Annual report for EL 23570, for period 6 March 2005 to 5 March 2006

Abstract

This is the third annual report on AusQuest's Plenty River tenement, EL 23570. This tenement was acquired as part of a larger project, which was originally targeting Broken Hill Style lead-zinc-silver mineralisation within a major transcurrent fault corridor, extending WNW-ESE through the region. Recent NT Government aeromagnetic surveys, flown in 2001, 2002 and 2004, however, have highlighted the potential for kimberlite pipes in the general region, mainly to the north of EL 23570. Over the same period, work on isolated exposures to the east of the Harts Range by Maidment and the NTGS has indicated largely Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic rocks, with some Palaeoproterozoic rocks. No evidence of rocks around Broken Hill age (~1690 Ma) has been found, giving little encouragement for this style of lead-zinc-silver mineralisation. Whilst the prospectivity for Broken Hill Style lead-zinc-silver mineralisation in this area appears to be downgraded, the first field program exploring for diamonds on an adjoining AusQuest title to the north has yielded encouraging results. This program, conducted by joint venture partner Rio Tinto Exploration Limited (RTE), after the early lifting of a five year veto, found 4 microdiamonds at 3 dipolar anomaly sites (AusQuest Report to the Australian Stock Exchange, 14.3.06). With the lifting of the veto on the key northern tenements, accessed in late 2005, it is hoped that access along the Plenty River corridor can now be negotiated for EL 23570. Several dipolar anomalies are recognised in EL 23570, for which ground geophysical and loam sampling are planned for 2006.