Star Minerals shines light on six drill targets at new Cobra uranium project

Star Minerals discovers JV partner Madison already has approvals in place for six drill holes at Cobra
Cobra is close to some of the world’s largest and longest-producing uranium mines
Drilling will kick off to infill the endowment into a JORC-complaint resource

Special Report: Hot on the heels of a 51% farm-in deal with Madison Metals, a documentation review has discovered that initial drill targets have already been generated at Star Minerals’ new Cobra uranium project in Namibia.

A review of Madison’s project documentation for Cobra shows ground radiometric surveys completed illustrate a continuation of Area 3 mineralisation and has approvals in place to drill an initial six holes.

The holes are across the identified 2800m strike north of the current foreign resource estimate of 15.6Mt at 260ppm U3O8 for 9Mlbs and drilling is getting underway, with Madison to provide the Namibian staff required to complete the program.

SMS Cobra map — Location of identified drill targets at the Cobra project. Pic supplied: (SMS)

Nestled within 25km of the two largest operating uranium mines in Namibia, there’s a lot of potential surrounding Star Minerals (ASX:SMS) farm-in to Cobra.

Namibia is ranked as the sixth-largest African mining jurisdiction for mining investment and the world’s third-largest producer of uranium, accounting for 11% of global production – according to the Fraser Institute’s 2022 annual survey.

Cobra EPL 8531 is immediately west of the Rössing and Husab yellowcake mines and sits 50km north-northwest of Paladin Energy’s flagship Langer Heinrich mine.

Rössing is one of the world’s longest-operating uranium mines, having produced >260Mlb of uranium since 1976.

SMS Namibia map 2 — Namibia’s uranium mines and the Cobra project location. Pic supplied: (SMS)

Proving up Cobra

The first step for Star will be to convert Cobra’s mineralisation into a JORC-complaint resource through definition drilling and the drill-ready targets will accelerate that ambition.

“The exploration team has reviewed the planning to begin further exploration activities at the project in order to progress towards resource definition drilling as soon as possible,” SMS chair Ian Stuart said.

“During the documentation review, Star established that the necessary permits already exist, allowing for immediate drilling of the six targets.

“The evaluation of the strike potential and twinning some of the existing holes which make up the foreign uranium estimate will form early work programs at the project.

“Star will liaise closely with the in-country Madison team to get the first program underway as quickly as possible, subject to completion of the earn-in conditions precedent.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Star Minerals, 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.