Atomic Eagle Refines Uranium Drill Targets at Muntanga North with Ground Radiometric Survey
Atomic Eagle refines uranium drill targets at Muntanga North with ground surveys across five areas; drilling set to begin within weeks at the Zambia project.
- Atomic Eagle has completed more than half of a planned ground radiation survey at its Muntanga North exploration area in Zambia, confirming multiple zones of elevated radioactivity that align with historical survey data.
- The close-spaced survey has allowed the company to identify the most radioactively intense zones within broader anomalies, giving the exploration team clearer targets before committing to drilling.
- Just under half of all readings taken across the five surveyed areas exceeded background radiation levels, with a smaller proportion recording notably stronger responses.
- The anomalies sit along the same geological corridor that hosts the company's existing uranium deposits at Muntanga and Dibbwi East, strengthening the case that the new targets share similar mineralisation potential.
- Drilling of the first five target areas is expected to begin within weeks, while surveys over the remaining three target areas will continue through the middle of 2026.
- Separate drilling at the Chisebuka prospect is ongoing, and ground surveys at two additional prospect areas - Namakande 1 and Namakande 2 - are scheduled to begin in June 2026.
Company Overview
Atomic Eagle (ASX: AEU; OTCQX: GVXXF) is an ASX-listed uranium exploration and development company focused on Africa. Its flagship asset is the 100%-owned Muntanga Uranium Project in Zambia, a large-scale project spanning four mining licences and two exploration licences over a 146 kilometre stretch of ground adjacent to Lake Kariba. The project currently holds a total uranium resource of 58.8 million pounds of uranium oxide, split between a higher-confidence Measured and Indicated Resource of 40.0 million pounds and a lower-confidence Inferred Resource of 18.8 million pounds.
Survey Programme Surpasses Halfway Mark at Muntanga North
Atomic Eagle has completed close-spaced ground radiometric surveys across 5 of the 8 priority target areas at Muntanga North, the northern extension of its Muntanga Uranium Project in Zambia. The survey uses a handheld scintillometer to measure natural radiation at surface, recording results in counts per second (CPS). Higher CPS readings indicate elevated radioactivity in the underlying rocks that may reflect the presence of uranium mineralisation, though scintillometer data represents a first-pass indicator rather than a confirmed grade measurement - signals can also originate from naturally occurring thorium or potassium.
Across the 5 surveyed target areas, the programme has recorded 854 individual readings. Of those, 424 exceeded the background radiation threshold - the level at which a response is considered anomalous rather than baseline noise. A further 87 readings recorded notably stronger responses, identifying discrete higher-intensity zones within the broader anomaly envelopes. Individual anomalies extend up to approximately 4 kilometres in length across the surveyed targets.
The practical purpose of the survey is to sharpen the exploration team's targeting before committing to drill expenditure. Rather than advancing across the full extent of each anomaly, the company is using the surface data to concentrate drilling on the most radiometrically active zones within each system, reducing the risk of misallocating metres to lower-priority ground.
Anomaly Alignment With Existing Deposits Reinforces Geological Case
All 8 Muntanga North target areas sit between 15 and 25 kilometres along strike from the Muntanga and Dibbwi East deposits, which together form the foundation of the project's 58.8 million pound uranium oxide resource. Critically, the new targets are hosted within the same Escarpment Grit Formation - a unit within the Upper Karoo Basin that has proven to be the principal host rock for uranium mineralisation across the Muntanga project. The geological continuity between the new targets and the known deposits is a central part of management's rationale for advancing this extension.
The current survey results do not stand alone. They confirm and spatially refine historical airborne anomalies identified by New Resolution Geophysics in 2006, as well as soil and radon gas surveys conducted by Denison Mines between 2013 and 2015. The consistency between the new close-spaced ground data and those earlier datasets adds weight to the interpretation that the anomalies represent genuine geological targets rather than artefacts of survey methodology.
Chief Executive Officer Phil Hoskins described the alignment as geologically significant:
"We are encouraged by the initial results from ground radiometric surveys over the first five targets at Muntanga North. These anomalies occur along strike from the Company's existing resource areas and are hosted within the same favourable Escarpment Grit Formation."
Higher-Intensity Zone Identification Sharpens Drill Targeting
Beyond simple confirmation of the historical anomalies, the close-spaced survey has delivered a more granular outcome: the identification of higher-intensity zones within each broader anomaly, providing the exploration team with specific co-ordinates to prioritise when planning drill collars. This distinction between anomaly-level targeting and zone-level targeting is material to drilling efficiency.
Hoskins elaborated on the additional value the detailed surveys have delivered:
"The detailed ground surveys have not only confirmed the historical airborne anomalies in target areas 1 to 5 but, importantly, have helped identify the higher intensity zones within these systems. This provides greater confidence in prioritising drill targets as we prepare to commence drilling in the coming weeks."
One direct data point already exists for the Muntanga North system. Within target area 5, the Nabbanda prospect was drilled in 2024, with 5 holes completed. One hole returned 2 separate uranium intercepts, providing the only direct confirmation to date that the Muntanga North geological system is capable of hosting uranium mineralisation at grades warranting follow-up. The remaining 4 holes at Nabbanda returned no significant results - a standard outcome in early-stage exploration.
Next Steps
Drilling across Muntanga North target areas 1 to 5 is expected to commence within the coming weeks. Ground radiometric surveys over the remaining 3 target areas, targets 6 to 8, will continue through the second and third quarters of 2026, with results from those surveys expected to inform a further round of drill targeting.
At the Chisebuka prospect, which carries an Inferred Resource of 9.7 million pounds of uranium oxide within the broader Muntanga project, drilling is currently ongoing with the objective of extending recently defined higher-grade mineralisation.
Ground radiometric surveys at the Namakande 1 and Namakande 2 prospect areas are scheduled to commence in June 2026, with the purpose of identifying priority drill locations at those sites.
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