Argentina's Amarillo Grande Launches 23-Hole, 500-Meter Drill Program

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Blue Sky Uranium is launching a new exploration campaign at its Amarillo Grande project in Río Negro Province, Argentina, with first-ever drilling at the Cuatro target, located within the claim package surrounding the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit.

Blue Sky Uranium and its joint-venture operating company, Ivana Minerales S.A., have developed a 12-month work program. The first six-month phase has been approved and funded, covering drilling, surface exploration, geophysics and regional work, with the goal of advancing multiple areas of the project in parallel.

The program initially focuses on three fronts: first-ever drilling at the Cuatro target; detailed work along a five-kilometer stretch of the Ivana corridor; and regional exploration at Don Javier, Toro, Bajo de Valcheta Oeste and Ivana Oeste.

Cuatro is the first of these areas to advance to drill testing. Blue Sky initially plans 23 reverse circulation (RC) holes totaling approximately 500 meters, with an expected average depth of about 21 meters. Drill hole locations were determined based on coincident radiometric anomalies, surface work results, geological interpretation and hydrogeochemical data.

On the hydrogeochemical data, the company reported uranium concentrations of up to 2,590 µg/L in a water sample from a shallow hand-dug local well — a notably strong anomaly — accompanied by 191 µg/L vanadium. The drilling will seek to determine the continuity and geological significance of these anomalies. The initial 500 meters constitutes Phase 1; depending on results, Blue Sky is considering a Phase 2 involving approximately 30 additional holes and a further 500 meters of drilling.

The second exploration front focuses on the Ivana corridor. This is an approximately 11-kilometer-long exploration trend extending from the Ivana deposit through Ivana Gateway and on to Ivana Central. The new program will initially assess five kilometers of it, considered a priority area within Blue Sky's redox-front uranium model for Amarillo Grande. Work begins with a pilot radon survey, initially with about 12 to 18 stations on a 200-meter by 200-meter grid.

If the method is validated, Blue Sky plans to extend DTPA coverage along the corridor and combine it with approximately 10 kilometers of new induced polarization (IP) surveys, lead isotope sampling, geological information and previous drilling results, integrating these datasets to identify consistent anomalies that will guide the next phase of work. Subsequent phases may include additional IP geophysical surveys, shallow auger drilling, and up to 1,500 meters of RC drilling or combined RC/diamond drilling, depending on results and technical assessment.

The new corridor program also builds on previous work at Ivana Gateway. There, diamond drilling identified reduced sandstone horizons associated with organic matter, pyrite, uranium geochemical anomalies and alteration related to a redox front. In Phase 1, hole AGIG-007 returned 3.4 meters averaging 272 ppm U₃O₈ from 54 meters depth. Phase 2 subsequently drilled six holes totaling 392 meters in the western part of the target.

In Phase 2, AGIG-013 returned 1.6 meters grading 36 ppm U₃O₈ from 19.5 meters, plus a further 2 meters grading 33 ppm from 45 meters. The remaining five holes returned no further significant mineralization but completed the planned coverage and provided information to define the western boundary of the system.

In parallel with Cuatro and the Ivana corridor, the program will advance to greenfield exploration areas west of the deposit, covering Don Javier, Toro, Bajo de Valcheta Oeste and Ivana Oeste, where Blue Sky will improve geological understanding and delineate new district-scale targets.

The announcement also includes results from previous exploration at Ivana East. Blue Sky completed six diamond holes there totaling 431 meters, but drilling failed to confirm the geological and geophysical model initially proposed for the target. The holes mainly intersected fine-grained, clay-rich units assigned to the Gran Bajo del Gualicho Formation, with minor sandstone intervals. Within the drilled area, no favorable lower Chichinales Formation sandstone facies — the host horizon for Ivana uranium mineralization — was identified. Uranium and vanadium mineralization was discontinuous, with assay results consistently below the company's reporting threshold. Blue Sky said future work at Ivana East will require a review of the geological model.