Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR) has launched a 4000m-6000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Saraya Uranium Project in Senegal to potentially support a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) upgrade.
The $17.9 million market capitalisation company says the drilling will start with 2 holes at the Saranga deposit, and the work is expected to be completed by early February 2024.
Assays are expected to be received at the end of February through to April.
Haranga reports drilling will focus on generating targets at the Saraya deposit, which holds a 16.1-million-pound triuranium octoxide (U3O8) inferred resource @ 587 parts per million (ppm), to complete Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) upgrade requirements.
The company notes drilling has been designed with seasonal requirements in mind.
Meanwhile, Haranga states auger drilling is ongoing at the Diobi deposit. However, the auger rig has so far been unable to access the Sanela deposit but will move here as soon as access is secured.
Auger drilling is scheduled to continue into March 2024.
The latest drilling program comes amid a bullish uranium market, with S&P Global reporting steadily increasing uranium post prices since the start of 2022.
Prices have risen by 15.2% over the last year before increasing by a further 16.6% by the end of October 2023.
Haranga Resources Managing Director Peter Batten says: “Initially, the drilling at the Saraya deposit was scheduled for the end of the RC drilling campaign, with the results to feed into the MRE upgrade proposed to incorporate metallurgical results from test work to be undertaken by SGS Lakefield in Canada.
Due to the late end of the wet season, harvests have been delayed and we are still in the period where the dry grass will burn. This has hampered the progress of the auger drilling, which was intended to locate and orientate the mineralisation below termite mound anomalies ahead of RC drilling.
The XRF results from the auger work will determine whether the RC drill moves to Diobi or Sanela after completing the work at the Saraya deposit. Diobi and Sanela have been chosen due to the more advanced sampling completed on these two prospects and the high-level uranium anomalies reported.“
Haranga Resources is focused on its Saraya Project in Senegal, previously owned by uranium giant Orano (formerly Areva).
As of 30 September 2023, Haranga had $232,000 cash and cash equivalents at hand, although in September it announced a capital raising of $2.86 million.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Haranga Resources
