Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE) first field recovery trial results at Samphire Uranium Project

Alligator Energy has reported first field recovery trial results from its Samphire Uranium Project in South Australia, with the company stating that the initial well pattern met or exceeded several assumptions outlined in its December 2023 Scoping Study.

The first well pattern has completed its planned recovery cycle, representing a key milestone in demonstrating in situ recovery performance under field conditions.

Alligator said the trial confirmed the technical viability of recovering uranium from the Samphire palaeochannel system using in situ recovery and will provide data to support future optimisation work and Bankable Feasibility Study inputs.

Highlights

• Uranium recovery reached ~70% within approximately 70 pore volume exchanges, achieving the company’s target.
• Extractor well pump testing confirmed flow rates in excess of 5 L/s.
• The pilot plant operated at approximately 2.8 L/s due to its design capacity of 3 L/s.
• Average uranium solution grade reached 115 mg/L U₃O₈, above the 110 ppm assumption used in the Scoping Study.
• Peak uranium concentration reached 250 mg/L U₃O₈ during the recovery phase.
• Ion exchange adsorption efficiency reached 98%.
• Sulfuric acid consumption was approximately 20kg per tonne of ore.

Hydraulic performance remained stable throughout the trial, with no material deviations in hydraulic behaviour, flow distribution or water balance observed.

The company said maintaining wellfield control is critical in in situ recovery operations to ensure containment of lixiviant within the mineralised zone and achieve consistent recovery performance.

Uranium bearing solution extracted from the well pattern met forecast modelled grades, delivering a sustained average pregnant lixiviant solution grade of 115 mg/L U₃O₈ during the recovery phase, which the company said was marginally higher than the assumption used in its Scoping Study, while peak concentration reached 250 mg/L U₃O₈ during recovery.

During the latter stages of leaching, calcium in the pregnant lixiviant solution exceeded saturation and precipitated as gypsum, resulting in minor scaling within some filters, which Alligator said was managed through periodic filter cleaning and standard process control measures.

On the processing side, the company reported ion exchange capture using chloride tolerant resin achieved adsorption efficiency of 98%.

Alligator also said uranium was successfully stripped from resin using a simple industry standard reagent mix, with upcoming laboratory work focused on refining the elution reagent mix to assess opportunities to reduce reagent consumption.

Alligator Energy CEO and Managing Director Andrea Marsland-Smith said the company was encouraged by the first test pattern results.

“Achieving our target of 70% recovery, in the time we had allocated to run the test is testament to the credible science behind our assumptions and the team’s operating experience.”

The second well pattern will commence in the coming week and is designed to test a lower grade and less permeable area at the margins of the mineralised system.

Alligator expects to report results from that program in the third quarter of calendar year 2026, with the data expected to inform future wellfield design, recovery modelling, processing plant design parameters and reagent management strategies.

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