Northern Luangwa Valley Project
The Northern Luangwa Valley project comprises two Prospecting Licences (Matonda and Mulipo) both of which are wholly owned by African Energy. A number of airborne radiometric surveys were flown over the projects in late 2006 and late 2007, and several uranium targets were identified. The Sitwe target has been evaluated as the most significant of these targets, comprising an 8km long, 0.5km wide uranium anomaly associated with Karoo aged sediments.
Field assessment of the Sitwe prospect commenced in late 2009 and included geological mapping and a programme of geochemical soil sampling over the primary target (400m x 50m sample spacing with analysis undertaken by a calibrated RS-125 hand-held spectrometer). Results from the soil sampling survey were very encouraging, with anomalous assay values highlighting an elongated zone of uranium anomalism corresponding to a siltstone unit within an interbedded siltstone-sandstone association, and with a peak value of 77 ppm eU3O8. The soil anomaly is parallel to the strike of the host sedimentary rocks. A number of outcropping siltstone units along this trend were also analysed with the hand-held spectrometer, which gave results up to 124 ppm eU3O8.
In June, a programme of trenching commenced across a number of sub-peaks of the anomaly to confirm its location, geometry and geological nature. A programme of reverse circulation (RC) percussion drilling to test the anomaly was due to start in the September quarter of 2010.