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(Alliance News) - Aura Energy PLC on Friday said that extensional drilling has begun at its Tiris uranium project in Mauritania, with further expansion of the project planned throughout the year.
The minerals company with projects in Mauritania and Sweden has commenced a 15,500 metre drilling program at the site in the Tiris Zemmour region in the north of the country.
The program, aimed at targeting 100,000 pounds of the U3O8 uranium compound, includes the drilling of seven exploration targets at the site's eastern section.
The company believes this has the potential to extend its existing mineral resource estimate for Tiris of 113 metric tons at an average grade of 236 parts per million of U308.
Since discovering the Tiris project, the company has completed 19,000 metres of drilling, and expects to complete the latest exploration project in February.
A feasibility study in March increased the total project's net present value "significantly", which Aura said reconfirmed Tiris as "one of the lowest capex, lowest operating cost uranium projects that remain undeveloped in the world".
Updated mineral resource estimates are anticipated in the first quarter of 2024, and the company believes success in this program "would elevate Tiris towards a globally significant uranium project".
In November, the company said that it is also preparing further exploration of the tenements surrounding Tiris and, subject to the granting of exploration licences, will begin to test these targets through 2024 and 2025.
Aura Energy Managing Director said: "Aura Energy is undertaking this program because we believe the Tiris uranium project can grow to represent a globally significant uranium province. The enhanced feasibility study illustrated that the simple mining method and beneficiation at Tiris deliver a huge economic advantage with a potential to scale U3O8 production beyond the currently planned production of 2 Mlbs U3O8 per annum."
Shares in Aura Energy were up 1.4% 14.20 pence each in London on Friday morning.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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