Annual Report for the period 25 September 2016 to 24 September 2017 EL 23971 Arrla Bay 4

Abstract

The EL 23971 tenement is located approximately 65 km northeast of Oenpelli in north-west Arnhem Land and is consequently processed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1975 (ALRA). The geology of the tenement area comprises Cretaceous sedimentary cover of the Bathurst Island Formation with outcropping Proterozoic Kombolgie Sandstone in the southern most corner of the tenement overlying the Nimbuwah Formation. The Arrla Bay region has been explored primarily for uranium. Historical exploration on the tenement has been undertaken by Union Carbide Exploration from 1970 to 1973 and PNC Exploration Australia and Cameco Australia from 1996 to 2004 on tenement EL 5891. RTX has explored the tenement since 2013 including a helicopter supported sampling programme in October 2013 and a single line of pole-dipole IP (induced polarisation) in October 2015. A chargeable anomaly was identified on the southern portion of the IP line, interpreted as being minor sulphides hosted within basement below Cretaceous cover. In the current reporting period, an attempt was made to conduct follow up fieldwork to investigate the chargeable anomaly, however the trip was cancelled due to rain flooding Lamilami track and blocking access to the tenement. In addition, 55% of the tenure was relinquished because it is not only less prospective (no known anomalism) but also less explorable (thicker cover). Recommendations are to follow up southern chargeable anomaly either with wacker drilling (man portable sample system) or execute a small RC programme without first preforming the wacker programme. This could occur if the small RC programme could be combined with a larger RC programme on other tenements in the area. The aim is to identify whether the source of the chargeability anomaly is either from buried Mamadewerre Sandstone which upgrades prospectivity by preserving the unconformity, or from granitic Nimbuwah basement which has less potential to host a uranium deposit.