Piche Resources’ (ASX: PR2) auger drilling at the Sierra Cuadrada project in Argentina has highlighted extensive areas of near surface uranium mineralisation.
To date 609 auger holes have been completed to an average depth of 3.91m over both regional reconnaissance and grid drilling.
Visible uranium has been recorded in 146 of the 303 holes assayed to date and 90 of those holes have returned anomalous grades up to 2,650ppm U3O8.
Drilling is currently being undertaken on a 400m x 400m grid, with some infill on 200m x 200m grid Samples from a further 212 drill holes are currently being prepared for assaying, with visible uranium recorded in 38% of those holes.
As there is anomalous uranium on many of the tenements in the Sierra Cuadrada portfolio, and radiometric uranium anomalies on all of them, the purpose of the grid auger drilling is to determine areas of mineralisation suitable for trenching and sampling to enable the completion of a JORC compliant mineral resource estimate.
Following earlier reconnaissance sampling and auger drilling, the tenement portfolio has been divided into five priority areas (P1-5). Priority has been defined based on historical exploration, prior airborne radiometric anomalies, Piche field reconnaissance, recent field sampling and auger drilling.
Detailed grid drilling commenced on the P4 (tenements Teo 5, Teo 6 and Peponi 3) area where land access agreements were first achieved. Access agreements have since been executed on P3 area and are expected to be confirmed on P1 and P2 areas in the near term.
Mineralisation thickness varies from 0.5m to 4m between the surface and a depth of 5m.
“We are particularly pleased with the progress of exploration at Sierra Cuadrada, from the initial reconnaissance to the commencement of detailed grid-based auger drilling,” Managing Director, Stephen Mann, said.
“We now have over 1000 sq. km of tenure, all of which has either visible uranium or significant radiometric anomalies. After initial commissioning the auger drill rigs are proving to be an expedient and low-cost tool for the company to identify high priority areas to commence detailed exploration, focused on large, shallow uranium mineralisation.”