Deep Yellow has completed drilling over its Tumas 3 deposit in Namibia, ticking off yet another box as it charges toward the completion of its pre-feasibility study in south-west Africa. The company has completed 53 drill holes over the shallow Tumas 3 paleochannel deposit, infilling on the existing drill pattern and defining the periphery of the mineralisation.
Drilling “exceeded expectations” with more than half the drill holes returning assays in excess of 100 eppm uranium oxide and 30 per cent of the holes logging assays of more than 200 eppm. Combined, the results represent a solid set of numbers from a program which was originally designed to close off the deposit but instead have achieved the opposite effect extending the mineralised envelope.
Better intercepts from the shallow drilling program include 5m at 454 eppm uranium from 6m, 3m at 340 eppm uranium from 11m and 1m at 515 eppm from only 8m below surface.
The developing Tumas uranium project is located on the coastal plain of Namibia in southern Africa, a mere 60km east of the country’s deep-water port at Walvis Bay. The Tumas deposits sit within the renown Erongo uranium mining region which hosts a number of world-class operations including the Rossing, Husab and Langer Heinrich uranium mines.
Deep Yellow’s Tumas mineralised paleochannel system extends over more than 50km of strike from Tumas 1 in the east through the Tumas Red Sand deposits in the west. Exploration to date has tested less than 60 per cent of the recognised Tumas target area however resources already total more than 108 million tonnes at 324 ppm uranium oxide, containing a massive 77 million pounds of uranium oxide.
Uranium-vanadium mineralisation at Tumas is associated with the calcrete deposits precipitated within old river channels where the mineralisation shows strong geochemical similarities to the ores from the nearby Langer Heinrich mine.
The drilling program at Tumas 3 formed part of Deep Yellow’s developing pre-feasibility study, or “PFS” over the Tumas uranium project. The company has confirmed the PFS remains on schedule for delivery in late November 2020, with a battery of studies and test work currently underway to sure up the numbers as it looks to transition towards production ahead of a predicted supply deficit in the uranium market in the coming years.
A report tabled by the World Nuclear Association, or “WNA” in September 2019 has flagged a looming supply crunch, with modelling by the global nuclear authority predicting demand to outstrip supply from 2023 onwards, with a significant shortfall expected to last out to 2040.
The uranium price has shown a strong uptick through 2020 in response to this information, peaking at close to $34 per pound of uranium oxide in May, up from just US$24 per pound at the start of the year. Deep Yellow has expedited its development program looking to take advantage of the strengthening market for the energy metal.
Development drilling across the project now looks to be complete and with the PFS remaining on schedule for delivery in the second half of next month, Deep Yellow looks to have a busy few weeks ahead. The company will no doubt be putting the finishing touches on its updated resources, completing the various phases of metallurgical test work, updating flowsheet designs and finalising its cost estimates for the project.
With the Tumas PFS set to be tabled and the uranium price still bubbling along at close to US$30 per pound, Deep Yellow is sitting pretty in this niche market and looks set to pounce should market predictions come to pass.
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