Australian explorer Core Energy Minerals has laid out an exploration programme extending into the second quarter of 2027 for its expanded Namibian uranium portfolio, with a maiden 2,500-metre drilling campaign at the historically drilled Barking Gecko prospect forming the centrepiece of the programme.
The ASX-listed company, which trades under the code CR3, is currently seeking a Namibian drilling contractor for approximately 15 reverse circulation and diamond holes at Barking Gecko, part of the Nova Uranium Project in the Erongo Region.
Core Energy’s exploration timetable envisages drilling from the fourth quarter of 2026 as part of a broader work programme running into the first half of next year, although the company has not fixed an exact drilling start date while the contractor selection process is under way.
The programme follows Core Energy’s 11 September agreement to earn up to 51% of the Nova Uranium Project by spending as much as A$5 million on exploration.
Barking Gecko, on EPL3669, gives the company an advanced starting point because the prospect has already been tested by 82 historical reverse circulation and diamond drillholes.
Core Energy says the historical drilling identified multiple thick zones of uranium mineralisation, with the system remaining open along strike and at depth.
Historical intersections cited by the company include 21 metres at 886 parts per million eU3O8 from 199 metres, 17 metres at 463ppm eU3O8 from 178 metres and eight metres at 561ppm eU3O8 from 90 metres.
Other results include 14 metres at 404ppm eU3O8 from 81 metres, 45 metres at 222ppm eU3O8 from 120 metres and 27 metres at 251ppm eU3O8 from 234 metres.
The historical results are reported as equivalent uranium, or eU3O8.
Core Energy says the mineralisation is hosted within stacked leucogranite sheets, with parallel mineralised intrusive sheets extending over several hundred metres of strike and depth.
Barking Gecko does not currently have a declared mineral resource.
Core Energy’s maiden campaign is planned to comprise about 2,500 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling across approximately 15 holes.
The programme is intended to test the company’s updated geological interpretation and extensions of uranium mineralisation identified by previous drilling.
Core Energy is also re-logging and sampling historical drill core and RC material and plans to use structural geological work to improve its understanding of the controls on mineralisation.
The historical information and new results will feed into a three-dimensional geological model of the Barking Gecko uranium system.
Core Energy’s September investor presentation shows data compilation, field logistics, structural logging and re-sampling, target selection and drilling forming part of a work programme stretching from the third quarter of 2026 into the second quarter of 2027.
The company has not, however, set a date for declaration of a maiden mineral resource.
Results from the forthcoming drilling will instead help establish the scale, continuity and geometry of the mineralisation and determine the project’s next stage of evaluation.
Core Energy can earn its first 25% interest in the Nova joint venture by spending A$2 million on exploration within 18 months.
It can then increase its ownership by another 26 percentage points to 51% by spending an additional A$3 million within a further 24 months.
Core Energy will manage the joint venture during the earn-in period.
The other partners are Reptile Mineral Resources and Exploration, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deep Yellow; Nova Energy (Africa), a subsidiary of former ASX-listed Toro Energy; and Sixzone Investments.
Nova comprises EPL3669 and EPL3670.
Barking Gecko is situated on EPL3669 adjacent to Bannerman Energy’s Etango uranium project in Namibia’s Erongo uranium province.
The licence also contains several other basement and palaeochannel uranium targets that could provide follow-up exploration opportunities.
EPL3669 contains basement targets at Iguana, Turtle’s Neck and Speke’s, as well as palaeochannel targets including Namaqua, Bowsprit Channel and Berger’s Cape Channel.
Core Energy says uranium mineralisation has already been confirmed at Namaqua and Boulton’s, while approximately five kilometres of the Bowsprit palaeochannel remains untested.
Iguana contains hydrothermal vein-style uranium associated with black quartz veins, while Turtle’s Neck contains shallow alaskite-hosted uranium mineralisation. Speke’s represents another hydrothermal vein-style target.
EPL3670 adds further targets including Cape Flat, where previous exploration encountered a broad zone of alaskite-hosted uranium mineralisation with multiple intersections above 100ppm.
Other basement targets include Meerkat Hill and Komodo II.
Four palaeochannels – Day Gecko, Skink, Kuiseb and Agama – have also been mapped using electromagnetic surveys and drilling.
Mineralisation has previously been identified at Skink, where further drilling has been recommended.
The Nova portfolio therefore gives Core Energy exposure to both hard-rock basement-hosted uranium and palaeochannel mineralisation.
Core Energy also holds 100% of two greenfield uranium projects outside the Nova joint venture – Gemsbok on EPL9725 and Oryx on EPL9652.
Gemsbok lies northeast of Bannerman’s Etango project along the southern extension of the intrusive corridor associated with several of the Erongo uranium province’s major hard-rock uranium deposits.
Core Energy says reconnaissance work and satellite imagery have identified geological features that warrant further investigation for alaskite-hosted uranium.
Oryx lies southeast of Deep Yellow’s Tumas uranium project and is being targeted for both palaeochannel and basement-hosted uranium mineralisation.
The company says regional geophysical interpretation indicates that branches and tributaries associated with the broader Tumas palaeochannel system trend towards the Oryx licence boundary.
Neither Gemsbok nor Oryx currently has a declared mineral resource.
Core Energy’s immediate focus will therefore remain on Barking Gecko, where historical drilling provides the company with a substantial dataset ahead of its first drilling programme.
The contractor selection and preparatory work are now under way, with the broader Namibian exploration programme scheduled to continue through Q2 2027 as Core Energy determines whether the historically identified uranium system at Barking Gecko warrants advancement towards resource evaluation.
