Introduction

In addition to its flagship Omahola Project and the Shiyela Iron Project, the Company’s EPLs also contain palaeochannel deposits and an extensive, highly prospective palaeochannel system over some 80 kilometres.

These palaeochannel deposits, made up of the Tubas, Tumas and Aussinanis deposits (see map and table below), have a combined JORC compliant resource of 126.7 Mt at 247 ppm U₃O₈ for 31,237 tonnes – 68.8 million pounds U₃O₈.
 

In addition to these existing JORC resources, the Tumas 3 – project area has a published exploration target range of 10 and 30 Mt at 300-400 ppm U₃O₈ at 200 ppm cut-off.  Tumas 3 extends over about 30 kilometres of the 80 kilometre system.

It is envisaged that these shallow resources will be mostly free digging with some drill and blast sections, allowing cost effective mining.  Ore would likely be treated in an alkali plant (as per Langer Heinrich).

The fine grained wind-blown sand deposit known as Tubas Red Sand (TRS), which is associated with the Tubas-Tumas palaeochannel, was recently subjected to hydrocyclone beneficiation testwork which successfully upgraded the uranium content of the sand by a factor of 6.9 with a 12% mass pull and 84% recovery, a significant boost to the economics of the deposit.  This process may have wider application across other deposits in the region, such as Aussinanis.

The current Tubas-Tumas Palaeochannel JORC Compliant resources total 93.2 Mt at 250 ppm U₃O₈ for 23,034 tonnes – 50.8 million pounds U₃O₈ (see Table).

The palaeochannel systems within RUN’s tenements, aggregate 80 kilometres of prospective channel with JORC Compliant Mineral Resources established at Tubas (2008), Tumas (2009 and 2010) and Aussinanis (2010) (see figure below).  RC drilling of the Tumas 3 sector of the palaeochannel over 30 kilometres on wide spaced regional lines outlined an exploration target in the  range of 10 to 30 million tonnes at a grade of 300 to 400 ppm U₃O₈ at 200 ppm cut-off.

These palaeochannel deposits contain secondary uranium mineralisation (carnotite) hosted predominantly by fluviatile sheetwash deposits with some deeper incised palaeochannel development.  It is envisaged that these shallow resources will be, for the most part, free digging with some drill and blast sections.  Ore would likely be treated in an alkali plant (as at Langer Heinrich).

Figure 2:  Digital Elevation Model overlain by U²/Th anomalies showing outline of JORC Compliant palaeochannel resources at Tubas, TRS, Tumas and Aussinanis.

The Tubas palaeochannel resource was originally drilled out by Anglo America in the 1980’s outlining a Non-JORC historic resource based on chemical assays.  In 2007 DYL commenced RC drilling over selected areas within the Anglo American drill grid.  DYL’s drilling duplicated early holes and allowed Geomine (Pty) Ltd (Namibia) to calculate a JORC Compliant Resource estimate for the Tubas block of 77.3 Mt at 228 ppm U₃O₈ for 17,620 tonnes (38.9 Mlbs) of U₃O₈ at 100 ppm U₃O₈ cut-off.

The TRS deposit occurs on the south boundary of the Anglo America resource block.  DYL is currently evaluating the potential for additional higher grade red sand deposits east of TRS within the Tubas Resource area.

In October 2010, Hellman & Schofield Pty Ltd (H&S) provided the Company with an updated JORC Compliant Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Tumas Zone 1 and 2 totalling 14.8 Mt at 366 ppm U₃O₈ for 5,414 tonnes or 11.9 Mlbs U₃O₈ at a cut-off grade of 200 ppm U₃O₈.

Tumas mineralisation occurs as secondary carnotite enrichment of a variably calcretised palaeochannel and sheetwash sediments and adjacent weathered bedrock. The mineralisation domains used for the current study were interpreted to capture continuous zones of mineralisation above 50 ppm U₃O₈.  The Tumas Zones 1 and 2 mineralisation included in current resource estimates has a combined strike length of approximately 16 kilometres with an average width of around 400 metres and extends to a maximum depth of 47 metres (see figure below).

The Tumas 3 drill data was also evaluated by H&S but due to broadly and irregularly spaced lines of drillholes, the mineralisation was determined to be too poorly defined for inclusion in the resource estimates.  However when combined with geophysical survey results, the drill results provide an indication of the orientation and extent of the mineralised zone.  Consequently a conceptual exploration target range for Tumas 3 has been estimated of 10 to 30 million tonnes at a grade of 300 to 400 ppm U₃O₈ at 200 ppm cut-off, although it is uncertain if future exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource over the entire Tumas 3 channel.

In November 2010 follow-up infill drilling at the Oryx Prospect in the Tumas 3 palaeochannel identified high-grade uranium mineralisation in the basement rocks beneath the palaeochannel;  mineralised Red Sand adjacent to the channel similar to the Tubas Red Sand (TRS) deposit material, as well as additional high-grade mineralisation within the palaeochannel,(ASX 13 December 2010) (see figure below).

Results included:

• High-grade basement-hosted secondary uranium mineralisation identified during follow-up RC drilling at the Tumas Zone 3 of the Tubas–Tumas palaeochannel with drillhole ORXR1 returning a mineralised intercept of:

• 47 metres at 830 ppm cU₃O₈ from 29 metres depth

• Reverse Circulation infill drilling around ORXR1 also identified Red Sand hosted mineralisation with drillhole ORXR37 intercepting:

• 8 metres at 516 ppm cU₃O₈ from 5 metres depth
• ORXR37 is located approximately 20 km east of the current Tubas Red Sand (TRS) deposit and demonstrates that mineralised Red Sand is not restricted to a single area of the palaeochannel

• Infill drilling within the palaeochannel also outlined additional high-grade mineralisation with selected intercepts of:

• 8 metres at 614 ppm cU₃O₈ from 7 metres
• 11 metres at 1,097 ppm cU₃O₈ from 5 metres
• 7 metres at 782 ppm cU₃O₈ from 3 metres

Reverse Circulation infill drilling around ORXR1 identified aeolian red sand hosted mineralisation with drillhole ORXR37 intercepting:

•  8 metres at 516 ppm cU₃O₈ from 5 metres

As can be seen from the photograph below, mineralised aeolian red sand from ORXR37 has very similar characteristics to the Tubas Red Sand (TRS) deposit which is part of the Omahola Project located 20 kilometres to the west.  The TRS deposit contains 13.9 million tonnes at 160 ppm U₃O₈ for 2,217 tonnes (4.9 million pounds) contained U₃O₈.  This new discovery, on the flank of the palaeochannel, is consistent with mineralisation at the TRS deposit and further confirms the possible extent of this unique style of uranium mineralisation over 10’s of kilometre of the main Tubas-Tumas palaeochannel system.
 

The red sand sample from 9 to 10 metres depth in ORXR37 assayed 249 ppm U₃O₈ and the TRS sample from 4 to 6 metres depth assayed 327 ppm U₃O₈.

The Aussinanis Project is located within EPL 3498 approximately 100 kilometres SSE of Swakopmund (See Figure).

In May 2010 Hellman & Schofield completed a Mineral Resource estimate for Aussinanis comprising Indicated and Inferred resources reported in accordance with the JORC Code for a total of 34.6 M tonnes at 237 ppm U₃O₈ for 8,203 tonnes (18.1 Mlb) U₃O₈ at cut-off grade of 150 ppm U₃O₈. 

The area has been rehabilitated and its future development is being discussed with interested parties.
 

The Aussinanis Deposit comprises a JORC Compliant Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 35 million tonnes at 237 ppm U₃O₈ for 8,203 tonnes (18.0 Mlb) U3O8 at cut-off grade of 150 ppm U₃O₈.

Mineralisation occurs as secondary carnotite enrichment of a variably calcretised palaeochannel and sheetwash sediments and adjacent weathered bedrock within a northeast trending zone approximately 29 kilometres in length (Figure 15).  The mineralisation commonly outcrops but is generally overlain by an average thickness 1.7 metres of poorly mineralised material.  The mineralised sand ranges in thickness from 1 to 19 metres and averages approximately 4.4 metres.

The deposit may be amenable to physical beneficiation by the same hydrocyclone system that was successfully tested on the TRS deposit.