EL 23516 Great Northern, Annual and final report, 4 April 2003 to 3 April 2013

Abstract

The tenement comprised 34 one minute square blocks enclosing an area of approximately 114 square kilometres, and was situated about 100km SE of Darwin and 40km ENE of Adelaide River township. The principal commodity sought was gold, which is widespread in this vicinity, and typically occurs associated with quartz saddle reefs and stockworks localised particularly along gently-plunging anticlinal fold closures in a host rock of low grade regionally metamorphosed (greenschist facies) greywackes and mudstones of the Palaeoproterozoic Burrell Creek Formation. Small deposits of this type were formerly worked in shallow pit and underground openings at the Star of the North, Great Northern and Great Western mines within or proximal to Tenement boundary. The only substantial orebody was the Goodall Mine, adjoining the southwest margin of the Tenement, where Western Mining produced 4095 kg of gold, from ore with a head grade of 1.99g/t Au between 1988 and 1993. During the first two years of the Licence the titleholders undertook evaluations of open file reports dealing with past mineral exploration within or nearby the EL area, photogeological mapping of the northeastern blocks (Star of the North area) and general prospection (including metal detection and panning) to assess the potential for detrital gold concentrations. An anticlinal axial trend, extending southwards from the Star of the North, was identified as worthy of more detailed ground mapping and prospection. In year three, through to the expiry of the title, exploration was carried out by Terra Gold Mining Ltd, GBS Gold Ltd and Element 92 Pty Ltd, under the terms of option agreements negotiated with the titleholders. Work conducted included detailed research of historical exploration activities within the Licence, and in surrounding areas, but no substantial field investigations were done. The extensive history of past exploration carried out within EL 23506, and more broadly in the surrounding field, which has been researched in detail during the term of the Licence, failed to find indications of substantial mineralisation of this style other than at Goodall. It may be concluded that the prospects for discovery of new orebodies of this nature within the area of EL 23516 are remote.