Alligator Energy dips on latest uranium drill results as NYMEX futures dip hurts too

Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE) has dipped -2.4% as the market absorbs its latest uranium drill hits while NYMEX uranium futures dipped -1.6% overnight.

The company on Thursday announced its geotechs have officially logged an extra 500m of strike length outside the boundaries of the existing Blackbush West target estimate.

In the western and southern ends of Blackbush West, the company sunk a total of 61 drillholes for 5.15km worth of core equivalent – counting back from mid-July. Results, Alligator reports, harmonise with its conceptual exploration target.

The foremost result highlighted was a 1.3m intersection from 62m depth at 1.94% uranium. But that’s an outlier results – all other grades were below 0.5% based on intersections no longer than 3m in width.

Other grades included 0.45%; 0.36%; and 0.23%. Results will be used to inform a JORC update in Q1 of next year based on data collected throughout CY24. Fresh drilling will also re-commence at the same time.

“The experienced roll-front mapping capabilities within our Samphire geological team continue to extend uranium mineralisation and are narrowing the search for other potentially economic roll front structures as we step-out further from the known resource at Blackbush,” Alligator CEO Greg Hall said, expanding on geotechnicalities.

But the news hasn’t been enough to excite shareholders. This continues a year-long trend for Alligator, which hasn’t been able to secure the benefits of the late 2023/early 2024 upswing in uranium prices.

Alligator’s one year returns are down nearly -30%. Not helping matters on Thursday is that – more than grades – Alligator is coming back to market with fairly irrelevant drill hits as far as wide intercepts go, needed to prove a substantial mineral deposit.

Of course, in the company’s defence, a -1.6% dip in uranium prices overnight as far as NYMEX futures go probably isn’t helping either.

That pressure comes from a revaluation of expectations for the market following Russia’s news last week it would ban enriched uranium exports to the US – duplicating extant legislation on the Washington side.

AGE last traded at 4.1cps.

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