Final surrender report for EL 23395

Abstract

The Arunta Project is located approximately 250 km NNW of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The North Arunta Province is dominated by a series of sulphidic Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary sequences intruded by granite plutons and mafic sills. Quaternary and Tertiary cover conceals large areas of bedrock in the area however the region has seen exploration for a variety of commodities including gold, base metals, iron ore, uranium and diamonds. Work by Proto Resources & Investments Ltd on EL23395 has highlighted the prospectivity of 10 priority GEOTEM targets within the licence area. However, Proto is to surrender the licence due to financial considerations. The Arunta Province has been explored for gold, uranium, rare earths and base metals by various companies. The province is considered prospective for a number of base metal mineralisation styles from Proterozoic stratabound Cu-Pb-Zn to skarn-related Cu-Au and Pb-Zn- Cu and acid volcanic Cu-Pb-Zn. The province hosts a number of significant base metals deposits including; Jervois 6.1Mt @ 2.1% Cu, Prospect D 3.2Mt @ 0.6% Cu & 0.2% Ni, Oonagalabi 25Mt @ 0.5% Cu & 1% Zn and Home of Bullion 0.13Mt @ 7.1% Cu, 5% Zn & 2% Pb. The area also hosts a number of sub-economic occurrences of gold, tin, tungsten, tantalum, mica, nickel, chromite and semi-precious stones. In terms of the exploration within EL23395, Discovery Nickel Ltd acquired GEOTEM data over the southern portion of the licence area which defined 10 conductive targets during 2004. In the time since Proto acquired the Arunta Project from Discovery in late 2006 they have commissioned a full review of the GEOTEM data by GeoDiscovery Group which has confirmed the selection of 10 priority targets within the licence area. No ground work has as yet been completed on the licence. In the time since Proto acquired the Arunta Project from Discovery in late 2006 they have commissioned a full review of the 2004 GEOTEM data which has confirmed the selection of 10 priority targets within the licence area. No ground work has as yet been completed on the licence. Despite the selection of 10 GEOTEM targets for further work, Proto has decided to surrender EL23395 due to financial considerations.