Framed around one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the United States and aimed at supplying the technical data needed for an early-stage mine development study, Eagle Nuclear Energy Corp. plans to launch a 27,000-foot (8,230 meters) drill program this summer at its Aurora uranium project along the Oregon-Nevada border.
Eagle Nuclear Energy Corp.
Located roughly 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest of Boise, Idaho, in southeastern Oregon along the Nevada border, Aurora is an 11.5-square-mile uranium project that, according to the company, contains one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the U.S.
Rather than a new discovery, Aurora is a historically explored project with no past production, where drilling dating back to the 1970s has already established a substantial resource base.
According to the latest SK-1300 technical report, Aurora hosts 53.42 million metric tons of indicated material averaging 278 ppm or 0.0278% (32.75 million pounds) triuranium octoxide (U3O8); plus 8.96 million metric tons of inferred material, or about 9.9 million short tons, averaging 252 ppm or 0.0252% (4.98 million lb) U3O8.
Behind the project is Eagle Nuclear Energy, a next-generation nuclear energy company focused on combining domestic uranium exploration with small modular reactor technology in a strategy to establish a more vertically integrated U.S. nuclear platform anchored by both fuel supply and reactor development.
Signing an option agreement in November 2024 with Aurora Energy Metals Ltd. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Oregon Energy LLC, Eagle secured the exclusive right to acquire the company that holds the Aurora project.
Positioning itself as more than a uranium explorer, Eagle has been presenting Aurora as the resource base for a broader nuclear business model that, according to the company’s website, also includes two proprietary reactor concepts – the Eagle Very Small, Long-Life, Modular reactor (VSLLIM) and the Eagle Small, Long-Life, Modular reactor (SLLIM) – described as liquid-metal-cooled systems still in conceptual development.
Aimed at moving the project into a more advanced stage of evaluation, Eagle has plans for a summer program that will gather the technical data needed for a pre-feasibility study (PFS), including information for resource expansion and definition, resource classification enhancement, metallurgy and process design, pit engineering, and hydrogeological analysis, according to the company.
Scheduled to begin in early July, the program will consist of 47 diamond drill holes totaling 27,000 feet (8,230 meters), with every hole to be surveyed by gamma probe for detailed downhole radiometric logs in addition to chemical assays from drill core, according to the company.
Also planned are Acoustic Televiewer surveys in a select number of holes to provide structural geology data relevant to resource delineation and pit engineering, while six holes are designated to collect hydrogeological information, including groundwater elevation and flow rates.
“While each drill hole has been assigned a primary purpose, it has also been carefully crafted to concurrently fulfill additional secondary and tertiary goals, thereby limiting the size of the overall drill program without compromising on any of its objectives,” said Eagle Nuclear Vice President of Operations Vishal Gupta. “It was imperative for us to have an integral contribution to the planning process for this drill program from both BBA and SLR, since these two firms have been tasked to help Eagle take Aurora through to the PFS stage from a technical and a permitting perspective, respectively.”
Having already sent requests for proposals to numerous drilling contractors, Eagle said it expects the full program to take three to four months to complete using two to three drill rigs, with track-mounted units equipped with above-ground mud systems requested to avoid digging sumps and reduce overall surface disturbance.
Targeting completion in the second half of 2027, Eagle said the pre-feasibility study is slated to follow the planned summer drill program.