Annual report on EL 30672, Weedens Phosphate, 31 July 2015 to 30 July 2016

Abstract

EL 30672, Weedens, is held to explore for Cambrian rock phosphate. Fourteen percussion holes drilled in the 1990s for under-cover Tennant Creek IOCG penetrated potentially prospective Cambrian sedimentary rocks. None of these were tested for phosphate. The Cambrian section was at least 60 m thick. These holes, in conjunction with extrapolation from outcrop, and a waterbore study, confirm that suitable Cambrian host rocks are present under all of the application area. The ground has only been held once previously for phosphate exploration, by Vale from 2010 to 2012. They drilled only three holes to 59 m max, 5 km apart, within the greater embayment, but all south of this application. These holes spudded into mapped Gum Ridge Formation but intersected atypical lithologies including 25-35 m of sandstone, gravel and conglomerate overlying granite basement. This suggests that these holes were too close to the edge of the target formation or that the potentially phosphatic facies had been eroded. The area currently held as EL 30672 is considered more prospective. An AAPA Register Search and desktop studies, including the review of waterbore information, were undertaken in Year 1 prior to beginning negotiations for land access with the two pastoralists involved.