The uranium price is on a bull run this year, surging 22% last month to a 15-year high above US$73/lb.
Banks and industry voices such as Macquarie and the World Nuclear Association report that long-term demand for yellowcake will increase as governments across the world sanction extensions and expansions to nuclear energy production.
The rapid return of investor interest to the uranium sector has made it a great time to be an established uranium explorer like DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV), which already holds a dominant 4,700km2 tenement package at Nabarlek in the Alligator Rivers Uranium Province.
This region is known for its world-class, high-grade uranium deposits, with over 500 million pounds of uranium in mined and current resources.
DevEx is one of the very few uranium explorers on the ASX currently targeting high-grade uranium, with its current exploration efforts focusing on a highly strategic ground package adjacent to the historical Nabarlek uranium mine, where 24Mlbs at 1.84% U3O8 was produced making it Australia’s highest-grade uranium mine.
DevEx has now inked a deal to earn up to 75% of the 5,000km2 Murphy West project, also in the NT, by spending $3.5m within the first five years.
Murphy West lies over a rock package called the ‘Westmoreland Conglomerate’ which, to the east, hosts Laramide Resources’ 51.9Mlb U3O8 Westmoreland uranium project located over the border in QLD.
Laramide has an ongoing 4,000m+ drill program at Westmoreland’s Amphitheatre prospect area, with assays recently outlining broad-based uranium mineralisation with the potential to add to the project’s resource.
There’s been limited previous exploration for uranium at Murphy West. DevEx has commenced planning for a large airborne radiometric and magnetic survey to be flown at the end of the NT’s wet season in March or April next year.
This will be undertaken together with early-stage sampling and reconnaissance that will guide initial exploration during an 18-month option period.
Airborne radiometric surveys are a key technique used to identify near-surface uranium mineralisation [and] this survey will provide the backbone for follow-up ground-based field activities to be undertaken, DevEx says.
“Given the geological similarities between the uranium deposits of the Southern McArthur Basin and the Alligator Rivers uranium province where we are currently operating, this represents an attractive and low-cost option for us to substantially expand our uranium exploration footprint in Northern Australia,” DevEx MD Brendan Bradley says.
“We intend to fly an extensive airborne radiometric survey over the ground at the start of the next field season, which will give us a good picture of priority areas for field investigations over what could be an exciting emerging uranium province to further complement our Nabarlek project.”
Significant exploration drilling is underway DevEx’s 100%-owned, 4,700km2 Nabarlek uranium project at the top end of the NT.
Drilling continues at the U40 prospect where DevEx where recent results have intersected up to 1% U3O8 across multiple holes.
Bradley said the Nabarlek project was continuing to generate outstanding drill results at an ideal time in the market cycle, as investor interest in uranium continues to build.
“We are also excited to see significant gold mineralisation in the assays returned from the U40 prospect,” he says.
“This is an important development for our team, with the alteration and gold association observed at U40 displaying strong similarities to some of the major deposits of the district such as Ranger and Jabiluka.”
