Elevate Uranium wins NT grant to drill Angela project

• NT Government awards $112,000 to Elevate as part of the Resourcing the Territory program
• Elevate will use the funds for drilling at the Angela project, testing seismic reflectors identified in a previous survey 
• The company plans to confirm the deposit’s potential to expand beyond the existing resource  

Special Report: The Northern Territory Government has awarded Elevate Uranium $112,000 in exploration funding under its Resources the Territory program to co-fund seismic reflector drill testing at the Angela uranium asset. 

Granted to projects with strong technical merit and potential to fast-track resource development, the funding will support a three-hole, 1,860m drilling program targeting high-priority seismic reflectors identified in a 2D survey by Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8) three years ago. 

That survey identified the potential for extensions to the known mineralisation at Angela, which boasts a high-grade uranium resource of 30.8Mlb grading 1310ppm. 

EL8 managing director Murray Hill said the company was pleased to have been successful in the Northern Territory’s highly competitive program. 

“This grant highlights the Territory’s commitment to uranium exploration and an opportunity to build on our previous successful work under the same program, where a two-dimensional seismic survey identified these compelling new drill-targets,” he said. 

“These targets highlight anomalous zones displaying similar seismic signatures to those coincident with the main mineralised zone, which makes these unexplored anomalous zones very prospective exploration targets.” 

Next steps and background on Angela 

Elevate plans to test the three target positions using drill holes with reverse circulation pre-collars to depths in the order of 500-700m, for an estimated total of 1860m. 

Hill said the aim was to confirm that the Angela deposit had the potential to expand beyond its current resource and this co-funding allowed the company to test its thesis in a capital efficient manner. 

Angela is a sandstone-hosted uranium deposit in the Amadeus Basin of the NT, about 25km south of Alice Springs. 

It contains the mineral calcite, which consumes acid in the uranium leach stage of processing. The acid consumption has been estimated to be around 100 to 120kg/t, based on metallurgical testwork prior to Elevate taking ownership of the asset. 

At an estimated acid price of $400/t, the acid would contribute to high operating costs for any potential project that may be developed at Angela. 

In 2020, Elevate carried out a successful proof-of-concept using its patented beneficiation process U-pgrade on the uranium ore at Angela before leaching. 

The program demonstrated that the bulk of the calcite could be removed prior to leaching, reducing the leach acid consumption and future operating costs. 

This article was developed in collaboration with Elevate Uranium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.