DevEx Resources (ASX: DEV) continues to intersect high-grade uranium mineralisation with its ongoing diamond and Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at the 100%-owned Nabarlek Uranium Project, located in the heart of the world-class Alligator Rivers Uranium Province (ARUP) in the Northern Territory.
DevEx holds an extensive tenement package in the ARUP which is centred on, and includes, the former Nabarlek Uranium Mine, considered Australia’s highest-grade uranium mine with past production of 24Mlbs @ 1.84% U3O8
Two drill rigs are currently on site, testing multiple historical uranium prospects surrounding Nabarlek, including Nabarlek South, U42, Coopers, the U40-to-Zeus Trend, the KP Prospect and the recently defined Overload Prospect
Commenting on the latest results, DevEx Managing Director, Brendan Bradley said the Nabarlek Uranium Project was emerging as a standout growth opportunity.
“Against the backdrop of growing investment momentum in the uranium sector as nuclear power is increasingly accepted as the only viable source of baseload power to help facilitate global decarbonisation, DevEx is one of just a handful of companies on the ASX that is actively drilling and delivering significant uranium mineralisation,” he said.
“The dolerite rock package surrounding the historic Nabarlek mine is emerging as an exceptional shallow exploration target for DevEx, with multiple wide zones of fracture-hosted uranium mineralisation already intersected at Nabarlek South and significant high-grade uranium also discovered in a wildcat hole at U42.
“Drilling is now focusing on the Overload and Coopers prospects, with additional drilling also planned at U42 before the end of the year.
“We expect this work to generate a strong pipeline of news-flow as assay results are returned over the coming weeks and months, leading into a greatly expanded drilling program in Q2 2023 aimed at defining resources and underpinning economic assessments.”
At Nabarlek South, 12 additional diamond holes have been completed to further evaluate the uranium mineralisation surrounding the initial drilling announced in August, including the significant high-grade intercept in Hole 2 of 10.7m @ 1.20% eU3O8 from 123.4m.
Preliminary uranium equivalent results have so far defined an emerging zone of fracture-hosted uranium mineralisation within altered dolerite that lies adjacent to the projected intersection of two uranium-bearing faults: the north-west Nabarlek Fault and east-north-east Gabo Fault. Current drilling is designed to cross both these structural orientations, with holes angled to the south-west.
Geological observations and uranium equivalent grades, estimated from the down-hole gamma probe, indicate the uranium mineralisation is hosted within a network of narrow high-grade veins and fractures which in diamond core bulks out over broader down-hole widths.
Preliminary geological interpretation suggests the uranium mineralisation is associated with apparent flattening of the regional Gabo Fault. The potential for a continuation, or repeat, of this flattening presents as a valid target model, and further step-out drilling is planned to the east and west where historical drilling remains unreliable.
In addition, a strong historical radon-track-etch anomaly lies immediately to the east of Nabarlek South and requires further assessment following the information gained from Holes 30 and 31.
This radon anomaly is offset from the main Nabarlek South mineralisation and could highlight a deeper target down-plunge from the currently defined mineralisation.
Significant results from diamond drilling at Nabarlek South are reported as down-hole intercepts as true widths are not currently known.
