Elevate Uranium upgrades Koppies resource by 20% to 57.8Mlb eU3O8
Last upgrade in November 2023 had increased resources by 136%
Koppies is one of the world’s shallowest uranium deposits with ~95% within 18.5m of surface
Infill drilling underway to upgrade resources to the indicated category while metallurgical testing will start soon
Special Report: Elevate Uranium is now sitting on considerably more uranium at its Koppies project in Namibia after upgrading its resource by 20% to 57.8Mlb eU3O8.
The upgrade comes less than six months after the last upgrade, which had sent resources at the flagship project soaring 136% to 48Mlb.
And if the pace of resource upgrades wasn’t enough of a draw for Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8), its shallow nature will make it a significant development prospect in a booming uranium market with ~95% sitting within 18.5m of the surface and 50% within 7m.
This means that Koppies has the potential to be a low strip ratio, low-cost mining operation.
Koppies is also central to the company’s plan to commercialise its proprietary U-pgradeTM beneficiation process. That process can upgrade uranium ore by rejecting more than 95% of the non-uranium bearing mass using commonly used and well understood methods.
Low cost of discovery
The latest upgrade of the Koppies resource to 134.6Mt at 195ppm U3O8, or 57.8Mlb of contained eU3O8, takes it up to more than half of EL8’s Namibian resource, which has also increased by 10% to 103.8Mlb.
Managing director Murray Hill says further increases to the company’s resource in Namibia is likely as exploration continues.
“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,” he added.
“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.
“Subsequent testwork will commence with the collection and analysis of metallurgical samples using the company’s patented U-pgradeTM beneficiation process.”
Current and upcoming activity
Three rigs are currently carrying out an infill drilling program aimed at upgrading the current inferred resource to the higher confidence indicated category that has sufficient certainty for mine planning.
A further two rigs are carrying out exploration activities at potential satellite projects within trucking distance of Koppies.
EL8 will also start collecting samples for metallurgical testing in April/May.
This article was developed in collaboration with Elevate Uranium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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