AuKing Mining Ltd (ASX:AKN) has progressed to stage two of its exploration drilling program at the Mkuju Uranium Project in southern Tanzania, following promising initial findings.
The 75-hole, 11,000-metre aircore and reverse circulation (RC) drilling program is scheduled to begin in late May, after the wet season, and will build on significant uranium mineralisation areas identified during stage one activities.
Key target areas
AuKing CEO Paul Williams said: “The work we carried out last year in the stage one program identified several key target areas for the proposed drilling.
“Under local content rules in Tanzania, a tender is required to be called from drilling service companies and that process has now commenced.”
The aim of the comprehensive campaign is to conduct detailed exploration south of Nyota, test high-priority targets identified in the initial stage and explore the potential of new Eastern PL areas coinciding with historical Mantra Resources radiometric anomalies.
Groundwork for MRE
It is hoped that the drills will intersect uranium mineralisation across several key areas but also set the groundwork for a further stage focused on establishing an initial mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Mkuju.
The track-mounted aircore/RC drilling rig is suited to the rough terrain of the proposed sites, with flexibility to switch drilling methods as required.
In addition to drilling, the program will take in further soil and rock chip sampling and mapping, especially in the new eastern PL areas, to continue identifying correlations with the Mantra radiometric anomaly.
The company has set its planned expenditure at around US$800,000, including a 10% project contingency.
Funding plans will be announced soon, with the intention of minimising dilution for existing shareholders.