Alligator Energy Ltd (ASX:AGE, OTC:ALGEF) has revealed an upgraded resource of 17.5 Mlbs (million pounds) at 640ppm U3O8 (triuranium octoxide) following its 2023 resource infill drilling campaign at the Blackbush Deposit within the Samphire Uranium Project in South Australia.
A total of 117 holes for 10,062 metres were drilled by Alligator which successfully converted an additional 2.2 Mlbs into the indicated mineral resource category, which increased from 10.7Mlbs to 12.9Mlbs at an average grade of 754ppm U3O8.
This is a 21% increase from the previous indicated mineral resource estimate (MRE) with no change in cut-off grade which has remained at 250ppm U3O8.
Blackbush MRE reported above a 250ppm U3O8 cut-off.
The March 2023 Samphire Scoping Study confirmed the potential to develop Blackbush as a globally competitive low-cost uranium operation using the in-situ recovery (ISR) process and identified an increase in the indicated mineral resource would provide a solid opportunity to study an increased production target and potential project economics.
Alligator CEO Greg Hall said: “The detailed work to establish a high quality and larger Indicated resource for Samphire allows us to increase the annual uranium production rate in an updated scoping study being finalised now, with ASX release imminent.
“In conjunction to this, as outlined in our exploration target range release (ASX: dated 7 Dec 2023) everything is now in place to commence drilling in January 24 to target enlarging and extending the overall total resource base for the Samphire Project further.”
Exploration target range established
Along with the resource upgrade, Alligator has defined an exploration target range of 6Mt (million tonnes) to 37Mt at a grade between 390 and 903ppm eU3O8 (U3O8 equivalent basis) for a range of 14Mlbs to 75Mlbs of contained eU3O8 at 250ppm cut-off for Samphire.
The range does not include the Blackbush MRE.
Exploration target range estimate.
The exploration target range includes extensions to mineralisation at Blackbush, the Plumbush prospect as well as other areas of known mineralisation and potential extensions.
In preparing this estimate, Alligator conducted an extensive data review of over 1,000 historical and current drill holes and associated geological and geophysical datasets.
With 64 kilometres of interpreted paleochannel strike length, only 10% of the prospective system (Blackbush Deposit and portion of Plumbush Prospect) have been well explored, with a further 30% partly drill tested.
To date, 58% (over 37 kilometres) of the prospective areas of the paleochannel system remain completely untested, indicating the significant potential for new discoveries in the project area.
Location of the Samphire Uranium Project (including the Blackbush Uranium Deposit and the Plumbush Uranium Prospect) within current AGE exploration licences.
Hall added: “The Samphire Uranium Project has proven to contain an initial viable project based around the improving uranium market pricing and economics, using the Blackbush JORC compliant resource.
“The next steps will be to enhance this project through adjacent and regional exploration. The exploration target range reported here shows the potential for this, ranging from a conservative added potential to very significant upside.
“This exploration target range covers areas outside (i.e. in addition to) the current Blackbush resource envelope. The significant advantage of the In-Situ recovery technique is that a single process plant site can easily be fed by extracted solutions from many kms distant, resulting in very reduced mining impact. Hence future interpreted resources associated with this estimate have the potential to be piped to the initial plant site for processing.”
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