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Rattlesnake shaking: Okapi gets the thumbs up to drill at Rattler uranium project
Mining
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Okapi Resources has the go ahead to drill out its Rattler uranium project after receiving key approvals from the Bureau of Land Management and State of Utah.
That paves the way for a 100 hole reverse circulation program, exploring for shallow uranium mineralization in and around the historically mined Rattlesnake mine.
Drilling is expected to start in the third quarter of 2022 and will come off the back of extremely encouraging rock sample results from the Rattlesnake and Sunnyside mines.
Those ‘exceptional’ samples returned values of up to 1.24% and 0.759% uranium oxide, providing evidence the Rattler Uranium project is amenable to conventional open-pit mining.
Around 15 of the 28 samples collected reported values greater than 1,000 ppm uranium oxide, collected from the Rattler project in December 2021.
Rattlesnake shaking again
Okapi’s (ASX:OKR) aim is to get the Rattlesnake mine shaking again.
The old open pit, discovered in 1948 and operated until 1954, delivered 285,000t of ore at 2800ppm uranium oxide and 10,000ppm vanadium pentoxide for 1.6Mlb of U3O8 and 4.5Mlb of V2O5.
The Rattler project is located in the ideal position for the burgeoning yellowcake revival.
With 20% of its electricity generated by nuclear power plants, America is looking closely at where its uranium supplies come from against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rattler comprises 98 BLM unpatented Federal mining claims over 1960 acres about 85km north of Energy Fuels Inc’s White Mesa uranium and vanadium mill in Utah, the only conventional uranium mill in the United States.
Planning ahead
With approvals in their hands Okapi will drill up to 100 RC holes, based on results as drilling proceeds.
They will be oriented vertically, with Okapi planning to target flat-lying structures close to surface with inclinations of less than 30 degrees from horizontal.
Okapi says negotiations are under way with an internationally experienced RC drilling company to get started in the third quarter, with sampling to include onsite XRF readings and scintillometer/Geiger counter measurements, with chip samples to be sent from all mineralised intervals to labs for assaying.
This article was developed in collaboration with Okapi Resources, 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.
