Uranium Energy Corp. was pleased to announce this morning ongoing success with the exploration drilling program at its Palangana project located in South Texas. Initiating a 215-hole drilling program in early February on six exploration zones, the company reported the results from the first 87 holes on March 15. Today’s press release reports results from the next 101 holes that have now been completed and logged and highlights results from the new and highly prospective G-sand trend.
Today’s report follows the news release of last week which reported that, concurrent with the exploration drilling campaign, Uranium Energy has initiated the development and construction of the wellfield and the disposal well for the first production zone (Production Area 1 or PAA-1). The Palangana project, located in the South Texas uranium belt approximately 100 miles south of the Company’s fully licensed Hobson processing plant, is fully permitted for production. It is a prior-producing in-situ recovery (ISR) project. The company plans to produce and ship uranium-bearing resins from Palangana to Hobson later this year for further processing into yellowcake.
The current exploration drilling program is addressing a newly developed G-sand trend that extends for 4.5 miles as well as the six known exploration zones where the company has already established an NI 43-101-qualified Inferred resource of more than one-million pounds U3O8. A map of the production and exploration zones at Palangana can be found at the following link: http://uraniumenergy.com/_resources/Palangana-Area-Map.jpg
Amir Adnani, President and CEO, stated, “We are very pleased with the exploration results to date at Palangana. Clearly, the resource will increase. In addition to expansion and further delineation of the six known exploration trends, we are very excited by the preliminary discovery of the G-sand mineralization.”
Discovery of New G-Sand Trend
The new G-sand trend was recognized through detailed mapping of areas marginal to and down dip of the Palangana Dome rim, where roll front deposits of uranium are known to occur. This newly discovered trend is approximately 4.5 miles in length.
A total of 19 holes have been drilled and logged along this new trend, with 5 of the holes exhibiting grade-thickness (GT) values of 0.3 or higher. The Company considers these results very encouraging for a newly discovered area. Importantly, hole 2845 had an intercept of 17.5 feet of 0.541% U3O8, resulting in a GT value of 9.467. Hole 2832 had an intercept of 16 feet of 0.085% U3O8, resulting in a GT value of 1.360. GT is the length of the intercept measured in feet multiplied by the average percentage of U3O8 present. Company engineers estimate that zones with GT greater than 0.3 will be shown to be producible.
Drilling from Six Known Exploration Zones
An additional 82 holes have been drilled within the known exploration trends, primarily the Jemison Fence and Palangana East areas. Of these 82 holes, 14 had a grade-thickness product (GT) greater than 1.0 with the Prompt Fission Neutron (PFN) tool, and 33 of the 82 holes, or approximately 40%, had a GT greater than 0.3 with the PFN tool. Of the entire drilling program to date, nearly half of the 188 holes have intercepts with GT greater than 0.3. As noted above, Company engineers estimate that zones with GT greater than 0.3 will be shown to be producible. A properly calibrated PFN tool provides a reading that directly approximates the uranium content. The Palangana East trend was earlier known as the CC Brine trend.
According to the press release, exploration drilling will continue through the rest of this month to further define the new G-sand trend and to assess if the trend, or parts of the trend, will be producible through in-situ recovery methods. Detailed mapping of the entire Palangana Dome structure will continue, and new trends will be tested through drilling as they are identified. Evaluation of the former Union Carbide wellfields, as previously reported in the Company’s news release dated March 15, will also continue.
The Company promised to announce drill results as they become available, both in the exploration trend areas and the newly developed trend described above. Updated resource estimates will be provided at the conclusion of the drill program and prior to start-up of production in the fourth quarter of this year.
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