GR355 Partial relinquishment report for Brunchilly Phosphate Project period to 15 October 2018

Abstract

The Brunchilly Phosphate Project consists of three exploration licences, EL 30222, EL 30223 and EL 30224, approximately 90 km northeast of Tennant Creek at the nearest point and 240 km northeast of Tennant Creek at the northeastern-most corner. The project is targeting Cambrian sedimentary rock phosphate in the Georgina Basin. The three ELs have been progressively reduced from 250 blocks each at grant to 57, 13 and 30 blocks. This means that only 22.8%, 5.2% and 12% of the original grants; collectively less than one seventh of the project area; is now retained. Only desktop studies and assessment of previous work has been undertaken on the areas relinquished. There has been no on-ground work by Verdant Minerals or its precursor company. In Year 1, previous work by Rio Tinto, Vale, CSIRO, Minemakers, two studies by NTGS, and a Water Resources branch report were assessed. An in-house waterbore study was undertaken. Forty-two waterbores had sufficient information available to warrant data compilation and interpretation. The main objectives of this study were to identify the depth to prospective stratigraphy relative to basement and relative to the standing water level. The previous NTGS and CSIRO studies had been purely geochemical and ignored the possibility that any phosphate present might be below the watertable and therefore very difficult, if not impossible, to mine. None of the previous waterbore studies had taken much notice of the geology/lithologies described by the drillers or the stratigraphy assigned in other previous studies of waterbores. As a result of the in-house studies and an AAPA site search, two rounds of voluntary reductions were made in 2015. During 2016 and early 2017, a low environmental impact MMP for 50 drillholes was prepared and refined and then submitted to stakeholders in 2017. This was designed to definitively test the three ELs with a single pass of drilling. Unfortunately, all greenfields exploration funds had to be redirected to the company's flagship Ammaroo phosphate project. This was partly as a result of NT Government delays to, and extra work and expense required for, the Ammaroo EIS which has now taken over four and a half years from the NOI. In the light of escalating rents at Brunchilly and no available exploration funds, it was necessary to reduce the Brunchilly project to less than one seventh of its original size. The MMP that was awaiting stakeholder approval as of September 2018 has been withdrawn. The in-house waterbore study has been retained as commercial-in-confidence since it contains interpretations vectoring to the ground still retained. The raw data is already in the public domain.