Asarian Energy has approved a 4,500-metre drilling programme at its Namibplaas uranium deposit in Namibia aimed at improving confidence in the 41.1 million-pound resource and potentially converting part of it from the Inferred to the Indicated category.
The 17-hole reverse circulation and diamond drilling programme is expected to begin in late October or early November and represents the first phase of a wider drilling campaign that Asarian expects to continue in 2027.
The work follows the September renewal of Exclusive Prospecting Licence 3638, which covers Namibplaas, for another two years until September 2028.
Namibplaas forms part of Asarian’s Norasa uranium project together with the nearby Valencia deposit. The project is located in the Erongo Region, approximately 75 kilometres south-west of Usakos, with Namibplaas about five kilometres north-east of Valencia.
Asarian said the new programme follows a review of historical drilling and resource information and will collect additional geological and analytical data from within the existing deposit rather than primarily targeting an expansion of its footprint.
The holes will test mineralisation to depths of approximately 250 metres below surface and will be drilled broadly parallel to the existing drill pattern at an azimuth of about 305 degrees and inclination of approximately 60 degrees.
Each hole will undergo down-hole gamma logging, geochemical sampling and borehole trajectory surveys.
The principal objective is to address weaknesses in the information supporting the existing Namibplaas Mineral Resource Estimate.
Namibplaas currently contains an Inferred resource of 218.7 million tonnes grading 85 parts per million equivalent uranium oxide, containing approximately 41.1 million pounds of U3O8.
Unlike the Valencia Main deposit, where most of the resource is already classified as Measured and Indicated, the entire Namibplaas resource remains in the lower-confidence Inferred category.
Asarian said the historical Namibplaas dataset relies predominantly on down-hole radiometric gamma logging and contains comparatively limited laboratory assay information.
That shortage of supporting assay data was an important factor in the resource remaining classified as Inferred when the Norasa Mineral Resource Estimate was updated in 2024.
The latest drilling is intended to address that limitation by collecting mineralised samples for laboratory analysis and comparing the results against the down-hole gamma information used to calculate equivalent uranium grades.
Asarian said confirmation of the conversion factors used to derive equivalent uranium grades from radiometric information will be necessary before any part of the resource can be upgraded to Indicated.
The drilling will also provide additional information on the continuity of uranium mineralisation and strengthen the geological interpretation of the deposit.
The programme gives greater definition to plans Asarian announced on 24 September when the Namibian government renewed EPL 3638. At the time, the company said it intended to conduct additional resource drilling at Namibplaas and review the information supporting the 2024 Norasa resource estimate before the end of the year.
The latest announcement establishes the size, number of holes and timing of that programme.
Asarian president and chief executive John Borshoff said the Namibplaas drilling would also be the beginning of a longer campaign extending into next year.
“This drilling program is the first phase of what we expect will be a continued drilling campaign in 2027, also extending to parts of the Valencia deposit to support resource optimisation,” Borshoff said.
“In this context, the focused Namibplaas program marks an important stage in the evolution of the Norasa Project, as we re-evaluate the current resource base and assess opportunities to improve its definition and classification.”
Norasa’s 2024 resource estimate gives the wider project a substantial uranium inventory.
Valencia Main has Measured and Indicated resources of approximately 151.9 million tonnes grading 136 ppm eU3O8 and containing about 45.4 million pounds of U3O8. Valencia Main and East also contain approximately 5.7 million tonnes of Inferred resources grading about 120 ppm and containing 1.3 million pounds.
Combined with Namibplaas, Norasa therefore contains about 45.4 million pounds in the higher-confidence Measured and Indicated categories and approximately 42.6 million pounds in the Inferred category.
The importance of the new Namibplaas programme is therefore not necessarily to discover more uranium immediately, but to determine whether some of the project’s large Inferred inventory can be supported by sufficient geological and assay information to move into a higher-confidence resource category.
That could become important as Asarian considers returning Norasa to feasibility-level evaluation.
The company has an existing definitive feasibility study completed in 2015, but has cautioned that the study is now historical because its processing assumptions, costs and uranium price assumptions differ materially from current conditions.
Asarian said in September that, subject to the results of the Namibplaas drilling and resource review, it would consider updating that study.
The company, formerly known as Forsys Metals, has placed Norasa at the centre of its strategy under Borshoff, who was appointed to lead the business earlier this year.
The immediate test will now begin at Namibplaas, where the 17 holes will determine whether Asarian can improve confidence in a 41.1-million-pound uranium resource that currently sits entirely in the Inferred category.
