Songea Coal Project (Uranex 100%)
Background
The Songea Exploration Area comprises an area of approximately 2,700km2 and is situated 140km northwest of the company’s Mkuju Project in southwest Tanzania. (Figure 1) The project licences cover a significant portion of the the highly prospective Karoo sediments within the Ruhuhu Basin and are being explored for both sedimentary uranium mineralisation and thermal or metallurgical coal deposits. Coal fields and coal resources have been identified and mapped by other companies in the basin and accordingly, the Uranex licences are considered highly prospective for additional significant deposits of thermal coal. Initial reconnaissance field work identified historical coal workings approximately 2km east of the Gumbiro South licence held by Uranex (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Songea Exploration Area
Figure 2: Coal outcrop east of the Lumecha Prospect
Recent Work
A new coal discovery at the Songea Project was made during the 2011 initial drilling programme; eight RC drillholes and one diamond drillhole were completed at the Lumecha Prospect. Coal was intersected in five of the holes. The diamond hole was drilled to verify and qualify the coal intercepted in one of the RC holes. Various horizons of coal were intersected approximately between 93m and 123m from surface by LCDD0001. See Figure 3 for an example of the coal intersected by diamond hole LCDD0001. The drillcore (coal and adjacent sandstones) was sampled and sent for specialist coal analysis at ALS in Australia; Uranex expects to receive the results during February. Drillholes were probed by downhole geophysical tools to aid in geological interpretation and delineation of the coal seams. Coal was noted visually within the RC drill cuttings.
Future Work
A comprehensive basin analysis, including analysis of the sub-basin that contains the Lumecha Prospect, will be completed during the beginning of the second quarter of 2012. Targeted field mapping will be carried out in support of the basin analysis. These activities will add to the foundation of information that subsequent drilling programmes at the Songea Project will be based upon. A plan for the second phase of drilling at Songea will be finalised during the second quarter of 2012, followed shortly after by the planned field activities.
Figure 3: Coal in drilling splits intersected by LCDD0001