92 Energy kicks off 2023 uranium drilling

The rigs are back at 92 Energy’s (ASX:92E) Gemini project in Canada’s Saskatchewan province as the northern hemisphere begins its slow exit from the winter season.

The company kicked off its 2023 exploration activities on Thursday, pushing shares up 3.8% to 41c just after the start of lunchtime trades.

The company has confirmed the ambition of its 2023 drilling campaign at Gemini: to determine for how long uranium deposits continue underground along a 2.8km target. 

To date, only 220m of that 2.8km geological trend has been subject to drill testing. 

“Sweet spot”: management 

“92E is in the ‘investor sweet spot’ because we have already established the presence of significant high-grade mineralisation and it remains open in all directions,” company MD Siobhan Lancaster said. 

“Given the open nature of the discovery, the prospective 2.8 km trend and the highly promising targets identified in the recent geophysical program, the new drilling program has potential to unlock substantial value.”

92E Energy has also described the mineralisation on-site the Gemini project as shallow, indicating it could be relatively easy to access. Such a diagnosis bodes well for future capital expenditure requirements attached to any mining operation.

Location, location, location 

Gemini is located in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, a highly researched and well-understood uranium mining province. Uranium was first discovered there in the 1940s. 

According to Digigeodata, over 1bn pounds of uranium have come from the basin between 1939 and 2019. 

The same data highlights total known compliant proven & probable reserves of 674.5m pounds of uranium, still trapped underground. 

In 2013, the Athabasca Basin chipped in 1.5% of all uranium produced annually on earth, according to Visual Capitalist.

92E Energy has five projects in the Athabasca, but Gemini has been its main focus since at least May last year. The other projects are Tower, Clover, Cypress, and Powerline. 

Between June and August of 2021, the company conducted a drilling campaign on-site the Gemini project that intersected uranium mineralisation in 25% of targets.

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