Feasibility study for Inca underway

PERTH – ASX-listed uranium explorer Deep Yellow said on Friday that it would appoint a consultant to conduct a feasibility study on its Inca project in Namibia by the third quarter of 2010.

Company MD Leon Pretorius told the Africa Downunder conference, held in Perth, that drilling at the grid area of 300 m by 500 m was likely to be completed by October. The company reported that at 121 m, the Inca project had intersected 405 parts per million (ppm) of uranium oxide as well as 605 ppm, from a 50 m hole.Deep Yellow stated that these results confirmed that the Inca uraniferous magnetite discovery represented a significant new style of uranium mineralisation in the district south of the Rössing mine.Pretorius said that the company planned to mine between 8 000 t and 10 000 t of ore at the Inca project, and then further augment the ore with feed from the Red Sand project, to start a project of between 1 000 t/y and 1 500 t/y.He further noted that the Inca project was one of several look-alikes in the surrounding areas, which offered the company further drill opportunities.Deep Yellow has been spending about $1,5-million a year on drilling in Namibia, and Pretorius said that drilling at the Inca project was going slower than anticipated as a result of saline water in the ground.- miningweekly.com