Final and Annual report on EL 24549 Pine Creek NT for the period 23 September 2017 to 15 June 2018

Abstract

EL 24549 is located about 30 km NE of Pine Creek, Northern Territory. The Licence was granted on 23/09/2005 to Imperial Granite and Minerals Pty Ltd and was expected to expire on 22/09/2018. However, due to lack of mineral potential, the tenement was surrendered on 15 June 2018. Originally, It had 136 blocks and after successive reductions now the EL consists of 18 blocks. Element 92 Pty Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Thundelarra Limited) purchased the Licence from Atom Energy Limited/Excelsior Gold Limited in 2012. The project area is located within the central part of the Pine Creek Orogen (PCO) which is a tightly folded sequence of Paleoproterozoic rocks, 10km to 14km in thickness, laid down on a rifted granitic Archaean basement during the interval ~2.2-1.87Ga. In the project area, rocks of the Masson Formation, Mundogie Sandstone, Mount Bonnie Formation along with members of Cullen Batholith (Allamber Springs, Frances Creek, McCarthy's and Minglo granites) are exposed. During the Top End Orogeny (1870 - 1780 Ma), the sequence was tightly folded and pervasively altered with metamorphic grades averaging greenschist facies to phyllite. Exploration work undertaken by Thundelarra Limited/Element 92 during the reporting period consisted of comprehensive geological, structural and lithostratigraphic assessment of the previous data. This exercise downgraded the mineral potential of the project area. During the term of the License, the project area was explored by collecting and interpreting historical exploration data, which identified mineral potential for uranium, base metals and graphite mineralisation. The project area was explored by geological mapping, geochemical sampling, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, several campaigns of drilling, data processing and interpretation. In the final year of the tenure, assessment of the project area downgraded the potential for finding any economic size mineral deposit for mining. As a result, EL 24549 was surrendered on 15 June 2018. Rehabilitation was completed for previous and current drill holes. They were plugged and the drill pads and access roads (total approximate length of 1.7km) were ripped by a grader.