Final report for drilling programme, Buchanan - Chilling project EL 22738

Abstract

In June 2011 Crossland applied to the Northern Territory government for funding under the 'Drilling and Geophysics Collaborations Programme'. Funding totalling $100,000 was granted to assist in carrying out a diamond drilling programme on EL 22738. This amount is the maximum that can be applied for under the programme. The principal aims of the programme were: To enhance our knowledge of the geological framework, which will lead to firm concepts on the economic potential of the basin and adjacent areas, and the consequent discovery of an orebody; and to resolve both local and possibly regional geological and stratigraphic questions, which have arisen as a result of the findings to date. Ten holes were drilled for a total of 2,291.1 metres. A total of 148 drill core samples were collected for geochemistry. Wild Drilling Pty Ltd was contracted out of Tennant Creek, NT to complete the programme. Drilling was conducted from 4 September 2011 to demobilisation on 22 October 2011. Uranium and Base Metals are the target commodities. Geophysical data has shown a 'rim' of elevated U and Th counts around the basins margin within a brecciated ferruginous-silicified chert. Within this rim lies a surface-leached clay horizon with anomalous Cu and Zn amongst other elements. Related stratiform type mineralisation at the base of oxidation toward the centre of the structure was initially thought to be a feature we may intersect in diamond drilling. RAB drilling in conjunction with other exploration activities conducted between 2009 and 2011 were aimed at primarily identifying the chemistry and geology of the sub-basin margins and testing these rocks below the depth of weathering. Crossland selected four (4) specific drill holes for the collaborations report based primarily on meeting the criteria initially set out. These are: D003, D006, D007 and D009. Geologically, confirmation of a basinal structure was found with beds dipping to form a syncline. Antrim Plateau Volcanics (APV) lying at the base of the basin altered all previous ideas of age. It can be deduced that the Buchanan sub-basin is likely a geological 'extension' of the Daly River Basin, with a similar Cambrian Antrim Plateau-Mudstone-Carbonate suite of rocks sitting on much older Middle-Proterozoic Soldiers Creek Granite and Depot Creek Sandstone. This is in contrast to the previous 'inlier' model that had been proposed, with Lower-Proterozoic sediments within Middle-Proterozoic granites and sandstones.