Annual Report for the period 25 September 2015 to 24 September 2016 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 conducted a helicopter supported sampling programme collecting 93 samples in October 2013, results failed to delineate any substantial anomalism. Planning work for a ground based geophysical survey took place and a meeting with the NLC was held on the 16th of September granting permission to conduct the survey in October 2015. The access track into the tenement was re-graded and a single 2.5 km line of pole-dipole IP (induced polarisation) was conducted on a NNW trending lineament interpreted as a fault in the regional magnetic survey. A chargeable anomaly (6mV/V over approximately 500m) was identified on the southern portion of the IP line, interpreted as being minor sulphides hosted within basement below Cretaceous cover. An attempt was made to conduct follow up field work in 2016, however the trip was cancelled due to rain flooding Lamilami track and blocking access to the tenement in early October 2016. Recommendations are to follow up southern chargeable anomaly with wacker drilling (man portable sample system) in 2017. 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.