Second Annual Report ML 29494 Malbunka Project 21 December 2013 to 20 December 2014

Abstract

Mining work at the mine site commenced on the 25 May 2014 and was completed on 25 July 2014. A fly camp was maintained on the old waste rock dump opposite the adit entrance to the mine for the period and was occupied 6 times for periods of 6 to 8 days. Four day breaks were taken in Alice Springs to replenish fuel, water and food, repair equipment, box potential mineral specimens for transport and recover from the stresses of manual labour. The core mine site activity in 2014 followed 2013 mining via the driving of two tunnels in mineralisation from either side of the exploration decline, parallel to the anticlinal axis i.e. one tunnel down dip parallel to the axis and a second up the anticlinal incline parallel to the anticlinal axis. Both these working faces were in mineralisation. One person was contracted for mine site work for two of the mining episodes. The narrower down dip drive face was advanced 1.5 metres in 2014 across a 2 metre working face (3 separate cuts-a cut comprises hammering out solid rock, remove waste rock, undercut mineralised area, sample specimens, remove more waste rock, then start next cut) and the up dip drive face 1 metre (2 separate cuts) across a 5.5 metre working face. A 3.1 metre cross cut at 90 degrees to the main up dip drive, took 6 cuts to complete. A total of 23M3 was mined consisting of waste rock and hanging wall kaolinite containing azurite. Research took an important step forward when the writer fortuitously linked up with Dr Barbara Dutrow at Tucson Arizona, USA, in February 2014. Dr Dutrow and others have published papers on the formation of authigenic tourmaline at temperatures less than 150 degrees C in diapiric salt domes (pdf papers attached to e mail with this report). This USA research has strengthened the argument based on field and fluid inclusion study (high boron in azurite inclusions) that the micro tourmalines in the matrix and the copper mineralisation are closely related. The hyper saline diapiric model for copper mineralisation in the Amadeus Basin starts to have substance. Dr Melchiorre of California State University is currently exploring analytical techniques to identify the ubiquitous micro tourmaline species found in the white and red kaolinite. He has made a submission to the University to fund 4 student workers to visit the mine to take detailed samples and carry out mapping etc with a view to advancing knowledge of the genesis of this unusual copper deposit. Reserve estimates have improved, increasing reserve estimation from 2 to 4-5 years. A new market in the natural pigment business has been found that purchases below specimen grade azurite, thereby assisting the economics of this borderline project.