Final report on EL 10228 for the period 20 July 2001 to 29 April 2010, Blueys Project

Abstract

Western Desert Resources Ltd (WDR) acquired this exploration licence from Tennant Creek Gold Pty Ltd in July 2007. The EL was granted on 20th July 2001 to Imperial Granite and Minerals Pty Ltd who sold it to Tennant Creek Gold Pty Ltd in January 2004. The tenement is located about 100km east-north-east of Alice Springs in the southern part of the Northern Territory. The EL is situated on pastoral leasehold land subject to a land claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act. The project area is located within the White Range Nappe at the eastern end of the Arltunga Nappe Complex. The Arltunga Nappe Complex, formed during the Early Carboniferous Alice Springs Orogeny (300-400Ma), and includes rocks of the Arunta Block and Amadeus Basin. Exploration activities during the early part of the tenements history was directed at the silver-copper-lead mineralisation at the Blueys prospect. These activities did not lead to an economic discovery. WDR flew two airborne surveys in 2007-2008. The airborne magnetic-radiometric survey outlined two significant thorium anomalies. The airborne SkyTEM survey delineated a number of anomalous ground conductors. Two diamond drillholes were completed in June 2008 to test two conductive zones from the airborne EM survey. Both holes intersected a similar pyritic, carbonaceous shale interval within the Bitter Springs Formation overlying the Heavitree Quartzite. These zones explained the EM conductors. The shale intervals were assayed for base metals with no anomalous results. Two significant thorium anomalies were outlined by the airborne radiometric survey. Rock chip sampling of granite gneiss, which outcrops in the area, showed that the anomalies are associated with sub-economic thorium and rare earth mineralisation.