Report on preliminary regional reconnaissance EL 5505 NT.

Abstract

The earliest investigations in the Davenport province were almost 100 years ago. Some mining of tungsten has been carried out to the north of EL 5505, but there has been very little of any mining activity within the Licence area. The Davenport province is in the Hatches Creek Group of the Proterozoic Tennant Creek Inlier. A thick sequence of sedimentary and volcanic rocks has been folded into regular series of anticlines and synclines, generally along axes trending northwesterly. Resistant units of quartzite form conspicuous ridges with valleys in the less resistant beds. Mineralisation is mainly as quartz veins with tungsten or gold. Zones of quartz veins occur in the Murray Downs Dome in arenites and in volcanic rocks. Analyses were made of 26 rock chip samples. A regional pan concentrate survey was conducted over the area and 38 samples were collected for analysis. Targets for further exploration are suggested from the work of the initial field season. They are: 1. Conduct a rock chip sampling programme in the Murray Downs Dome area. The residual soil should be sampled in and around the quartz veins. 2. Study eruptive centres in the volcanic rocks for possible epithermal gold. There are three felsic volcanic formations in the Licence area which have suffered some hydrothermal alteration, and it may be indicative of associated mineralisation. 3. Search for a gold-bearing reef in Elkedra Pound which was reported by Davidson in 1905. Study the fine-grained sediments of the Frew River Formation for possible base metals. 5. Conduct further pan concentrate sampling in selected areas of the Murray Downs Dome and around eruptive centres.