Blue Sky Uranium will launch a new exploration program at Amarillo Grande, in Río Negro, with one of its main advances being the first drilling campaign at the Cuatro target, located within the property package surrounding the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit.
By Panorama Minero
The company, together with its Joint Venture operating company, Ivana Minerales S.A., has established a 12-month work program. The first six-month phase has already been approved and funded and will include drilling, surface exploration, geophysics and regional work aimed at advancing several areas of the project simultaneously.
The program will initially focus on three fronts: the first drilling at the Cuatro target; detailed work along five kilometres of the Ivana Corridor; and regional exploration at Don Javier, Toro, Bajo de Valcheta Oeste and Ivana Oeste.
The Cuatro Target Moves to Drilling
The Cuatro target will be the first of these areas to enter the drill-testing stage. Blue Sky has initially planned 23 reverse circulation (RC) holes, totaling approximately 500 metres, with an expected average depth of around 21 metres.
The drill hole locations were defined based on coincident radiometric anomalies, results from surface work, geological interpretation and hydrogeochemical data. Among the latter, the company reported a highly anomalous uranium concentration of 2,590 µg/L, accompanied by 191 µg/L of vanadium, in water obtained from a shallow, hand-dug local well.
The drilling will seek to determine the continuity and geological significance of these anomalies. The initial 500 metres will also serve as a first stage: depending on the results, Blue Sky is considering a second phase of approximately 30 additional holes totaling another 500 metres.
Five Kilometres Under Study Along the Ivana Corridor
The second exploration front will focus on the Ivana Corridor, an exploration trend approximately 11 kilometres long extending from the Ivana deposit through Ivana Gateway and continuing to Ivana Central. Of this total length, the new program will initially evaluate five kilometres considered a priority within Blue Sky’s redox-front uranium model for Amarillo Grande.
Work will begin with a pilot radon gas survey, involving approximately 12 to 18 stations initially distributed over a 200-by-200-metre grid.
If the methodology is validated, Blue Sky plans to extend DTPA coverage along the corridor and integrate it with approximately 10 kilometres of new induced polarization (IP) surveys, lead isotope sampling, geological information and results from previous drilling.
The integration of these datasets will seek to identify coherent anomalies that can define the next stages of work. A subsequent phase could include additional IP geophysics, shallow auger drilling and up to 1,500 metres of reverse circulation or combined RC/diamond drilling. This work will be subject to results and technical evaluation.
Previous Drilling at Ivana Gateway
The new program along the corridor also builds on previous work conducted at Ivana Gateway. There, diamond drilling identified reduced sandstone horizons associated with organic matter, pyrite, uranium geochemical anomalies and alteration related to the redox front.
During Phase 1, drill hole AGIG-007 intersected 3.4 metres averaging 272 ppm U₃O₈ from a depth of 54 metres. Phase 2 subsequently comprised six holes totaling 392 metres across the western portion of the target.
Within this second phase, AGIG-013 intersected 1.6 metres grading 36 ppm U₃O₈ from 19.5 metres and a further 2 metres grading 33 ppm from 45 metres. The remaining five holes did not return additional significant mineralization, although they completed the planned coverage and provided information to delineate the western extent of the system.
Exploration Extends Into New Areas
In parallel with Cuatro and the Ivana Corridor, the program will advance into greenfield exploration areas west of the deposit. Work will cover Don Javier, Toro, Bajo de Valcheta Oeste and Ivana Oeste, where Blue Sky will seek to improve geological understanding and generate new district-scale targets.
The announcement also includes results from the previous campaign at Ivana East. There, Blue Sky completed six diamond drill holes totaling 431 metres, but the drilling did not confirm the geological and geophysical model originally proposed for the target.
The holes intersected mainly fine-grained, clay-rich units attributed to the Gran Bajo del Gualicho Formation, with minor sandstone intervals. In the areas drilled, the favorable sandstone facies of the lower Chichinales Formation, which host uranium mineralization at Ivana, were not identified. Uranium and vanadium mineralization was discontinuous, and assay results remained below the company’s reporting threshold. Blue Sky indicated that future work at Ivana East will require a review of the geological model.
