Eagle to begin investigative drilling at Oregon uranium site this summer
Nevada-based Eagle Nuclear Energy said it will conduct a 27,000-foot investigative drill program at its flagship Aurora Uranium Project along the Oregon–Nevada border beginning in July.
According to Eagle, the undeveloped Aurora site is the largest conventional, measured, and indicated uranium deposit in the United States, holding 32.75 million pounds of indicated and 4.98 million pounds of inferred near-surface U3O8.
Eagle is designing the drill program to fill data gaps ahead of a prefeasibility study of the undeveloped uranium deposit. A total of 47 diamond drill holes, totaling 27,000 feet of drilling, will be conducted at the site using up to three drill rigs.
The company said it expects to complete the drill program in three to four months, with the prefeasibility study being completed by the second half of 2027.
Objectives: The drill program, which Eagle first announced on April 1, has been formulated to achieve the following objectives:
Resource expansion and definition.
Resource classification enhancement.
Advanced metallurgy and process flow-sheet design.
Rock mechanics and geotechnical analysis for pit engineering.
Hydrogeological analysis.
Eagle said that every drill hole will be surveyed by a gamma probe to get a detailed downhole radiometric log in addition to chemical assays from the drill core itself. A few specific drill holes have also been earmarked for an acoustic televiewer survey to provide structural geology information relevant to resource delineation and advanced pit engineering. Six of the 47 drill holes have been designated to provide hydrogeological data for the deposit, including information on groundwater elevation and flowrates.
“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 Vishal Gupta, Eagle’s vice president of operations.
Current progress: Eagle signed a drilling services agreement earlier this month with Harris Exploration Drilling & Associates, also based in Nevada, to complete the drill program. At the same time, the company submitted permit applications with the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries for permit approval of the drill program.
The company: Eagle, which went public in February after Eagle Energy Metals and Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. II completed a business combination to form Eagle Nuclear Energy, acquired the Aurora Uranium Project site from Aurora Energy Metals in 2024. The project includes the Aurora deposit and an adjacent deposit, called Cordex, which the company said offers the potential for significant additional uranium inventory.
Billing itself as a “next-generation nuclear energy company that combines domestic uranium exploration with exclusive small modular reactor technology,” the company is developing a 3.3-MWe liquid metal–cooled reactor it calls the very small, long-life modular (VSLLIM) reactor. The Eagle VSLLIM reactor is designed to be factory assembled and capable of being shipped by truck.
