Laramide Resources drills 352 ppm U3O8 over 18.41 metres at Westmoreland, Australia
Laramide Resources Ltd. [TSX-LAM; ASX-LAM; OTCQX- LMRXF] reported assay results from the first two diamond drill holes from the Amphitheatre exploration target at its Westmoreland uranium project in Queensland, Australia.
These results are the first received from a 4,000-plus-metre exploratory drill program announced July 19, 2023. The program was designed to include a mixture of infill but also to test new prospects for possible expansion across four discrete targets.. This season’s exploration campaign in Australia also includes on-ground exploration and target generation at the company’s contiguous Murphy project in the Northern Territory, which will be the subject of a separate news release in the coming weeks.
The 2023 exploration drilling program commenced at Amphitheatre uranium prospect and comprises nine holes for a total of 855.8 m diamond drilling. Assay results from the first two holes at Amphitheatre, AM23DD001 and 002, have been received, highlights include:
AM23DD001 returned near-surface one m at 660 parts per million (ppm) U3O8 (triuranium octoxide) from one metres; three metres at 177 ppm U3O8 from seven metres; 5.5 metres at 242 ppm U3O8 from 34.5 metres, including 0.59 metres at 1,249 ppm (0.12%) U3O8 from 36.81 metres; 3.32 metres at 253 ppm U3O8 from 47.68 metres; and 2.5 metres at 775 ppm U3O8 from 52.5 metres.
AM23DD002 returned 18.41 metres at 352 ppm U3O8 from 49.21 metres, including 0.66 metres at 2,452 ppm (0.25%) U3O8 from 49.21 metres and 0.84 metres at 1,910 ppm (0.19%) U3O8 from 69.06 metres.
This season’s exploration drilling campaign at Westmoreland has two objectives: resource infill and extension at the Huarabagoo and Long Pocket deposits, and exploration drilling of new targets at Amphitheatre and Black Hills. The 2023 exploration program, which commenced on July 17, has completed a total of 30 holes to date (9 at Amphitheatre, 15 at Long Pocket, 3 at Black Hills and 3 at Huarabagoo). Nine holes remain to be drilled in the current program which should be completed by the end of October.
To date, drilling has identified multiple, shallow, mineralized horizons all hosted within the PTW4 unit of the Westmoreland Sandstone. Results from the remaining seven holes drilled at Amphitheatre, which were completed in August, are pending. Interpretation of geology and mineralisation controls is ongoing and will be refined as more results are received.
Commenting on the exploration results, Laramide’s President and CEO, Marc Henderson said: “Our drill program at Westmoreland is off to an excellent start, with the first of our exploration drillholes at Amphitheatre returning multiple zones of mineralization; we look forward to updating investors as more assays are received. We believe the exploration potential at Westmoreland to be exceptional and underappreciated, likely because this is the first substantial exploration drilling campaign undertaken by Laramide since 2012.”
The Amphitheatre uranium prospect is located 16km northeast of the Junnagunna uranium deposit and expresses as a strong 400m x 300m airborne radiometric anomaly. The area was subject to historical exploration in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Visible secondary uranium minerals such as carnotite and torbernite are present at surface, hosted within the PTW4 unit of the Westmoreland Conglomerate. Mineralization identified in 2022[2] drilling has a relationship with mafic intrusive units, sharing similarities with other nearby uranium deposits, namely Redtree, Huarabagaoo and Junnagunna which host a combined 51.9Mlb U3O8 resource.
Laramide is focused on exploring and developing high-quality uranium assets in Australia and the western United States. The company’s portfolio comprises five advanced uranium projects in districts with historical production or superior geological prospectivity.
The Westmoreland project in Queensland, Australia, is one of the largest uranium development assets held by a junior mining company. This project has a PEA that describes an economically robust, open-pit mining project with a mine-life of 13 years. Additionally, the adjacent Murphy Project in the Northern Territory of Australia is a greenfield asset that Laramide strategically acquired to control the majority of the mineralized system along the Westmoreland trend.
In the United States, Laramide’s assets include the NRC licensed Crownpoint-Churchrock Uranium Project, which is proposed to be developed using in-situ recovery (ISR) production methodology. The company also owns the La Jara Mesa project in the historic Grants mining district of New Mexico and an underground project, called La Sal, Lisbon Valley, Utah.