Alligator Energy has successfully completed the Field Recovery Trial at its Samphire Uranium Project in South Australia, while new drilling has extended mineralisation 600 metres south of the Blackbush deposit.
Together, the results strengthen the technical foundations of the proposed in-situ recovery operation and open further room for resource growth ahead of the project’s Feasibility Study.
Samphire Passes Its Field Test
The trial was designed to show whether uranium could be dissolved underground, pumped to surface and captured through the proposed processing system.
Pattern 1 tested conditions representative of the main Blackbush areas targeted for future production.
It achieved approximately 70% uranium recovery after around 70 pore-volume exchanges, with an average recovered solution grade of 115mg/L U₃O₈ and peak flow rates of up to five litres per second.
The ion exchange circuit captured around 98% of the recovered uranium, while sulphuric acid consumption remained at ~20 kilograms per tonne of ore.
These results compared favourably with international ISR benchmarks and supported several assumptions used in Samphire’s 2023 Scoping Study.
Testing the Tougher Ground
Pattern 2 deliberately tested lower-grade, lower-flow and lower-permeability ground on the edge of the deposit.
Recovery reached approximately 17% after 15 pore-volume exchanges before the test was concluded, with the recovery curve tracking toward the modelled target of around 70% recovery at roughly 70 exchanges.
Ion exchange captured approximately 100% of the recovered uranium, while acid consumption remained near 20 kilograms per tonne.
The result showed that uranium could still be recovered under more challenging conditions without requiring a different processing route.
Gypsum scaling encountered during Pattern 1 was also controlled through standard chemistry management during Pattern 2.
Alligator CEO and Managing Director Andrea Marsland-Smith believes the results “reflect the considerable expertise, commitment and collaborative effort of our technical and operational teams, who have successfully delivered a complex program and generated high-quality data to support the next stage of Samphire’s development.”
Drilling Opens the Southern Corridor
While the technical case strengthens, drilling is expanding the resource opportunity.
Recent results extended uranium mineralisation around 600 metres south of Blackbush onto the recently accessed Mullaquana Crown Lease.
Figure 1: Samphire growth strategy showing mineral resource outlines for Blackbush and Plumbush.
Key intersections included:
- 3.2m @ 0.12% eU₃O₈ from 54.6m
- 5.0m @ 0.13% eU₃O₈ from 63.6m
- 2.4m @ 0.20% eU₃O₈ from 61.0m
- 4.3m @ 0.11% eU₃O₈ from 56.0m
The grades are equivalent uranium values derived from calibrated downhole gamma logging, rather than final chemical assays.
Figure 2: Recent drilling in the southern extension of Blackbush.
Plumbush Moves Forward
Infill drilling has also started at Plumbush for the first time since 2011.
The program will reduce drill spacing from approximately 200–400 metres to 25–50 metres, targeting an upgrade from Inferred to Indicated classification.
That could allow Plumbush to be considered for inclusion in the Feasibility Study while opening exploration across the underexplored five-kilometre Blackbush–Plumbush corridor.
A further 108 holes have been completed inside Blackbush, with results aligning with the current resource model and supporting future wellfield planning.
Drilling will continue through late Q4 2026, feeding into a resource update targeted for Q1 or Q2 2027 and the Feasibility Study due in mid-2027.
The mining method has now been tested in the field. The next step is proving just how large Samphire can become.
