Aspiring uranium developer, Deep Yellow, has mobilised its drilling fleet in Namibia charged with a 90-hole program at Tumas and the delivery of metallurgical test samples for the company’s Pre-Feasibility Study, or “PFS” program scheduled for release later this year.
Deep Yellow is developing the Tumas uranium project on the coast of Namibia in southern Africa. The company is currently knee-deep in its PFS over the project which boasts a vast resource of near-surface, channel hosted uranium mineralisation on the Namibian coastal plain.
The latest resource estimate for Tumas, released in May 2020, outlined more than 108 million tonnes at 324 ppm uranium oxide, containing a massive 77 million pounds of uranium oxide.
The company’s PFS is nearing completion with drill rigs deployed to gather samples from across the Tumas resource area which covers more than 599 square kilometres. The initial focus of the drilling program will be testing and sampling of the Tumas 2 and 3 deposits, which are proximal to the proposed mill location.
Reverse circulation drilling will produce more than 1,000 kilograms of samples which will then be utilised for metallurgical test work to assist in the design plant and optimisation of the proposed processing circuit.
The company will also use the latest drilling campaign to examine the host rocks at Tumas with the technical team running gamma logging down each of the drill holes, aiming to understand the distribution of uranium mineralisation in minute detail.
In addition, Deep Yellow will utilise cutting edge technology in the form of an optical borehole scanner to differentiate the various rock units - especially the distribution of coarse pebble and conglomerate units, that will play a role in the development of the crushing and grinding circuits for the mill.
The developing Tumas uranium project is located on the west coast of Namibia in southern Africa and sits 60km east of the country’s deep-water port at Walvis Bay. Tumas lies within the established uranium mining region of Erongo which hosts several world-class operations including the Rossing, Husab and Langer Heinrich uranium mines.
The extensive deposits at Tumas are hosted within old river channels that lie beneath the desert sands of Namibia with the uranium-vanadium mineralisation showing strong similarities to the ores at the nearby Langer Heinrich operations.
Deep Yellow has appointed global engineering and development specialists Ausenco to oversee the PFS, with metallurgical testing and engineering studies well underway. Ausenco will also provide capital estimates for equipment supply and construction costs as a key component of the final PFS document.
Additionally, the company has appointed a project manager to oversee the Environmental Impact Assessment. With flora and fauna surveys complete, groundwater baseline information established, air quality surveys underway– the EIA document is scheduled for delivery with PFS later this year.
Deep Yellow is led by John Borshoff who has been kicking around uranium markets since Jesus played fullback for Jerusalem. Borshoff previously turned Paladin Energy into a multi-billion-dollar uranium goliath before the price of the controversial yellow metal eventually collapsed in the wake of Fukushima. Interestingly, Borshoff’s foray back into uranium with Deep Yellow looks to be well timed with the uranium price jumping recently from US$24 to US$31 a pound, having touched US$34 a pound.
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