Cauldron’s Yanrey drilling opens a larger resource update

Yanrey drilling extends two uranium deposits

Cauldron Energy Limited (ASX:CXU) has finished the largest drilling campaign in its current exploration push, completing 100 air-core holes over 10,506 metres at the Yanrey Uranium Project in Western Australia. The 76-day program extended mineralisation at both Manyingee North and Manyingee South, with the company now working on an updated JORC Mineral Resource Estimate.

“Manyingee South Cumulative GT (ppm m) map.”

“Manyingee North showing completed drillhole locations and passive seismic survey interpreted depth to bedrock surface.”

Caption and image © Cauldron Energy Limited. From “Quarterly Activities/Appendix 5B Cash Flow Report”, 30 Oct 2026.

The most material expansion came at Manyingee North, where drilling traced mineralisation about 2,500 metres further north and another 550 metres south onto recently acquired ground. Cauldron said the work quadrupled the deposit’s strike length and showed a potential connection with Paladin Energy’s neighbouring Manyingee deposit. At Manyingee South, mineralisation was extended approximately 2,500 metres upstream to the southeast, beyond the boundary of the existing 2026 resource polygon.

“Manyingee North Cumulative GT (ppm m) map showing the continuation of the Manyingee redox-front.”

The results build on the completed Yanrey drilling campaign, which was previously reported as covering 10,506 metres across 100 holes. At Manyingee North, 36 of 42 holes intersected mineralisation above Cauldron’s stated threshold of 150 parts per million eU3O8 and at least 0.2 metres in thickness. The company described the mineralisation as remaining open in both directions, although the new drilling has not yet been incorporated into a revised resource estimate.

Resource growth remains unquantified

Cauldron’s defined Yanrey inventory currently stands at 55.6 million pounds of uranium oxide across Bennet Well, Manyingee South and Manyingee North. The latest drilling may add to that figure, but the scale and classification of any increase will depend on the resource modelling now under way. Existing Manyingee North and Manyingee South resources are classified as Inferred, while the broader Exploration Target remains conceptual and is not a Mineral Resource.

“Location of the Yanrey Uranium Project”

“Navoiyuran and MINGEO representatives on arrival at Perth International Airport with Cauldron CEO Jonathan Fisher.”

Caption and image © Cauldron Energy Limited. From “Quarterly Activities/Appendix 5B Cash Flow Report”, 30 Oct 2026.

The company also hosted senior representatives from Uzbekistan’s Navoiyuran and the Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology at Yanrey after the quarter ended. Cauldron said the visit was intended to advance the relationship following its March and April visit to Uzbekistan and represented a technical due diligence step as the parties work towards more formal and binding documentation. No binding agreement was disclosed.

Cash position brings a second test

Exploration momentum is being funded from a shrinking cash base. Cauldron ended September with $2.43 million in cash, down from approximately $3.68 million three months earlier, after spending $845,000 on exploration during the quarter. The drilling program accounted for $475,000 of that exploration expenditure, with passive seismic work costing a further $182,000.

Under its Appendix 5B calculation, the company had an estimated 1.94 quarters of funding available. Cauldron said the drilling program had ended by 19 September and that its cash forecast indicated roughly six months of operating funding remaining. It also said it would monitor capital markets and raise additional capital as required, subject to market conditions. That leaves the upcoming resource update carrying importance beyond geology: it arrives before the company’s current funding runway appears comfortably extended.

ETF flows and policy remain outside Cauldron’s control

Cauldron reported that ETFs collectively held about 170 million CXU shares, or 8.4% of issued capital, as at the report date, broadly down from 177 million shares at the end of June. The headline change masked substantial turnover: about 63 million shares were bought by ETFs including Global X funds, while HANetf and BETA reduced their holdings by roughly 79 million shares after changing investment parameters. The company had previously faced scrutiny over a sharp share-price fall and possible ETF selling, but the filing does not establish a direct cause for the quarter’s market performance.

Even a successful resource update would not remove the project’s central regulatory hurdle. Uranium mining remains banned in Western Australia, and Cauldron acknowledged there is no timetable for that policy to change. The next hard evidence will therefore come from the resource modelling, while the next financial question is whether Cauldron can reach that milestone without returning to shareholders for more capital.