Uranium explorer Forte Energy (LON:FTE, ASX:FTE) expects to announce assays from drilling at its A238 prospect in Mauritania in the first quarter of 2013.
The drill programme was started in November last year and ran to December 14 with 28 holes sunk for 4,115 metres and final work programme plans will be finalised following a review of the results, the firm said in a quarterly update.
The A238 programme is "key" to the firm's wider goal of building up the firm's overall resource base to more than 50 million pounds (it currently stands at 45 million pounds of contained uranium), it has said.
Earlier this month, the firm, which halted trading on ASX at the beginning of this month, agreed a £10mln equity financing facility with Darwin Strategic, providing it with access to what it called efficient, cost effective financing, as needed.
It also revealed that talks were still ongoing over a potential major deal and today it disclosed that negotiations were continuing on this front.
"The company expects that it will be in a position to fully inform the market and resume trading on ASX shortly," it said.
The firm ended the quarter to December 31 last year with A$489,000 in cash.
Forte has a portfolio of uranium projects in the Republic of Guinea and Mauritania.