By: OrePulse

Atomic Eagle, an ASX-listed uranium developer, reported recoveries of 81% to 86% uranium in new metallurgical tests on core samples from Muntanga East, a recently identified deposit within its wholly owned Muntanga uranium project in Zambia.

The testing, which included bottle-roll and column-leach methods, was carried out on diamond drill core considered representative of the Muntanga East resource. Atomic Eagle said uranium extraction was substantially complete after about 20 days of leaching, while acid consumption during that period was low, at roughly 3 kilograms per tonne, well below the average recorded elsewhere across the broader Muntanga project.

The company said the results show that the favorable heap-leach metallurgy already seen at Muntanga's historical deposits extends to Muntanga East as well, adding to its confidence in the metallurgical performance of uranium mineralization across the district.

Atomic Eagle Chief Executive Officer Phil Hoskins said: "One of the defining strengths of the Muntanga project is its ability to achieve high uranium recoveries through simple heap leach processing with low reagent consumption. This allows lower grade uranium mineralisation to be mined and recovered economically."

"The combination of Muntanga East's shallow mineralisation, close proximity to the central resource area and favourable metallurgy provides confidence it will contribute towards enhancing the scale and economics of the Muntanga project," Hoskins said.

He added that the results of the Muntanga East metallurgical program would feed into technical studies already under way to support the project's continued development.

Atomic Eagle said the findings add to its understanding of the metallurgical characteristics of mineralization across the wider Muntanga trend and give it more confidence as it weighs incorporating Muntanga East into future mine-development planning.