Final Technical Report EL 30669 Ross River for the period 10 August 2015 to 09 August 2023

Abstract

This is the Final Technical Report for EL 30669; 'Ross River' which recently formed part of the Albarta South Project (GR361), originally comprising four exploration licences (EL 27707, EL 28136, EL 28940 and EL 30669), which were held 100% by DBL Blues Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of CXO. The project area is dominated by parts of the Aileron and Irindina Provinces as well as the Amadeus Basin. The basement in the area consists of sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Aileron Province of Palaeo-Proterozoic age (1865-1500 Ma). The rocks have been metamorphosed to upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies during the Strangways Orogeny (1740-1690 Ma). The tenement lies within a newly-recognised Proterozoic copper-gold province characterised by a long belt of structurally deformed granite and sedimentary sequences that contain variable amounts of quartz veining, strong iron and fluorite alteration and outcropping copper- silver- gold mineralisation. Mineralisation models discussed and explored for in the surrounding area by previous explorers includes Sedex-MVT Pb-Zn, sediment hosted copper (Nifty Cu deposit in Western Australia, the world-class Kupferschiefer and Zambian Cu-Co deposits) and unconformity uranium. Exploration work by previous explorers discovered significant silver (and base-metal) anomalism at Blueys / Inkheart on nearby EL 28136 hosted in Bitter Springs Formation and Heavitree Quartzite of the Amadeus Basin where it has been overthrust by basement. Although in more recent times the primary interest in EL 30669 was the pegmatite lithium potential, geological similarities between EL 30669 and nearby EL 28136 were recognised and the potential for base metals was also considered, however CXO's key objective throughout 2016-2022 was to make Darwin and CXO's Finniss Lithium Project near Darwin a central processing and global transport hub for NT lithium and spodumene production. No exploration activities were carried out on EL 30669 during the tenure period 2015-2023. EL 30669 was surrendered largely due to a substantial commitment of resources and funds by CXO further north to pursue development of its Finniss Lithium Project area and provide a pipeline of feeder deposits proximal to the Grants processing plant near Darwin. A desktop assessment of the Albarta South pegmatites suggested most are of the REE style and therefore have the potential for REE and U, rather than lithium. However, further field investigation would need to be completed to confirm this.