Final surrender report for EL 24602 Port Keats for period ending 8 October 2011

Abstract

EL 24602 is located on the Northern Territory?s west coast, approximately 200km southwest from Darwin and is being explored for salt. Previous exploration by various oil companies has defined diapiric structures, interpreted as salt domes (diapirs) and a target was identified to drill test. In 2009, the Traditional Owners and the NLC agreed in principle that, subject to the signing of a 'landuse' agreement and Mining Act approvals, Minemakers would be allowed to utilise a piece of land above the high water mark (outside of the boundary of EL 24602) as a temporary land base from which to drill a hole into EL 24602. Authorisation 0519-01 was granted by DRDPIFR on 28 August 2009 under section 35 of the Mining Management Act. In 2010, a review of historic seismic data and an airborne magnetic survey to test for a possible salt diapir were completed with a total of 474 line km flown at a line spacing of 200m. Geophysical interpretation suggested a salt dome with an apex of approximately 1km and diameter of 2.0 to 2.5km. The aeromagnetic data indicates that the apex of the salt dome is about 150 to 200m below the sea floor and extends to at least 800m depth. Water depth is only about 6m and the centre of the target is about 1km from land. An exploration target, based on these dimensions, is estimated at about 6Mt of salt per vertical metre of the dome. Minemakers endeavoured to undertake a marine drill test of the target using a jack-up rig or a drill rig on an anchored barge. This would have the advantage of allowing a vertical drill hole test. However, it was not possible to obtain a suitable platform prior to the on-set of the wet season and it also became apparent that the costs would be exorbitant due to Australian coastal shipping practices. It was then intended to drill test from onshore, but after assessment of the aeromagnetic data, the target size was smaller than what was originally envisaged. This would decrease the chance of successfully intersecting the target and it was decided to surrender the tenement.