West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) has commissioned a 5,750m diamond drilling program at its Bird Reef Central (BRC) Uranium-Gold Project in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Drilling is scheduled to begin by the end of November, with 17 holes planned across approximately 4km of strike.
According to West Wits, the holes will be spaced approximately 250m apart, testing the Bird Reef package at down-dip depths of 100–400m.
The drilling forms part of a staged exploration program aimed at establishing a maiden uranium mineral resource estimate (MRE) and upgrading the existing gold resource to support a Feasibility Study.
The BRC Project currently hosts a gold resource of 1.38 million tonnes grading 2.66 grams per tonne gold, containing approximately 117,600 ounces across all resource categories.
Dual uranium-gold potential
BRC could become a standalone uranium-gold operation within West Wits’ broader Witwatersrand Basin Project (WBP) mining right, approximately 4km northwest of the company’s Qala Shallows gold mine.
The project targets two closely spaced reef horizons within the Bird Reef package: the White Reef, historically explored for gold, and the overlying Monarch Reefs, which host uranium mineralisation.
According to West Wits, the proximity of the two mineralised horizons presents an opportunity to extract both metals using shared mining infrastructure.
The Bird Reef package has historically been associated with uranium production as a by-product of gold mining elsewhere in South Africa’s West Rand region.
Approximately 37 million pounds of uranium were recovered from the broader region, including three former West Wits leases located west of the project.
However, West Wits says historical records show that the Bird Reef package in the western part of its WBP property has never been mined.
Exploration planned through mid-2027
CEO and Managing Director Rudi Deysel says the BRC Project provides the company with a “second, independent growth option within the same mining right” at WBP.
West Wits’ Qala Shallows mine, also within the WBP, poured its first gold in March 2026 and is ramping up towards steady-state production of 70,000 ounces per year.
“We already hold the rights to mine both gold and uranium at BRC, and we already have a declared gold mineral resource there and a uranium exploration target,” Deysel adds.
At BRC, the company plans to fund the staged exploration program from existing cash reserves.
Results are expected to be reported progressively as each of the three exploration stages is completed through H1 2027.
West Wits Mining is focused on exploring, developing, and producing precious and base metals at its projects in South Africa’s Central Rand Goldfield.
Write to Jackson Chen at Mining.com.au
Image: West Wits Mining
