Cauldron Energy still has Cosgrove seismic and drilling to deliver before the end of 2026

Cauldron Energy (ASX: CXU) has said Cosgrove is "a high priority target for passive seismic surveying and further drilling in 2026". That statement came in its half-year report on 27 February. The only timing given is the calendar year, so the work could fall anywhere up to 31 December. The inputs show no later update on Cosgrove.

Drilling already under way

The company's other main near-term item is its Yanrey drilling. Cauldron announced on 7 July that drilling had started. The plan was about 3,500 m of aircore drilling at Manyingee South and a further 5,000 m at Manyingee North. The stated window ran from 7 July to 5 October, which has now passed. The announcements do not say whether the full metreage was completed or whether the program has finished.

Results so far have been reported in a series of announcements:

• 22 July: first holes extended mineralisation to 4 km.
• 31 July: further high-grade mineralisation at Manyingee North.
• 2 September: mineralisation extended 2.5 km at Manyingee South.

Passive seismic results on 27 and 30 July also reported an expanded palaeochannel system at Manyingee.

What the company holds

Cauldron describes itself as an exploration company with uranium, nickel, copper, platinum group element and sand projects. Its uranium tenements at Yanrey cover about 1,250 km² in Western Australia's North Carnarvon Basin. They include the Bennet Well, Manyingee South and Manyingee North deposits. The project is prospective for sandstone-style uranium that could be mined by in-situ recovery. No valuation estimate for these assets is available in the inputs.

At 31 December 2025 the company had 2,036,977,030 shares on issue, 30 million options and 66 million performance rights. All vesting conditions on the performance rights had been met. The half-year loss was $1,654,836.

What is uncertain

The main uncertainty is policy. Western Australia has banned uranium mining since June 2017. The company's own report says its project is positioned to benefit "should" the state government lift that ban. Until then, the drilling is exploration only. Cosgrove's timing is also open, and the 5 October end of the Manyingee window has passed without a completion update in the inputs.