Arkle Resources has expanded its maiden uranium drilling programme in Namibia before receiving a single laboratory assay, after visually identifying uranium mineralisation in the first completed holes, and has decided to accelerate testing of its highest-priority targets. At the same time, the drill rig remains on site.
The AIM-listed explorer said its initial 1,500-metre reverse-circulation programme at the Erongo Uranium Project has exceeded expectations operationally, prompting the company to enlarge the campaign to include additional paleochannel drilling, step-out holes and the first-ever drill test of its uranium leucogranite (ULG) target, originally scheduled for later in the year. The decision was made even though no laboratory assays have yet been received, reflecting management’s confidence in the geological observations emerging from the programme.
To date, Arkle has completed 52 holes for 1,017 metres, with geologists visually identifying carnotite, the uranium-bearing mineral associated with Namibia’s shallow uranium deposits, in drill chips from three holes across two fence lines at depths between four and 15 metres. The company emphasised that the observations do not indicate uranium grade and that only laboratory analysis will determine the economic significance of the mineralisation.
The biggest strategic change is the decision to bring forward the drilling of the company’s primary ULG target. Recent trenching exposed stacked leucogranite sheets across the prospect, convincing Arkle to test the target immediately rather than waiting for the planned third-quarter programme. The company will now evaluate both of the uranium styles recognised on the licence — shallow paleochannel-hosted mineralisation similar to nearby Trekkopje and Marenica, and deeper alaskite-hosted uranium characteristic of the Erongo province — during the same field season.
Chief executive Rory Harding said the company had taken advantage of the efficiencies created by having the drilling team already mobilised on site, allowing it to accelerate work at relatively low additional cost while maintaining momentum across its priority targets. He added that both principal paleochannel systems had now been drill-tested and that the company expected a steady flow of exploration news through the second half of the year as downhole gamma surveys, trench assays and drilling results become available.
Downhole gamma-ray spectrometry has already begun on completed holes and, together with geological logging, will determine which intervals are sent to Actlabs in Windhoek for laboratory analysis. More than 1,016 one-metre samples have been collected under Arkle’s quality-control procedures, with the first assay results expected in early September.
