Fifth Annual Technical Report GR276/18 incorporating EL 28346, EL 28346, EL 28871, EL 28891, EL 29033 and EL 30386 for the period 9 February 2017 to 8 February 2018

Abstract

Australian Ilmenite Resources Pty Ltd (AIR) is an independent ilmenite developer focused on the ilmenite and magnetite-bearing regolith derived from the weathering of dolerite sills in the Roper Gulf Shire. Its primary asset is the Roper Heavy Minerals Project (the 'Project') that straddles the Roper Highway about 120km east of Mataranka, and 475km south-east of Darwin, in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. The Project consists of 14 Exploration License Applications ('ELA'), 26 Exploration Licenses ('EL'), 2 Access Authority Applications (AAA), 1 Auxiliary Mining Lease Application (MLA),and 2 Mineral Leases ('ML'), covering a total area of 15063.69 square kilometers spanning the Roper River Basin. The two MLs, covering part of the SILL80 resource where trial mining and processing have been conducted, are located on Namul Namul Station immediately south of the Roper Highway. There are three reporting groups within the AIR's tenements portfolio: GR274, GR275 and GR276. GR276 lies in the western part of the Project area and is accessed by road from Darwin via the Stuart and Roper Highways a trip of 550km. This is the fifth GR276 Annual Group Technical Report that covers the activities for EL 28346, EL 28347, EL 28871, EL 28891, EL 29033 and EL 30386 for the period 9 February 2017 to 8 February 2018. EL 30386 is an addition to the group as it went from application to granted during the previous reporting period. The Project lies in Mesoproterozoic sediments of the Roper Group in the central-western Bauhinia Shelf of the McArthur Basin that has been previously been explored for heavy minerals, iron ore, base metals, uranium and diamonds. Sediments of the Maiwok Subgroup in the Project area have been extensively intruded by flat lying late Proterozoic sills of Derim Derim Dolerite containing minor amounts of primary accessory ilmenite, titanomagnetite and magnetite. During prolonged weathering these heavy minerals have been released from the dolerite sills as they become exposed. They are now concentrated at or near the surface within pisolitic, clay-rich ferruginous regolith and Black Soils in potentially economic concentrations. GR276 includes the Buka ilmenite resource on EL 29033, one of two defined resources in the Project. AIR has undertaken little recent exploration throughout the GR276 tenements compared with its predecessor ERD, and instead has focused expenditure on mining infrastructure, process plant and trial mining located within the 2 MLs surrounded by EL 28291. In early 2014 AIR received additional funding to undertake further exploration throughout AIRs tenements and in May 2014 AIR reaffirmed with DME its intention to rationalise its land holdings by prioritising areas for further exploration and relinquishing others. By late July 2014 AIR had undertaken a desktop analysis and commenced planning for reconnaissance field work on tenements of GR276. On 28th July 2014 Janna Robertson and Scott Kershaw of KordaMentha were appointed as Receivers and Managers of AIR ('the Receivers'). This placed the Regional Exploration and Resource Assessment Program and expenditure on hold although the Receivers continued to manage AIR on a business as usual basis and continue to liaise with the DME. Exploration was subsequently confined to office studies for GR276 that have continued during the current reporting period and are summarized in this report. AIR was purchased by MacMines in April 2016 and the company has concentrated its resources on refurbishing and recommissioning the heavy mineral wet plant on MLs27422 and 29042 and prioritised reconnaissance mapping and regolith sampling on the surrounding EL 28291 of GR275 in advance of more comprehensive resource definition work to develop additional economic ilmenite resources. Additional 5m resolution satellite imagery was purchased this period with the same acquisition date as for that area of EL 28291 purchased during the previous reporting period. It covers only EL 28347 and EL 28891 of GR276 and proves useful with geological interpretation and determining the extents of prospective dolerite regolith and alluvium. There was no on-ground exploration by AIR of GR276 tenements this reporting period. AIR has now expanded its exploration programs to include all commodities and although the conclusions and recommendations for exploration as proposed previously are essentially unchanged they have been updated to include this