# AEU: Muntanga East Metallurgical Testwork

Canonical Atlas analysis: https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aeu-muntanga-east-metallurgical-testwork--f0169ac5-218c-490c-844d-e575664ed014

Original source: https://www.asx.com.au/asx/v2/statistics/displayAnnouncement.do?display=pdf&idsId=03148809

Publisher: asx

Original announcement: 2026-10-05T22:47:00.000Z

Analysis by Minestarters Atlas

Atlas analysis published: 2026-10-05T23:10:26.337Z

Atlas analysis updated: 2026-10-05T23:10:26.337Z

- Company: Atomic Eagle Limited

- Ticker: AEU

- Exchange: ASX

- Region: Zambia

- Primary commodity: Uranium

- Secondary commodities: None reported

- Document categories: Metallurgy

- Extracted: 2026-10-05 23:10:27 UTC

Narrative sentiment: 0.80 · Bullish

## Minestarters Atlas summary

Atomic Eagle has announced successful metallurgical testwork for the Muntanga East uranium deposit in Zambia. The results demonstrated strong uranium recoveries of 81-86% using heap leach methods with exceptionally low acid consumption.

Reasoning: The testwork confirms that the Muntanga East deposit is highly amenable to low-cost heap leach processing, which de-risks the metallurgical profile of the new discovery.

- Positive factor: Strong uranium recoveries \(81-86%\) via heap leach

- Positive factor: Exceptionally low acid consumption \(~3 kg/t\)

- Positive factor: Rapid leaching kinetics

- Positive factor: Favourable physical characteristics for heap leaching

- Positive factor: Replication of favourable metallurgy on new lower-grade deposit

Facts used in scoring: 4

## Classification and evidence

**High Recovery**

Polarity: positive

Definition: Recovery at or above the exceptional band for the commodity and processing route.

Why it applies: Uranium recoveries of 81-86% are strong for heap leach processing.

Evidence · text

> Leach tests achieved uranium recoveries of between ~81% and ~86%

**Heap Leach Route**

Polarity: neutral

Definition: Processing via heap leach — lower CAPEX and OPEX, lower recovery expected.

Why it applies: The testwork specifically evaluated suitability for heap leach processing.

Evidence · text

> designed to evaluate uranium extraction performance, acid consumption characteristics and the physical suitability of the material for heap leach processing.

**Multi-Domain Tested**

Polarity: positive

Definition: Variability across ore domains \(oxide, transition, fresh\) has been addressed.

Why it applies: 2 distinct composites were tested

## Extracted facts

Stored fact records: 4. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.

## Metallurgical Results (4)

### bottle roll

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aeu-muntanga-east-metallurgical-testwork--f0169ac5-218c-490c-844d-e575664ed014#fact-metallurgical-facts-0)

Muntanga Uranium Project · uranium

#### Identity

- Project: Muntanga Uranium Project
- Commodity: uranium
- Region: zambia
- Reported Region: Zambia
- Ticker: AEU

#### Test Work

- Program Status: detailed
- Test Type: bottle roll
- Processing Route: bottle roll leach
- Sample: ME1 bottle roll composite

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 85.9 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test
- Head Grade: 167
- Head Grade Unit: ppm U3O8

#### Reagents

- Acid: 3 kg/t

#### Lab

- Laboratory: Mintek
- Consultant: Dr Stefan Robertson

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: 85.9% recovery is strong for a heap leach route with very low acid consumption.

- Positive factor: High recovery

- Positive factor: Low acid consumption

Evidence · table

> 85.9%

Context: ~3

### bottle roll

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aeu-muntanga-east-metallurgical-testwork--f0169ac5-218c-490c-844d-e575664ed014#fact-metallurgical-facts-1)

Muntanga Uranium Project · uranium

#### Identity

- Project: Muntanga Uranium Project
- Commodity: uranium
- Region: zambia
- Reported Region: Zambia
- Ticker: AEU

#### Test Work

- Program Status: detailed
- Test Type: bottle roll
- Processing Route: bottle roll leach
- Sample: ME2 bottle roll composite

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 81.9 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test
- Head Grade: 167
- Head Grade Unit: ppm U3O8

#### Reagents

- Acid: 3 kg/t

#### Lab

- Laboratory: Mintek
- Consultant: Dr Stefan Robertson

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: 81.9% recovery is within the strong band for uranium heap leach.

- Positive factor: Solid recovery

- Positive factor: Low acid consumption

Evidence · table

> 81.9%

Context: ~3

### column leach

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aeu-muntanga-east-metallurgical-testwork--f0169ac5-218c-490c-844d-e575664ed014#fact-metallurgical-facts-2)

Muntanga Uranium Project · uranium

#### Identity

- Project: Muntanga Uranium Project
- Commodity: uranium
- Region: zambia
- Reported Region: Zambia
- Ticker: AEU

#### Test Work

- Program Status: detailed
- Test Type: column leach
- Processing Route: column leach
- Sample: ME1 column leach composite

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 81 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test
- Head Grade: 167
- Head Grade Unit: ppm U3O8

#### Reagents

- Acid: 7 kg/t

#### Lab

- Laboratory: Mintek
- Consultant: Dr Stefan Robertson

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: 81% recovery in a column leach is a strong result for heap leach suitability.

- Positive factor: Strong extraction under dynamic conditions

- Negative factor: Higher acid consumption in column vs bottle roll

Evidence · table

> 81.0%

Context: 7.0

#### Tags used in scoring

**Heap Leach Route**

Polarity: neutral

Definition: Processing via heap leach — lower CAPEX and OPEX, lower recovery expected.

Why it applies: processing\_route matches the heap\_leach signal

### column leach

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/aeu-muntanga-east-metallurgical-testwork--f0169ac5-218c-490c-844d-e575664ed014#fact-metallurgical-facts-3)

Muntanga Uranium Project · uranium

#### Identity

- Project: Muntanga Uranium Project
- Commodity: uranium
- Region: zambia
- Reported Region: Zambia
- Ticker: AEU

#### Test Work

- Program Status: detailed
- Test Type: column leach
- Processing Route: column leach
- Sample: ME2 column leach composite

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 80.8 %
- Recovery Basis: actual\_test
- Head Grade: 167
- Head Grade Unit: ppm U3O8

#### Reagents

- Acid: 7.6 kg/t

#### Lab

- Laboratory: Mintek
- Consultant: Dr Stefan Robertson

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: 80.8% recovery in a column leach is a strong result for heap leach suitability.

- Positive factor: Strong extraction under dynamic conditions

- Negative factor: Higher acid consumption in column vs bottle roll

Evidence · table

> 80.8%

Context: 7.6

#### Tags used in scoring

**Heap Leach Route**

Polarity: neutral

Definition: Processing via heap leach — lower CAPEX and OPEX, lower recovery expected.

Why it applies: processing\_route matches the heap\_leach signal

## How Atlas produces this analysis

Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.