URU Metals Selects Drilling Contractor for South Africa Zeb Nickel Project

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, URU Metals announced that its South African subsidiary Lesego Platinum Uitloop has completed the tender process for the Zone 2 resource drilling program at the Zeb Nickel Project in Limpopo Province and has selected Zaaiman Exploration Drilling as the preferred drilling contractor. The two parties are currently finalizing the contract terms, and site mobilization will commence upon contract completion. The immediate objective of this drilling is to provide core data for establishing the first mineral resource estimate for the Zone 2 nickel-copper-platinum group metals mineralization.

This tender round was launched on September 8 and closed on September 18. URU Metals evaluated the bids based on drilling capability, safety record, compliance, total cost, rig availability, earliest possible spud date, credibility of the construction schedule, and South African B-BBEE qualifications. Zaaiman has previously carried out diamond drilling at the Zeb Nickel Project and already has experience with the local stratigraphic conditions, site access, and operational requirements.

This drilling program builds on the 3D geological model completed in early September. Atticus Geoscience had previously integrated historical and recent drill hole data, aeromagnetic surveys, gravity, SpectremPlus electromagnetic data, as well as ground FDEM and gravity surveys into a Leapfrog model, and based on this determined and ranked the next-stage drill hole locations. A relatively continuous high-grade mineralization domain has been identified in the southeastern part of Zone 2, with platinum group metals plus gold grades reaching up to approximately 6 g/t in existing drill holes; some historical drill holes in the central region did not penetrate the target Critical Zone, and there remain inadequately verified intervals.

According to the plan previously announced by URU Metals, the new drilling round will first infill the existing mineralized zone at Zone 2, then advance toward less-defined extension areas to verify orebody continuity and supplement the data required for resource calculation. Ground FDEM Target 1 is also planned to be tested in the early stage; this target corresponds to a distinct electromagnetic anomaly, gravity anomaly, and interpreted intrusive conduit structure, primarily to verify the possibility of semi-massive to massive nickel-copper-platinum group metals sulfide enrichment.

The Zeb Nickel Project is still at the resource exploration stage and has not yet established a formal mineral resource. Previously disclosed drill hole results show that multiple drill holes at Zone 2 have intersected nickel, copper, and platinum group metals mineralization, including some mineralized intervals ranging from several meters to tens of meters in thickness. The key milestones for the next stage are the completion of contract signing by both parties, rig mobilization, and the official commencement of resource drilling. URU Metals stated that it will provide a separate market update when drilling begins.