Final relinquishment report for EL 22101, 10 September 2002 to 9 September 2008

Abstract

This relinquishment report details exploration activity for diamond bearing kimberlite intrusives carried out by North Australian Diamonds Limited (NADL) and previous explorers on Exploration Licence EL 22101 for the period 10th September 2002 to 9th September 2007. The exploration licence is located on the Bauhinia Downs (SE53-03) 1:250,000 map sheet and the Glyde (6164) 1:100,000 sheet. Access to the licence is via a 64 kilometre formed gravel access track from the Carpentaria Highway to the Merlin Diamond Mine, the turn-off is approximately 6 kilometres south-west of the McArthur River Mine turn-off. The licence is located a further 15km north of Merlin and accessed via a minor vehicle track. The licence was granted to Ashton Mining (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) on 10th September 2002 for a period of six years and originally comprised 184 blocks for a total of 605.4km2. NADL acquired the licence from Rio Tinto in 2004. CRA Exploration Pty Ltd (Rio Tinto) and Ashton Mining have previously undertaken exploration in the area covered by the relinquished portion of EL 22101 during the 1980's and 1990's and their reconnaissance and infill sampling returned several diamond and indicator mineral occurrences that have not been followed up in detail. In addition, airborne geophysical surveys were completed by CRA in the mid 1980's that identified the two Emu kimberlites (northern most kimberlites of the Merlin field) to the south of the licence. NADL completed two stream sampling programs over the relinquished portion of the licence with the collection of seven stream gravel samples. All of these samples have been processed and returned negative results. This partial relinquishment report covers 98 blocks of the original 184 blocks.