm.

The material lower in the trench has an average grade of 676ppm.

Based on results from a nearby 2008 auger hole which ended in mineralisation at 7m depth, it is believed the layer in the trench may be the upper part of a layer at least 6m in thickness.

Gladiator says the new results have not materially changed the average trench grades, but rather that the high individual sample grades provide an important understanding of the range of intensity of the mineralisation.

Drilling the next step

The company says the next step is to drill-test the layers, which have an average grade of between 708 and 2,563ppm triuranium octoxide in the trenches.

No drilling other than shallow auger holes has been previously completed at the two identified zones which have a combined strike length of around 3km.

Gladiator will now follow up on what it believes is an area where there is potential for a significant sandstone-hosted uranium deposit.

This area lies within the same geological basin as the Mantra/Uranium One’s world class Nyota deposit.

Nyota has a measured and indicated mineral resource estimation of 187 million tonnes at 306ppm, containing 124.6 million pounds of uranium.