Havilah Resources has reported a significant new discovery of widespread uranium mineralization at their Big Lake Uranium Project in South Australia. The project is positioned favorably within the Olympic Dam iron oxide copper-gold-uranium (IOCGU) province, which is one of the most endowed and prospective uranium regions globally.
The drilling program, comprised of 57 holes for a total of 5,972 meters, was focused on an area located at the far west of “Big Lake” and known as “Big Lake West”. The drilling was primarily designed to test very strong 1,000 meter by 400 meter uranium in lake sediment anomaly identified from a survey carried out in 2008.
The higher-grade uranium intersections gathered from the drilling results include 1,580 ppm U3O8 across 3 meters from the surface, 1,640 ppm U3O8 across 2 meters from 1 meter, 1,500 ppm U3O8 across 2 meters from 1 meter, and 1,300 ppm U3O8 across 2 meters from the surface.
The consistent nature of these higher-grade uranium botches and the fact they appear close to surface indicates ideal conditions for potential open pit mining. Moreover, the intersections appear to be hosted within unconsolidated near surface sediments, which implies a relatively simpler mining and extraction process.
The results also signify a zone of mineralization that has a potential strike length of over 4 kilometers with consistent uranium grades across the anomaly. While the results are preliminary, they already underscore the significant potential of the Big Lake Uranium Project.
According to Havilah Resources, the findings have provided them with several priority targets to focus on for further investigation. They have indicated that their immediate next steps will involve more in-depth geochemical sampling, further drilling work to define the extent of the mineralization found, as well as a detailed mineralogical study.
The Big Lake Uranium Project comes as a significant development for the uranium industry considering the expected growth in demand for clean, carbon-free nuclear energy in the coming years. The discovery increases Australia’s potential to contribute to the global uranium supply and strengthen its position as a major player in this sector.
