Australian uranium explorer Energia Minerals Limited is pleased to announce a substantial increase in the resource estimate for its flagship 100% owned Carley Bore uranium deposit in Western Australia following successful in-fill and extensional drilling programs completed late last year.  Using a preferred 150ppm U3O8 cut-off, the updated Inferred Resource calculated independently by Coffey Mining Pty Ltd is 23 million tonnes grading 330ppm U3O8 for 16.7Mlb of contained U3O8. This represents a 33 per cent increase in contained uranium compared with the previous (August 2011) Inferred Resource of 15.6 million tonnes grading 370ppm U3O8 for 12.6 million pounds of contained U3O8 at a 150ppm lower cut-off.

The resource is very robust with a total of 198 drill holes, including five sonic core holes, being used to calculate the resource estimate. This includes a large part of the successful 9,648m aircore drilling program completed just prior to Christmas. A further four diamond and 12 rotary mud holes have also been drilled within the resource boundary to date. The 150ppm U3O8 lower cut-off has been chosen to better reflect Energia’s increased understanding of the expected operating parameters of an ISR mine operating at a shallow depth and will be refined leading up to a Scoping Study to be completed by December 2013. A 5,000 metre Phase 2 aircore drilling program will be carried out in June 2013. This will be focussed on further expanding the resource to the north and south of Carley Bore and internally providing better definition of high grade “roll fronts”.

Energia’s Managing Director, Mr Kim Robinson, said: “This interim resource upgrade represents a great outcome. We have achieved a solid 33 per cent increase in our contained uranium inventory from the drilling completed late last year and clearly demonstrated the quality and consistency of the Carley Bore deposit.” “More importantly, drilling to date has clearly shown the potential for further growth in the resource, which remains open. This will be further tested in June when we commence a new drilling program.” “We plan to commence work on a Scoping Study which we are aiming to complete by the end of the year to define the parameters for a potential new, low-cost In Situ Recovery or ISR operation at Carley Bore.” “It is also worth noting that, with a uranium inventory of nearly 17 million pounds, Energia has an enterprise value per pound of U3O8 of around 14 cents. This demonstrates the significant potential upside in our share price as we progressively de-risk the Carley Bore Project and systematically progress towards feasibility and development.”