Partial relinquishment report for EL 24040 Frances Creek North

Abstract

Territory Iron Limited (later Territory Resources Limited) applied for tenement EL 24040 on 23 September 2003. Following native title, landholder notification, and advertising, the tenement was granted on 19th August 2004 for a term of 6 years to 18 August 2010. Reductions for deferral were granted on 1 August 2006 and 6 September 2007. Application for deferral was again made on 19 August 2008, however deferral was not granted so on the 2 October 2008 38 out of 76 blocks were dropped reducing the area of the tenement from 213.5 km2 to 117.6 km2. The blocks relinquished in the 1st Area Reduction largely covered the granite intrusive of the Cullen Batholith. The sedimentary units of the Mount Partridge Group - the Mundogie Sandstone and Wildman Siltstone Formations were retained for further evaluation with respect to iron and tin / tantalum mineralisation. The blocks relinquished in the 2nd Area Reduction largely covered the footwall Mundogie Sandstone. This formation has no known iron occurrences, although it does host the historical tin mineralisation. 19 blocks were relinquished, with the land area reducing from 117.6 km2 to 62.1 km2. Relinquishing the non-iron hosting potential areas of the tenement is commensurate with the company's intention of having a core-iron ore focus. Activities undertaken by Territory Iron and Territory Resources Limited included: an aeromagnetic / radiometric survey, contracted to UTS Geophysics between 15 April and 2 May 2006. Survey lines were flown at a spacing of 50 metres and 25 metres above natural topography; a multispectral Hymapper survey was flown by Hyvista to identify spectral signatures of iron-bearing minerals over the Mount Partridge Group rocks underlying the tenement; a full literature search was conducted in the wet season of 2007 - 2008 to identify exploration targets; a number of field trips were conducted over the tenement, with some rock-chip sampling; all occurances of known iron and tin mineralisation were visited, and potential for along-strike continuations was assessed in the field. Outcrop mineralisation was found to comprise ferruginised quartz veining and iron mineralisation varying between weakly ferruginisation to stronger, but patchy, hematite mineralisation in shale/sandstone. Despite the geology and structural setting of this tenement being similar to that at Frances Creek the overall prospectivity appears lower. There is a lack of detrital iron and iron-rich soils derived from the host rock, and the host rock is relatively barren. The sedimentary rocks of the Wildman Formation are seen as being most prospective for iron mineralisation, whereas the granite, leuco-granite of the Cullen Batholith, and the footwall Mundogie Sandstone is seen as least prospective for mineralisation. As such, the tenement was reduced by relinquishing blocks that either entirely or partially covered these igneous rocks and the Mundogie Sandstone, while blocks covering the Wildman Formation were retained.