Lotus Resources hits thickest uranium zones to date at letlhakane project in Botswana
African-focused advanced uranium player Lotus Resources (ASX: LOT) has intersected the thickest continuous zones of uranium mineralisation to date at its Letlhakane project in Botswana.
The highlights of the latest results include 26.1m of a continuous zone, with the thicker mineralisation starting as shallow as 8.2m.
The company has now added the results from 35 new holes in a major drilling campaign at Letlhakane, bringing the total number of results reported from the project to 134 reverse circulation (RC) and 10 diamond drilling (DD) holes.
MRE update
The current campaign is a follow-up to the recent release of an updated Letlhakane mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 155.3 million tonnes at 345 parts per million uranium for 118.2 million pounds, of which 34.4Mlb or 29% was graded as indicated resources.
Chief executive officer Greg Bittar noted that the results of the recent MRE update were constrained by pit shells and are based on reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.
“As we move towards the conclusion of our in-fill program at Letlhakane, we continue to be extremely pleased with the drilling results,” Mr Bittar said.
“Out of 144 holes reported, 141 have intersected uranium mineralisation, confirming the continuity and grade.”
He added that drilling continues to intersect narrow high-grade lodes within the broader mineralised zones, with the latest intercepts grading more than six times the current resource.
Serule West drilling
Lotus also revealed that it had wrapped up DD activities at Serule West and has commenced work at Gorgon West to obtain samples for metallurgical test work and quality assaying.
There are only nine DD holes left to drill at Gorgon West, the largest of the areas that make up the Letlhakane deposit.
Intercepts in this area have been found to be typically thicker, with individual intercepts up to 26m thick and zones of multiple intercepts up to 60m thick.
While uranium grades at Gorgon West are generally lower compared to Serule West, they also contain some narrow high-grade zones within a lower-grade halo.
Inferred resource upgrade
Lotus’s drill program primarily aims to upgrade inferred resources currently contained within Letlhakane’s MRE to indicated and measured status.
“We have commenced a small exploration drilling program in the west of the mining lease to test a new target outside the current resource envelope,” Mr Bittar added.
Lotus is progressing the Letlhakane development in parallel with restarting uranium production at Kayelekera in Malawi.