Annual report on EL 25689 Barkly Tablelands

Abstract

EL 25689 was granted to Tianda Resources (Australia) Pty Ltd on 23 August 2007 for a period of six years. Located on the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory, the geological setting is within the west of the Georgina Basin, containing Cambrian sediments of the Anthony Lagoon Beds. These are comprised of limestone, dolomite, chert and possible phosphorite and throughout the tenement subcrop Cainozoic pisolitic regolith and Quaternary alluvium. These marine sediments show radiometric anomalism and were considered prospective phosphate deposits similar to the Duchess deposit in western Queensland. The tenement was reconnoitred in mid-July 2008, visiting flight line anomalies identified from airborne radiometric survey data. These were found to be in dense scrub over a pisolitic loam, with only rare indications of marine sediments being found. The anomalies were walked with an Exploranium GR-135 Plus gamma ray spectrometer, used to determine concentrations of the radioactive elements at high points. The highest count rates were often observed in areas of pisolitic lag that had little or no vegetation. One rock sample and thirty-two soil samples were taken along traverses through the anomalies and submitted for ICP-MS multielement assay. The ICP-MS results for the soils were disappointing, with uranium less than 1ppm, thorium in the range 2 - 5ppm and phosphorus 100 - 200ppm.