EL 28547 Crown Creek Project Second annual and final report for year ending 18 August 2013

Abstract

EL 28547 Crown Creek Project, was granted to Arafura Resources Limited on the 19 August 2011. The tenement was acquired to test the prospectivity of the region for rare earth element (REE) mineralisation. The region neighbouring and including the Crown Creek project has been historically explored for uranium, tin, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, gold, base metals and diamonds; however few explorers have looked at the potential for REE mineralisation. The geology of the project area is dominated by outcrop or sub-crop of the Wangala Granite and associated pegmatites. This Palaeoproterozoic igneous body has been reported to contain phases enriched in light rare earth elements which are contained predominantly in the minerals monazite [(Ce,La,Nd,Th,Y)PO4] and allanite[(Ce,Ca,Y,La)2 (Al,Fe+3)3. It is also suspected that the mineral xenotime [Y(PO4)] could be present within pegmatites and alteration zones within the granite. This mineral is of significant interest as it is a heavy rare earth element (HREE) bearing mineral. The HREEs are currently highly sort after due to their rarity and high commodity value. Exploration on the Crown Creek project area was focused on identifying alluvial concentrations of the dense REE bearing minerals shed from the Wangala Granite and possible REE-bearing phases within the granite itself. First year investigations on EL 28547 were confined to a desktop study of historical data and compilation of a GIS. Second year investigations consisted of a field program which was conducted over eight days and comprised reconnaissance with minor rock chip sampling and a stream sediment sampling survey. This survey included collection of 32 -2mm, 2kg samples and 6 -2mm, 50kg samples, which were collected for heavy mineral concentration. All of the stream sediment samples were assayed for REEs along with a suite of other important elements and three of the heavy mineral concentrates were selected for QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) to identify the REE-bearing minerals. The assay results from the sampling program indicated the presence of REE-bearing minerals in both the stream sediment and rock chip samples, however not in economic concentrations. Hence, Arafura has surrendered EL 28547.