Deep Yellow Limited (ASX:DYL) has completed an 18-hole, 6,339m diamond drilling program at the Angularli deposit, which forms part of the Alligator River Project (ARP) in the Northern Territory.
This programme, which commenced in late June 2022, has successfully extended Angularli and identified further mineralised fault corridors nearby to the current Mineral Resource, which totals 25.9Mlb at 1.29 % U3O8, at a cut-off grade of 1,500ppm eU3O8.
Significant results returned from the program include:
The results of the diamond drill programme along with bulk density sample analyses will underpin the revision of a Mineral Resource update at Angularli, which will be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Overview
The Angularli Deposit is located approximately 380km by road, east-northeast of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Hosted in a high-angle shear fault system, Angularli hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 0.91Mt at 1.29% U3O8, containing 25.9Mlb U3O8 in a combination of altered shists, quartzites and sandstones.
The reported MRE is supported by 30 diamond drill holes completed prior to the latest programme, with a best intercept of 41.5m at 2.93% U3O8, recorded in hole WRD0084.
The most recent drill programme completed 18 holes for 6,339.2m between 28 June and 22 October 2022. The primary focus of drilling was to identify up-dip extensions of mineralisation associated with the Angularli Inferred Mineral Resource and determine the broader extent of the mineralising system with some exploratory drilling.
This work achieved the following:
Activities Completed
Downhole gamma wireline logging was completed using a Mt Sopris 2PGA total gamma probe for drill holes ARDD0003 and ARDD0004 and a Mt Sopris HLP total gamma probe (better suited to discriminate high-grade uranium mineralisation) for all holes from ARDD0004 to ARDD0020, with both probes calibrated prior to this drill programme.
Geological and structural logging is being carried out on the orientated drill core, with core sampling carried out using a combination of downhole, handheld radiometric measurements and portable XRF data. Selected core samples will be sent for preparation to an analytical facility prior to multi-elemental analysis.
Systematic analysis of the drill core, by portable XRF and spectral analyses to confirm mineralogy, is now underway using an Olympus Vanta portable XRF unit and the Company’s Terraspec Analytical Spectral devices (ASD 4).
Results
The drill programme has been successful in extending the sandstone-hosted primary uranium mineralisation, primarily in up-dip position from the Mineral Resource domain defined in 2018 and along-strike (further north).
Logging of extensive mineralised sandstone-hosted uranium mineralisation confirmed a combination of breccia matrix fill, discrete uranium veining and disseminated primary uranium mineralisation, with limited uranium remobilisation associated along reduction- oxidation boundaries along the mineralised envelopes boundaries.
Next Steps
Detailed geological logging and selective bulk density measurements on barren and mineralised whole core samples has commenced, and completion of this work will support a revised MRE update, planned for completion the first quarter of 2023.
Overall, the drilling that has been undertaken confirms existence of a large mineralising system in the immediate environs of the Angularli deposit offering a much-expanded target for drilling follow up. Also drilling up and down dip of the Angularli deposit showed the continuous nature of mineralisation and offers potential to further increase the size of this uranium resource that has so far been delineated.