Noronex launches maiden uranium drill test at Namibian hotspot

Noronex has wasted no time turning theory into action, with the company confirming a maiden reverse circulation drilling program is now underway at its Etango North uranium project in Namibia.

It is the first time the company has drilled specifically for uranium in the country and signals a big step up from desktop geology to dirt-under-the-fingernails exploration.

The program, which is being carried out by established Namibian contractor Ferrodrill, will test a suite of high-priority targets generated from detailed fieldwork undertaken in the past year.

Key targets include uranium-thorium anomalies outlined in a 2025 spectrometry survey, along with interpreted extensions of alaskite-hosted mineralisation pushing into Noronex’s tenure. Alaskite-hosted uranium deposits are Namibia’s claim to fame and they underpin some of the country’s biggest operations.

Recent interpretation has also highlighted favourable structural and stratigraphic settings, including domal closures and flat-lying alaskite sheets. Those features are considered prime traps for uranium mineralisation in the region.

Importantly, some of the initial targets sit in areas of shallow cover where mineralisation may be obscured at surface. That raises the tantalising possibility that previous explorers could have simply walked over something meaningful without realising it.

The combination of strong surface uranium anomalism, favourable geology and its location in a world-class uranium district makes Etango North a compelling opportunity for discovery.

Etango North lies about 32 kilometres east-northeast of Swakopmund and is parked in premium geological real estate, sitting on the same interpreted corridor that strings together Bannerman’s monster 207-million-pound Etango project and the producing Rössing and Husab uranium mines a further 36km to the northeast.

The giant Rössing uranium project is one of the biggest open-pit uranium mines in the world, estimated to have produced more than 140,000 tonnes of yellowcake from its beginning in 1976 until 2022.

The equally impressive Husab mine resource hosts more than 300,000 tons of uranium oxide and is expected to continue operating until 2044. It is the world’s second biggest mine by output and, in 2019, it accounted for 6 per cent of global uranium production.

Noronex’s project is structured as a joint venture with a local vendor, in which the company can earn up to an 80 per cent interest, giving it significant leverage to exploration success if drilling delivers the hoped-for results.

With the rods now turning and the first samples on their way to the lab shortly, Noronex is about to find out whether its carefully built geological case is founded on solid ground.

In a district that has already minted multiple uranium heavyweights, even a whiff of success at Etango North could quickly shift the company from hopeful explorer to serious new player in one of the globe’s most tightly held uranium neighbourhoods.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au