GTI Energy Ltd (ASX:GTR, OTC:GTRIF) has kicked off drilling activities at its 100%-owned Lo Herma ISR Uranium Project in Wyoming's renowned Powder River Basin.
The drilling campaign will employ mud rotary drilling techniques along with down hole gamma logging.
Extensive historical data paints picture
GTI Energy acquired a comprehensive historical data package in March 2023, estimated to be worth some $15 million. This package contains original drill data from the 1970s and 1980s from around 1,771 drill holes related to the Lo Herma region.
Among these, 1,391 original drill hole logs have been digitised for gamma count per second (CPS) data, subsequently converted to eU3O8% grades – 845 of these drill holes were strategically located within GTI's current land position and were used to formulate the mineral resource estimate (MRE).
GTI Energy had initially disclosed an exploration target for the Lo Herma project on April 4, 2023. On June 27, GTI secured an additional data package containing previously unavailable drill maps with geologically interpreted redox trends, which prompted an update of the conceptual exploration target.
The initial drilling program will consist of 26 holes, covering around 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) in total.
This campaign serves the dual purpose of confirming a subset of historical drill holes and exploring untested locations and depths. The expected average depth of drilling is 500 feet, with a maximum potential depth of 1,500 feet.
Some of the drill holes are strategically positioned to confirm the historical drilling data.
Additionally, efforts will be made to recover rock core samples from the mineralised zone for metallurgical testing.
Investors have welcomed the start of drilling with GTR shares up 25% in ASX trading to A$0.01.
Improved targets for future exploration
In addition to confirmation drilling, several drill holes have been strategically planned to assess the alteration conditions of the host sand units across the property and geologic strata.
This will aid in refining the locations of the projected REDOX trends and improving targets for future exploration.
These stratigraphic holes will investigate the deeper sand units of the Fort Union formation, which have historically been underexplored.
This initial drilling program is part of a larger permitted campaign totalling 68 holes, with the remaining campaign to be further refined and assessed for execution in 2024, subject to results.
This campaign marks an important milestone for GTI Energy, which is keen to validate and enhance the maiden JORC inferred resource of 5.7 million pounds of U3O8 at an average grade of 630 parts per million (ppm).
The drilling campaign also holds significant potential for exploring along the trend in the Wasatch Formation and delving into the deeper Fort Union Formation, which is around 10 miles west of Cameco's production facility at Smith Ranch-Highland and about 60 miles from UEC's Irigaray and Energy Fuels' Nichols Ranch.
About the Lo Herma Project
The Lo Herma ISR Uranium Project is in Converse County, within the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. It is about 15 miles north of the town of Glenrock and in close proximity to seven permitted ISR uranium production facilities.
These facilities include UEC's Willow Creek (Irigaray and Christensen Ranch) and Reno Creek ISR plants, Cameco's Smith Ranch-Highland ISR facilities, and Energy Fuels' Nichols Ranch ISR plant.
The Powder River Basin boasts an extensive history of ISR uranium production, housing numerous defined ISR uranium resources, central processing plants and satellite deposits.
It has been a cornerstone of Wyoming U3O8 production since the 1970s.