Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8) will now focus on increasing the confidence of its Namibian resources after boosting the Koppies JORC inferred resource to 57.8 million pounds of equivalent uranium oxide.
Since November 2023, the Koppies resource has climbed 20% while the total Namibian uranium inventory has risen 10% to 103.8 million pounds.
Elevate’s global uranium resources, spanning Namibia and Australia, now sit at 152.2 million pounds.
“Further increases of the company’s global resource in Namibia is envisioned as exploration continues,” Managing Director Murray Hill says.
But first, the company’s focus is on completing infill drilling, which started in February, to convert the inferred resources to indicated resources.
Three rigs are currently undertaking the inferred to indicated resource conversion, while another two rigs are carrying out exploration activities at potential satellite projects within trucking distance of Koppies.
Hill says Koppies is a near-surface resource, and one of the shallowest uranium resources globally, which provides cost advantages.
“Due to the shallow nature of mineralisation and effectiveness of our exploration programs, the all-in project discovery cost of the Koppies inferred resource is exceptionally low at US$0.068/lb,” Hill says.
“The mineralisation at Koppies is very shallow, with approximately 95% of the resource within 18.5 metres of the surface and 50% of the resource within 7 metres of the surface.
These parameters imply a potential low strip ratio and low-cost mining operation at Koppies, which would be beneficial to the overall economics of any future operation.”
Elevate is also planning to collect samples from the Koppies project in April or May for subsequent testing using the company’s proprietary U-pgrade beneficiation process.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Elevate Uranium
