Exploration poised to commence at advanced U project
Having completed its acquisition of a suite of Tanzanian resource projects last week, our junior exploration Investment AuKing Mining (ASX:AKN) today announced the asset that it will focus on first.
In March, AKN will commence a programme comprising 2000m of near surface drilling at its advanced Manyoni Uranium Project in central Tanzania.
This matters as Manyoni already hosts a 92Mt @ 144ppm U3O8 non-JORC resource - one of the primary goals for this campaign is to update the resource to current JORC standards, thereby validating the historical drilling and providing confidence that there is substantial yellowcake in the ground.
The campaign will also look at expanding the resource - most of the historic drilling was quite shallow (only a few holes beyond 15m depth), and so there are a few deeper zones that AKN would like to test. All up, drilling should continue for 6-8 weeks.
Some metwork will also be incorporated in this program, in order to validate historic recoveries and also “apply the latest metallurgical techniques that have been developed for uranium deposits over the past 15 years”.
Given that this project is only 100kms west of the major Tanzanian city of Dodoma, and the resource is shallow, AKN hope to establish a near-term production pathway for Manyoni. This all hinges on the drilling campaigns first validating the historical resource - so we’re keen to see what the assays return, likely in the middle of 2023.
With the commodity price recently surpassing the US$50/lb benchmark, we are bullish on the uranium sector broadly, and are keen to see AKN progress its new uranium prospects this year.
We are also fans of the vendor of the deal - Mr Asimwe Kabunga. A good sign for us is that Mr Kabunga accepted AKN scrip as payment (rather than cash) and has now joined AKN as Chairman, signalling confidence in growing the value of the assets and AKN together. We hope that he can replicate for AKN some of the success he has helped generate in other companies that he has been involved with as either executive chairman or as a board member (consider ~$200M-capped Lindian Resources, up ~700% for the year; and $40M-capped Resource Mining, up ~300% for the year).
What’s next?
With the acquisition now completed, AKN will be keen to get their geologists in the field, especially at their most advanced uranium prospects.
Drilling is to commence next month at Manyoni, with assays expected the following quarter. We also anticipate metwork results soon thereafter.
