The Australian company Gibb River Diamonds has acquired Namibia’s Erongo and Kunene projects, covering 1,828 km2.
Until this acquisition, Gibb River Diamonds was into diamonds, zinc, gold, phosphate and lead.
The company’s executive chairman, Jim Richards, conducted an on-ground inspection of the Erongo Uranium District during a field trip in the last quarter.
This visit led to the company pegging EPLs 9924 and 10131 in the Erongo Region.
The EPLs were pegged in Gibb River Diamonds 100% owned subsidiary ‘Gib Mining Namibia, which is incorporated in Namibia and set up by Gibb River Diamonds to conduct mineral exploration in Namibia.
The company has secured the services of geologist Nico Scholtz, who will assist in managing our in-country exploration as the Namibian exploration manager.
Scholtz was the chief geologist at Deep Yellow, whose work involved operating in the Erongo Uranium District, adjacent to Gibb River Diamonds’ current project, and discovering several uranium deposits.
The Erongo Project under EPL 9924 and 10131 measures 47.6 km2, while the Kunene Project under EPLs 10120, 10121, 10122 and 10191 covers 1,780 km2.
The company has not discovered any evidence of previous drilling on EPLs 9924 and 10131, and the targets appear untested.
However, there are several calcrete-hosted uranium deposits, including Paladin Energy’s Langer Heinrich Mine, Deep Yellow’s Tumas and Elevate Uranium’s Koppies, close or adjacent to the Gibb River Diamonds’ permit.
EPL 9924 is a northern extension of the Koppies Resource, which is highly prospective for extensions of the two styles of Koppies: uranium mineralisation, outcropping, and under shallow cover.
The Kunene Uranium Project is in northern Namibia and targets uranium mineralisation hosted in the Karoo Formation, which is prospective primarily for roll-front style uranium deposits.
Gibb River Diamonds’ project areas are vast and considered prospective for uranium but highly under-explored.
The nearby Engo Valley Uranium Project, operated by Canadian company Snow Lake Energy, contains significant uranium mineralisation discovered by Gencor in the 1970s and illustrates the prospectivity of the region.
The Kunene Project is considered a grassroots exploration play with a large area of under-explored ground.
The company is searching for historical data and compiling information for further work.
Any on-ground or airborne geophysical exploration will require ECC clearance, one of the factors considered in planning follow-up work.
The company believes the Kunene Project has the technical merit and prospectivity for a significant new greenfields uranium discovery of the roll-front type and calcrete-hosted type and is currently assessing various options to develop this considerable ground further holding in Namibia.
Gibs says it will start on-ground exploration once it secures the environmental clearance certificate for ground access, aerial surveys and drilling activities.
The company anticipates that granting the EPL leases with full ECC clearance will take five to six months from the date of this release.
The work program at the Erongo Project over the next 12 months aims to discover commercial uranium mineralisation.
Gibb River Diamonds will work at acquiring the environmental, heritage and consultative work required for the grant of an environmental clearance certificate for Erongo EPLs 9924 and 10131.
It will also compile historical data, including analysis of existing airborne magnetics and radiometrics and planning upcoming fieldwork.
In addition, Gibb River Diamonds will start identifying and prioritising the best drill targets once the ECC is granted, including mapping, sampling and ground-truthing of drill targets and Radon-cup surveys.
