Australia-listed junior Elevate Uranium on Wednesday announced a 136% increase in the mineral resource estimate of its Koppies project, which now stands at 48-million pounds of uranium oxide equivalent (eU3O8).
“The 136% increase in the resource substantially advances the status of the Koppies project, increasing our Namibian mineral resources by 42% to 94-million pounds eU3O8 and our global resources to 142-million pounds eU3O8,” commented MD Murray Hill.
He attributed the increase to Elevate’s focused exploration strategy and the diligent work of its geological team.
Koppies is one of the shallowest uranium resources globally, with 95% of the resource within about 15 m of the surface and 50% of the resource within about 6 m of the surface. These parameters, Hill said, were important for any potential low strip ratio, low-cost mining operation at Koppies.
Owing to the large surface area of mineralisation at Koppies, drilling activities and resource updates are split into phases. The company currently has three drill rigs operating to expand the resource.
Hill said the next resource update would include the drilling currently in progress using three drill rigs to the south of Koppies 2 and into Koppies 4 and is expected to be completed during the March quarter next year.
Recent analysis of the drilling results has confirmed the potential for additional mineralisation beneath the earlier shallow drilling efforts. This finding is particularly encouraging as it indicates that the true scale of the resource could be far greater than currently defined.