EL 24810 Plenty Highway Surrender report Year 4, 2 August 2008 to 15 July 2010

Abstract

The Plenty Highway Project is located in the Plenty River area about 125km northeast of Alice Springs. The project was formerly part of two contiguous tenements that covered approximately 1,200km2 of the Tertiary Waite and Huckitta Basins within the Proterozoic Arunta Block, which are prospective for palaeo drainage hosted uranium mineralisation. The Plenty Highway passes through the south of the Plenty Highway project area. The prospective areas within the tenement are topographically flat and are covered by scrub and grassland. The project area covers part of the Tertiary Waite and Huckitta Basins which are relatively shallow sedimentary basins; the central portions of which were probably lakes during most of the time of deposition of their sediments. The basins were fed from both the Harts Range metamorphic rocks in the south and by various channels that drain areas of Proterozoic granitic and metamorphic rocks to the north. The sedimentary sequence within the basin is dominated by clays and sandy clays, with lesser amounts of sands. Lignite and evaporite horizons are also present. The sediments were subject to slight uplift during the late Pliocene and the upper parts of the sequence have been eroded in part. The sequence is poorly known, with the approximate 1,200km2 of basin within the project areas having been tested by only about 15 drill-holes. Within the Plenty Highway tenement basement was reached in only one hole and the basin is known to be in excess of 200m vertical depth at it?s deepest point. Early stratigraphic information was obtained by the BMR, which drilled two holes into the basin during the 1960s. Alcoa explored the basins for uranium during 1979 and 1980. Alcoa drilled 71 holes to maximum depths of 200m for a total of 6,260 metres. Of these holes, six were drilled within the area of EL 24810 and a further six within that the adjacent tenement EL 25378. Significant uranium intersections were only achieved in four holes, drilled outside Hale Energy?s project areas. The best intersection, at a depth of 104m, was of 45ppm U3O8 within a reducing horizon of pyritic carbonaceous silt. A HoistEM survey was flown over the Plenty Highway tenement in late 2006. The HoistEM Data was modelled and interpreted by Dave McInnes of Montana GIS Pty Ltd and completed in April 2007. A drill program of 16 air core holes for 1,579m was completed in late August to early September 2007 by Hale Energy Limited. The most prospective area encountered was along the fence line between holes 07PHAC010 and 07PHAC012. Drill hole 07PHAC011 intersected a zone of quartz sand 8m thick (hole ended before the end of intersection) which exhibited some anomalous readings from the scintillometer. The HoistEM survey was a technical success and outlined several conductive shells in an extensive palaeo drainage system which is considered to be prospective for 'roll front' style uranium mineralisation. Drilling to date has not identified any economic uranium mineralisation however only limited coverage of the paleo drainage system has been completed due to budget limitations. Escalating costs of exploration in Central Australia together with a downgrading of prospectivity of the tenement and poor weather conditions during 2010 resulted in the remaining 117 blocks being surrendered on 15 July 2010.