Elevate Uranium has reported strong early performance from its Namibia pilot plant while expanding its uranium resource base to 172.8 million pounds attributable to the company. The next test is whether the final flotation stage and technical studies can convert processing gains into a credible development case.
- 88% ore mass rejection across U-pgrade stages one to four
- 79% uranium recovery into the final flotation feed
- 172.8 Mlb of attributable U3O8 resources at 30 June 2026
- A$28.8 million cash balance after a A$25 million placement
- Stage 5 results and Marenica Scoping Study still pending
Pilot plant clears the first processing hurdle
Elevate Uranium Limited (ASX:EL8) has reached an important, but still incomplete, processing milestone at Marenica in Namibia. Its U-pgrade™ pilot plant rejected 88% of the original ore mass across the first four stages while recovering 79% of the uranium into the feed for the final flotation stage. The process also lifted the feed grade from 89 ppm uranium to 590 ppm before that final concentration step.
The result is significant because U-pgrade™ is intended to reduce the amount of material sent to leaching and remove calcite from calcrete-hosted ore. Elevate says the resulting product is amenable to acid leaching at ambient temperature over roughly four to six hours, rather than the conventional alkaline route at above 92°C for 24 to 36 hours. Those are process claims from the company’s test work, not yet a completed project economics case. The earlier four-stage pilot results had already shown the 88% mass rejection and sevenfold grade uplift now incorporated into the annual report.
Stage 5 remains the decisive technical test
Uranium flotation, the fifth and final stage, was commissioned in August and was still being optimised at the reporting date. Historical bench-scale work produced a concentrate of approximately 5,000 ppm U3O8, but Elevate explicitly cautions that this figure has not yet been confirmed at pilot scale. The company’s own comparison also shows that most of the earlier bench-scale grade uplift came from Stage 5.
Elevate plans to move towards integrated steady-state operation across all five stages, test ore representative of Marenica’s higher 2026 resource grade, and use the resulting data to commence a Scoping Study in the first quarter of 2027. Testing of Koppies ore through the plant is also planned for that quarter. Until those results arrive, the most attractive processing claims remain promising operating data rather than evidence of commercial viability.
Resource base expands across Namibia and Australia
The company reported 172.8 million pounds of attributable U3O8 resources at 30 June 2026, comprising 115.8 Mlb in Namibia and 57.0 Mlb in Australia. Gross resources across the portfolio were stated at 181 Mlb in the chairman’s letter. Marenica stood at 52.8 Mlb at 180 ppm U3O8, while Koppies, including Hirabeb and Namib IV, reached 76.2 Mlb at 186 ppm.
The Marenica estimate followed 61,909 metres of drilling from 1,598 holes, while the broader Namibian program completed 75,781 metres across 2,090 holes. The resource growth gives Elevate more material to test, but much of Marenica remains Inferred and further drilling is planned to convert resources into the Indicated category. The earlier Marenica resource upgrade also formed part of the technical foundation for the pilot plant and planned study.
Cash funds the program, but losses remain substantial
Elevate finished the year with A$28.8 million in cash, up from A$21.7 million, after raising A$25 million through a placement and issuing shares as part consideration for the Napperby acquisition. Operating cash outflow increased to A$12.7 million, while the loss attributable to owners widened to A$15.4 million from A$12.3 million. Exploration and evaluation expenses rose to A$12.1 million.
The annual report says the company is likely to raise additional capital within the next 12 months if it maintains its current level of operational and development activity. That qualification matters: the cash balance provides room to advance the pilot plant and studies, but does not remove the funding question facing a pre-development uranium company.
Marenica ownership is still not fully consolidated
Elevate also reported that it had completed the purchase of a 10% interest in Marenica Minerals, taking its ownership of the Marenica project to 85% at the time of writing. A separate agreement to acquire the remaining 5% had been extended to 30 September 2026, with the transaction involving shares, cash and the proposed release of an existing A$3.425 million debt. The annual report does not record completion of that final step.
That leaves two near-term tests with different characters. Stage 5 and integrated pilot results will determine whether the U-pgrade™ flowsheet performs as hoped under continuous conditions; the Marenica Scoping Study will then have to translate those results into capital, operating and recovery assumptions. The resource is large enough to support ambition. The unanswered question is whether the process can make that ambition investable.
Bottom Line?
The next valuation-sensitive milestones are Stage 5 performance, integrated pilot data and the Marenica Scoping Study, all of which must arrive before the processing thesis can be tested economically.
Questions in the middle?
- Can Stage 5 reproduce the approximately 5,000 ppm U3O8 concentrate achieved in historical bench-scale work?
- What capital and operating assumptions will emerge from the Marenica Scoping Study?
- Will Elevate complete the remaining 5% Marenica acquisition while funding its planned exploration and development program?