Noronex has confirmed a broad uranium-bearing system at its Etango North Project after maiden drilling returned multiple uranium intersections grading more than 100 parts per million uranium oxide (U₃O₈), including a best result of 4 metres grading 270 parts per million U₃O₈ from 78 metres, validating the company’s exploration model in Namibia’s premier uranium district.
The first reverse circulation drilling programme, comprising nine drill holes at the Oasis Dome and Springbok prospects, confirmed uranium mineralisation across multiple alaskite intrusions measuring between 10 and 30 metres thick.
Laboratory assays from eight drill holes demonstrated that radiometric anomalies identified during earlier exploration represent genuine bedrock uranium mineralisation, providing the strongest evidence to date that Etango North hosts a district-scale uranium system.
The strongest results came from the Oasis Dome prospect, where hole ODC008 intersected 4 metres grading 270 ppm U₃O₈ from 78 metres, 7 metres grading 130 ppm from 61 metres, 3 metres grading 140 ppm from 41 metres, 3 metres grading 126 ppm from 70 metres and 2 metres grading 130 ppm from 13 metres. Hole ODC009 also returned encouraging intersections: 2 metres grading 189 ppm from 215 metres; 5 metres grading 183 ppm from 205 metres; 2 metres grading 139 ppm from 192 metres; 5 metres grading 119 ppm from 102 metres; and 2 metres grading 133 ppm from 12 metres.
At the Springbok prospect, drilling returned 3 metres grading 261 ppm U₃O₈ from 181 metres in hole ODC004, 3 metres grading 151 ppm from 84 metres in ODC002, 2 metres grading 138 ppm from 213 metres in ODC006 and 2 metres grading 132 ppm from 155 metres in ODC005, confirming uranium mineralisation across a second prospect within the licence.
The drilling programme represents the first subsurface test of targets generated from ground spectrometry, geological mapping, remote sensing and geophysical interpretation undertaken during 2025.
According to the company, the results validate its exploration model by confirming that the uranium-thorium anomalies identified on the surface are associated with uranium-bearing alaskite intrusions rather than superficial radiometric responses.
Chief Geologist Tony Chisnall said the laboratory assays confirmed that Etango North hosts the same style of uranium-bearing alaskite intrusions that characterise Namibia’s major uranium deposits.
He said the results provided a strong platform for further exploration, particularly since the programme had been designed as a first-pass reconnaissance exercise rather than a resource-drilling campaign.
The significance of the results lies as much in the location as in the assays themselves.
Etango North, covered by Exclusive Prospecting Licence 6776, lies immediately north of Bannerman Energy’s Etango Project, which hosts a JORC Mineral Resource of 416 million tonnes grading 225 ppm U₃O₈, and between the producing Rössing and Husab uranium mines.
The licence is prospective for the same alaskite-hosted style of uranium mineralisation that underpins Namibia’s largest hard-rock uranium deposits.
Noronex, which earlier this year exercised its option to earn a 51% interest in the project, said only a small portion of the prospective corridor has been drill-tested. Numerous interpreted alaskite bodies and structural targets remain untested, with several drill holes intersecting only part of the targeted intrusive bodies, suggesting considerable exploration upside remains.
The company will now integrate the drilling results with geological, geophysical and geochemical datasets before commencing additional mapping, ground spectrometry and follow-up drilling to determine the scale, continuity and economic potential of the newly confirmed uranium system.
