Annual and final report for EL 24741 Woodforde ending 19 April 2016

Abstract

This report documents exploration activities up to 18 April 2016 for Exploration Licence 24741 (Woodforde). EL 24741 was granted to Arafura Resources NL on 21 April 2006 and transferred to NuPower Resources Ltd on 14 March 2007 as a result of the demerger of Arafura's uranium assets into the newly formed company focussed on uranium. NuPower Resources changed its name to Central Australia Phosphate Limited on 5 February 2013 and was eventually taken over by Rum Jungle Resources Limited in late 2013. Arafura Resources entered into an agreement with Rum Jungle Resources in November 2013 as part of a complex transaction to reacquire the uranium exploration and development rights on EL 24741 and ultimately regained 100% control of the mineral rights and the tenement in February 2014. The licence area was originally selected by Arafura Resources because of the potential for secondary uranium mineralisation, derived from the erosion of adjacent uraniferous basement granites and gneisses, and hosted by Cainozoic basin sediments of the Ti-Tree Basin. The basement rocks in this area also have potential to host additional REE resources akin to the Nolans Bore deposit on the adjacent tenement. The southern NT forms a basin and range province in which Proterozoic and Palaeozoic rocks form prominent ranges separated by broad valleys in which at least twenty major Cainozoic sedimentary basins have developed. The Ti Tree Basin is one of these Cainozoic basins and underlies the northeastern part of EL 24741. The stratigraphy of these basins is generally poorly known due to a lack of outcrop, strong weathering overprints, the paucity of drill holes and a lack of attention paid to the cover overlying crystalline basement. Limited stratigraphic drilling by both the BMR and the NTGS during the 1960's and 1970's provides much of the regional stratigraphic information of the Cainozoic Basins. The maximum thickness of the Cainozoic sediments in the Ti-Tree Basin is not currently known. Exploration drill holes by NuPower locally failed to penetrate to basement in the deepest parts, after drilling through a 320m of sediment. Regional AEM surveys acquired by NuPower indicate that the Tertiary palaeodrainage system is far more extensive and better developed than previously thought and indicating that the Ti-Tree Basin infills a deep structural feature developed in two NW-SE trending grabens immediately to the northeast of the Ti-Tree Fault. Several major palaeochannels flow into the basin from the southwest, north and east. Twelve, broadly spaced, reconnaissance drill holes were completed on Woodforde during 2008 for a total of 2,919m, from which 1,459 samples were collected, of which 102 were sent for chemical assay. The drilling showed that the Tertiary palaeodrainage system on Woodforde is very well developed; reaching thicknesses in excess of 320m and NuPower has been able to establish a preliminary stratigraphic model for the Tertiary Ti-Tree Basin. One drill hole (WF004) intersected uranium mineralisation exceeding 0.01% eU3O8 and indications of anomalous gamma were detected in another six holes. Chemical assays of drill hole cuttings were very disappointing but not unexpected in view of the drilling and sampling methods employed. Composite samples from two drill holes downstream from the Nolans Bore deposit showed no evidence of secondary accumulations of uranium, thorium or rare earth elements. EL 24741 is underlain by rocks of the Arunta Region, a complex metamorphic basement inlier in central Australia that has undergone a prolonged history of sedimentation, magmatism and tectonism extending from the Palaeoproterozoic to the Palaeozoic that is subdivided into three, largely fault bounded terraines with distinct geological histories; namely the Aileron, Warumpi and Irindina Provinces. The basement geology of Woodforde comprises units of the Aileron Province consisting of greenschist to granulite facies metamorphic rocks with protolith ages in the range 1865-1710 Ma. NuPower conducted reconnaissance sampling for uranium mineralisation over the outcropping basement rocks using the NTGS regional geophysical data. Arafura's 2008 HyMap hyperspectral covered a small part of EL 24741 however all hyperspectral reconnaissance activities were focused on targets elsewhere. In 2008 and 2013, Arafura acquired multi-tenement detailed low-level airborne geophysical survey data over parts of EL 24741. Both surveys were acquired to better understand the basement geology and to guide regional exploration activities. Arafura merged its three detailed geophysical surveys in the Aileron-Reynolds project area and worked together with Southern Geoscience Consultants to produce a regional geological synthesis and interpretation specifically aimed at identifying REE exploration targets in areas of near surface basement. During 2014-16 these targets were investigated by the means of a biogeochemical sampling over covered targets, and field reconnaissance and inspection of outcropping targets. Three hundred and eleven biogeochemical samples were collected over 15 traverses across identified targets; of which 137 were subsequently selected for assaying. The assay results failed to identify anomalous Nolans Bore-type biogeochemical signatures or other metals of interest.