Elevate Uranium has reduced its drilling operations in Namibia from as many as five rigs to just one following an extensive exploration campaign that saw 909 holes drilled across its Marenica and Namib IV uranium projects during the September 2026 quarter.
The Australian-listed company disclosed the reduction in its quarterly activities report released on 30 October, saying the decision would result in lower exploration expenditure as it prepares to update the Marenica mineral resource estimate and complete further testing of its uranium processing technology.
Elevate had operated between four and five drilling rigs during the preceding two quarters but reduced the number to a single rig from October, following the completion of 36,523 metres of drilling across the two projects during the September quarter.
The largest share of the drilling took place at Marenica, where 718 holes covering 31,115 metres were completed, while another 191 holes totalling 5,408 metres were drilled at the Namib IV resource area within the company’s Koppies Uranium Project.
Most of the Marenica drilling was conducted within the existing inferred mineral resource area to improve geological confidence and support the potential conversion of mineral resources into the higher-confidence indicated category.
Additional holes were drilled to investigate possible extensions of the known uranium mineralisation.
Elevate expects to complete an updated Marenica mineral resource estimate during the December 2026 quarter, which will provide a clearer picture of the deposit following the latest drilling campaign.
The project currently has a reported mineral resource of 134.5 million tonnes grading 180 parts per million uranium oxide, containing approximately 52.8 million pounds of uranium oxide.
The resource includes 16.8 million tonnes in the indicated category and 117.7 million tonnes classified as inferred, highlighting the importance of the recent infill drilling programme in improving confidence in the deposit.
At Namib IV, drilling was directed towards improving the definition of existing mineralised zones and investigating potential extensions beyond the current inferred resource areas.
The broader Koppies Uranium Project, comprising Koppies, Hirabeb and Namib IV, has a combined mineral resource of 76.2 million pounds of uranium oxide.
The reduction in drilling activity comes after Elevate reported exploration expenditure of A$4.08 million during the September quarter. The company held A$22.2 million in cash at the end of the reporting period.
While the drilling programme has been scaled back, technical work is continuing on the company’s U-pgrade pilot plant in Namibia, which is designed to reduce the amount of material requiring chemical treatment during uranium extraction.
The company reported that the first four stages of the process removed approximately 88% of the original ore mass while retaining 79% of the uranium. The uranium concentration increased approximately sevenfold, from 89 parts per million to 590 parts per million.
These results had been disclosed previously and were reiterated in the latest quarterly report.
The fifth and final stage, uranium flotation, was commissioned in August 2026, with optimisation continuing ahead of the release of integrated results from the full processing circuit during the December quarter.
Elevate also plans to process new bulk ore samples from Marenica that reflect the deposit’s revised average resource grade of 180 parts per million uranium oxide. The earlier pilot testing used lower-grade material.
The company expects the additional testing to provide further information on uranium recovery and processing performance before the results are incorporated into a Marenica scoping study scheduled to begin during the March 2027 quarter.
Ore from the Koppies Uranium Project is also scheduled to undergo testing at the pilot plant during the same period.
Meanwhile, Elevate is working towards increasing its ownership of the Marenica project to 90%.
The company completed the acquisition of an additional 10% interest from Xanthos Mining on 28 July, increasing its shareholding in Marenica Minerals to 85%.
A further 5% acquisition from Millenium Minerals had its completion deadline extended to 30 October 2026. Once completed, the transaction would increase Elevate’s ownership to 90%, with Xanthos retaining a 10% free-carried interest.
The latest report does not confirm completion of that remaining acquisition.
The coming months will therefore see Elevate concentrating on three developments: an updated Marenica mineral resource estimate, the final results from its five-stage uranium processing pilot plant and preparations for the project’s scoping study, while maintaining a reduced drilling programme.
