- Uranium prices are up 58.9 per cent year on year (YoY)
- ASX uranium miners have been seeing share price increases
- Microcap explorer AuKing Mining has moved in line to expand uranium operations
- It mines for nuclear fuel in Tanzania, an East African country
- Shares were up a few per cent, trading at 5.9 cents at 1:12 pm AEDT
AuKing Mining (ASX:AKN) has announced it’s expanding its Tanzania-based Mkuju uranium project (MUP) as uranium prices rise.
The company has locked in three new mining licences to the east of its existing acreage in southern Tanzania.
In short, AuKing is gambling on a nearology win.
Its existing Mkuju acreage boasts radiometric anomalies which the company says are “comparable” to those on-site at a neighbouring project.
That project is the Russian-owned Nyota uranium project.
3,000tn/y production potential
According to Russian state-sponsored media outlet Sputnik Africa, Russian state-owned Rosatom – Russia’s state nuclear corporation – wants to begin a pilot processing run on Nyota ore in the next 2 years.
Nyota boasts a resource of some 152 million tonnes of ore and is set to produce five tonnes of yellowcake per year under pilot operations.
The full capacity for Rosatom’s project could reach 3000 tonnes annually.
Nyota was first developed in the early 2010’s by a formerly listed ASX company, Mantra Resources.
Once it completed feasibility studies in 2011, Russia’s ARMZ Uranium Holding – part of the Rosatom ecosystem – bought the play for $1.16 billion.
Mantra logged anomalies in a helicopter survey completed in mid-2007.
Nearology play
This same potential for geological riches is what AuKing Mining has its eyes on.
The three new licences AuKing Mining has picked up, the company says, also boast radiometric anomalies similar to that at its existing landholding.
Those licences cover 345 sq.km with anomalies appearing “similar” to those at Nyota, the company stated.
Management comment
“Initial exploration has established a strong correlation between historical radiometric anomalies and uranium mineralisation,” AuKing Mining reported today.
CEO Paul Williams clarified further.
“The radiometric anomalies in these new areas bear a striking resemblance to the radiometric high that sits over the world-class Nyota uranium deposit,” he said.
“Exploration and drilling in these new areas will be a focus of activities in the near term.”
Shares were up a few per cent, trading at 5.9 cents at 1:12 pm AEDT.