Australian-based exploration company Kingsland Minerals (ASX:KNG) reports it has discovered uranium (U3O8) grades up to 2.9% from a maiden drilling program at the Cleo Uranium Project in the Northern Territory.
The company says a total of 30 holes with 3,228m of reverse circulation (RC) and 450m of diamond drilling has been completed, achieving the goal of confirming historical drilling intersections and providing additional information and data for a more detailed geological interpretation as well as extending the known mineralisation along strike and at depth.
Significant results recorded from drilling include 16m @ 1,435ppm U3O8 from 116m including 0.4m @ 29,197ppm (2.9%) U3O8 in CLRCD023; 47m @ 924ppm U3O8 from 53m including 14m @ 1,772ppm (0.18%) U3O8 in CLRC017; and 31m @ 962ppm U3O8 from 118m including 10m @ 2,134ppm (0.21%) U3O8 from CLRC029.
diamond drilling completed shows that the ‘higher grade’ uranium intersections are generally controlled by the position and possibly the orientation of granitic intrusions
Kingsland reports diamond drilling completed shows that the ‘higher grade’ uranium intersections are generally controlled by the position and possibly the orientation of granitic intrusions. The contact between the sedimentary Masson Formation and the Cullen Granite batholith provides an eastern contact constraining uranium mineralisation.
At Cleo, the Masson Formation generally consists of a series of graphitic, schistose sediments. These graphitic sediments have been intruded by a series of later felsic and granitic dykes varying in downhole width from centimetres to several metres. The company also notes there appears to be several intrusion events with variation in grain size, mineralogy and orientation distinguishing them.
Samples collected from CLRCD023 were assayed for uranium revealing a grade of 2.92% U3O8. This sample also demonstrated several areas of very dark mineralisation which has been identified as uraninite, also known as pitchblende.
Kingsland reports ‘higher grade’ mineralisation is also found in some intrusives, which it believes different phases of intrusions into the sediments and 1 or more of these phases may be associated with uranium mineralisation. Fault zones were intersected in diamond drilling with a southwest dip interpreted, and the company states these faults may have dislocated geological contacts or mineralisation.
A target also exists for future exploration on the southeastern or hanging wall contact. Kingsland states the focus for future exploration drilling will be focused on areas with little or no previous drilling that represent ‘excellent’ potential for extensions of the uranium mineralisation.
It also expects the true thickness of the uranium mineralisation to be around 70% to 80% of the downhole width, although the exact orientation of the mineralisation is yet to be determined.
The Cleo Uranium Project is located within Kingsland’s Allamber Project which has been historically explored for uranium, copper and graphite. The project is located in the historic Pine Creek mining region where gold mining has taken place since the 1870s.
Kingsland Minerals is an exploration company with assets in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. These include the Allamber, Woolgni, Shoobridge and Mt Davis projects in the Northern Territory, and the Lake Johnston Nickel Project in Western Australia.
The company is focused on exploration and development of prospective uranium prospects at Allamber and Shoobridge.
Images: Kingsland Minerals Ltd
