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Thunderbird Resources Limited (Thunderbird) or (the Company) (ASX: THB) is pleased to advise that it is in the final stages of preparation for its maiden drilling program at the highly prospective Hidden Bay Uranium Project in the Athabasca Basin, Canada, with six quotes received from prospective drilling contractors.
Highlights
- Six drilling contractors have submitted quotes with a drilling contract on track to be signed shortly.
- 2,400m of diamond drilling planned, with drilling scheduled to commence mid-August.
- Entitlement Offer closes at 5pm WST on Wednesday 10 July 2024. Share price on Friday closed at 3.3c, a 10% premium to the Entitlement Offer price of 3c.
- Thunderbird will be fully-funded for its upcoming exploration programs following the completion of its $4.1m capital raising and a recent $1.07m share sale.
The Company is aiming to appoint its preferred drilling contractor shortly, with the drilling program on track to commence by mid-August, with Dahrouge Geological Consulting providing technical support. Hidden Bay is located 20km south-west of the Rabbit Lake uranium deposit on the eastern flank of Canada’s world-class Athabasca Basin.
The upcoming drilling program will comprise 2,400m of diamond drilling across five high-priority target areas that have been meticulously refined by the Company’s exploration team.
Entitlement Offer
The fully underwritten entitlement offer closes at 5pm on Wednesday 10 July. The share price closed on Friday at 3.3c, which is a 10% premium to the 3c price of the entitlement offer.
The Company will be fully funded for the Hidden Bay drilling program following the completion of the Entitlement Offer and Placement, as well as the recent sale of 10 million Firetail Shares (ASX: FTL) raising $1.07 million.
The Company has recently participated in the Firetail Resources Entitlement Offer, acquiring 1.5m @ 4c for $60,000. This will increase its holding to 16.5 million Firetail Shares. Based on the closing price on Friday 5 July 2024 of 10c, Thunderbird’s investment is valued at $1.65 million.
Management Comment
Thunderbird Executive Chairman George Bauk said: “We are pleased to have received proposals from six drilling contractors and look forward to finalising the contract shortly. Everything is on track to commence the Company’s maiden drilling program at Hidden Bay by mid-August.”
Hidden Bay Drilling Targets
The drill targets defined at Hidden Bay are based on airborne gravity and magnetic surveys, radon in soil surveys, and re-interpretation of historical exploration data. Six priority gravity low targets were identified within an ENE-trending structural corridor proximal to the regional Athabasca unconformity. The ENE-corridor is defined by EM conductors (historical surveys), structures and fold axes. Historical drilling in the southwest part of the property returned up to 0.13% U3O8 1 and elevated radon geochemistry occurs proximal to the gravity lows.
Figure 1. Location of Hidden Bay Uranium Project in the Athabasca Basin
Hidden Bay is located approximately 20km south of the historic Rabbit Lake Uranium mine, which was the longest running uranium mine in North America with over 41 years of mining, producing over 203 million pounds of uranium concentrate1. This part of the Athabasca Basin is highly endowed with several uranium deposits and producing mines within a 40km radius including Eagle Point, Collins Bay, Cigar Lake, Roughrider, and Horseshoe-Raven (see Figures 1 and 2). Despite its proximity to multiple uranium prospects and deposits only one hole has been drilled on the property in the last 35 years (see Figure 3).
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Boss Set to Ship First U308 from Honeymoon
Highlights
- Startup production exceeding ramp-up schedule per the feasibility study (FS) estimates
- NIMCIX columns 2 and 3 on target for commissioning in Q3 and Q4, respectively in 2024
- Commissioning continues to advance, with key metrics remaining ahead of FS estimates:
- oWellfields continue to average 80 - 100mg/L vs FS estimate of 47mg/L (~100% uplift)
- oIon Exchange loaded resin recoverability remains at 100%
- oResin loading normalising at FS estimate of 27 g/L
- oElution performance exceeding FS estimate at 7 – 9 g/L
- First uranium sale to occur with revenue being received this quarter
- Boss remains highly leveraged to rising uranium price
Boss will now make its first delivery to European nuclear utilities under its existing sales contracts, with revenue to be received in the current quarter.
With NIMCIX Column 1 performing to expectations and construction of Columns 2 and 3 on track for completion in the September and December quarters, 2024 respectively, Boss expects production to total at least ~850,000lbs of U308 by June 30, 2025, in line with its Feasibility Study schedule1.
Boss Managing Director Duncan Craib said:“The start-up phase at Honeymoon is proceeding comfortably to plan, with all the key metrics running in line with, or exceeding, the forecasts contained in the Feasibility Study schedule.
“Construction of the second and third columns is also advancing well, ensuring we are on track to continue increasing our production rates. Total production in FY26 is set to meet or exceed our feasibility study forecasts at 1.63Mlb. The addition of columns 4, 5 and 6 are forecast to further increase the production rate to nameplate capacity of 2.45Mlb/annum by year three.”
Figure 1: Drummed uranium ready for first shipment
Figure 2: Construction of columns 2 and 3 nearing completion to increase Honeymoon's production profile
Production update
Operational focus over the coming months remains on optimisation of the ion exchange, elution, precipitation and drying and packing processes.
Wellfield performance continues to impress, with tenors from individual wellfields into the PLS averaging 80 - 100 mg/L. Honeymoon’s feasibility study assumed PLS grade of 47 mg/L based on results from the project’s previous operation. Boss is managing the grade of uranium being leached to maximise wellfield recoveries.
Consumption of reagents in the wellfields of sulphuric acid and ferric (pH and Eh) are normalising as per FS expectations. The lixiviant chemistry, as proved during the field leach trial, continues to demonstrate superior performance at commercial throughput rates. The increased leach efficiency leads to a more efficient loading on the ion exchange resin, effectively lowering operating costs as less reagents and power are required per drum of uranium.
Stripping of uranium from the loaded resin continues to be virtually 100%, also demonstrating that the ion exchange process is working as designed, resulting in a high-grade concentrated eluate greater than 7-9 g/L.
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Lo Herma ISR Uranium Project, Resource Drilling Funded
HIGHLIGHTS
- Upcoming Q3 resource drilling is fully funded
- Drilling will target expansion and upgrade of the current Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 5.71 Mlbs U3O8 at average 630ppm
- Drilling to commence in the coming weeks - starting late July or early August
- Planned rights entitlement offer to all shareholders on the same terms as the recent placement - details to be provided in due course
As previously advised on 2nd of May 2024, the planned 2024 drilling permit at Lo Herma allows for up to 76 drill hole locations including construction of up to 5 groundwater monitoring wells. This next phase of drilling will focus on expanding the resource areas and where possible, upgrading the current mineral resource classification (Table 1). Collection of important data including, hydrogeologic parameters of the mineralised aquifers and collection of rock core samples for metallurgical testing will be also prioritised. GTI intends to mobilise drilling rigs to Lo Herma as soon as the activity is fully permitted which is anticipated to be during late July or early August 2024.
Following completion of the 2024 drill program at Lo Herma, GTI intends to publish an updated mineral resource estimate and exploration target range for the project. The Company expects that the updated mineral resource estimate will support near-term development of a Scoping Study to demonstrate the economic potential of the project.
GTI Executive Director Bruce Lane commented, “We are pleased and excited to have received investor support and funding to continue moving forward with our planned resource expansion drilling at Lo Herma. Matt and the team in Wyoming have put us in a great position to complete the drilling program this quarter, with a revised mineral resource estimate to be rapidly advanced post-drilling. This work prepares GTI for a potential Lo Herma scoping study which we hope to commence later this year on the basis that we can significantly grow the uranium resource estimate to a similar scale to ISR uranium mines currently being constructed or planned in Wyoming at Ur-Energy’s Shirley Basin project & Encore’s Energy’s Gas Hills project.”
FIGURE 1. GTI WYOMING PROJECT LOCATIONS
LO HERMA GEOLOGIC SUMMARY
The Lo Herma project is located on the southern end of the west flank of the Powder River Basin (PRB), a regional asymmetric synclinal basin hosting a sedimentary rock sequence of about 15,000 feet in the deeper portions of the basin. The basin is bounded by the Bighorn Mountains on the west, the Black Hills to the east, and the Casper Arch, Laramie Mountains, and Hartville Uplift along the southern margin. Along the edges of the basin, progressively older sedimentary units outcrop at the surface as you move away from the synclinal axis of the basin.
The target host geology for Lo Herma project is located in and around the contact of the Eocene Wasatch Formation (Wasatch) and the Paleocene Fort Union Formation (Fort Union).
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This article includes content from GTI Energy, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.