Elkedra Project -

Elkedra Project

EL33756

The Elkedra Project area occupies an area of 566km in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. The region has a semi-arid, tropical climate with average rainfall of 350mm during the summer period from November to March. The exploration field season traditionally occurs from late March to mid-November.

A 400m line spaced airborne magnetics/radiometric survey completed by the NTGS (in 1999) has defined multiple uranium and Uranium/Thorium ratio anomalies which extend continuously over a strike length of approximately 8km.

The surface rocks comprise Cambrian grey black siltstones of the Arthur Creek Formation which are calcareous, carbonaceous, phosphatic and pyritic at depth. Andagera Formation quartz sandstones are also present within the Project area. The Cambrian sediments unconformably overlie early Proterozoic Hatches Creek Group rocks consisting of shallow water sandstones, siltstones and various thicknesses of felsic and mafic volcanics. The Hatches Creek Group was intruded by the Elkedra granite around 1660 Ma. The Elkedra granite is a medium to coarse grained biotite granite with minor tonalite. There is a ca 100m metamorphic aureole surrounding the granite, which is interpreted to be the source of anomalous uranium and thorium identified in the 1999 magnetic/radiometric survey. It is yet to be determined if the anomalous U/Thorium mineralisation occurs within the Cambrian sediments or within the unconformable interface between the Cambrian and early Proterozoic rocks.

Historical Exploration Summary

NTGS databases “Historical Mineral Titles” and “GEMIS” were interrogated to capture past exploration titles overlapping EL33756, and all relevant reports were reviewed. Where relevant, sample sites were digitised and assay results transcribed from older reports. There has been no historical field exploration over the anomalous uranium and Uranium/Thorium ratio area. Most of the historical work conducted within EL33756 was in the northern part of the tenement and focused on the outcropping Hatches Creek Group rocks.

Title & Final Year	Titleholder & Exploration work
AP2000 & AP2193 1971	Trans Pacific Petroleum & Vam. Targeting phosphate and turquoise in Cambrian sediments. Mapping and drilled 8 holes for only minor P intersections. Strong smell of natural gas issuing from two drill-holes.
EL4043 1989	Amoco. Explored for base metals and tungsten mostly north of EL33756. Mapping, sampling with emphasis on ‘Cobalt Bloom’ prospect 7km north of EL33756. Multielement assays of 6 rock chip and 2 stream sediment samples from EL33756 reported no anomalies. BHP JV collected samples for diamonds; all negative.
EL4603 1990	CRA Exploration. Diamond exploration. Only two stream sediment samples collected within EL33756; reported negative.
EL6258 1989	Rosequartz Mining. Explored around Tosca turquoise prospect for gold, base metals and turquoise. Six rock chip samples assayed for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn all returned no results of interest.
EL7036 1994	MIM. Targeted Hatches Ck Gp for gold. Collected 289 stream sediment samples over entire EL and analysed for 16 elements but results extremely low. MIM concluded there may have been significant dilution in the -80# fraction. Results should be disregarded. Completed mapping, sampling and 12 holes at ‘Cobalt Bloom’ 7km north of EL33756 but disappointing results suggest surface anomalism is manganese enrichment.
EL9709 2006	Arafura. Exploration for gold and Ni-PGE in Hatches Ck Gp. Collected 141 soil samples including 59 within EL33756 and assayed for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Co. No anomalous assays reported.
EL22505 2004	DeBeers. Diamond exploration. Flew 400m traverses to infill the NTGS Elkedra survey 400m aeromagnetic traverses. Drilling of 5 magnetic anomalies, all outside EL33756, revealed source is magnetic gravels in palaeochannels.
EL22541 2004	Elkedra. Diamond exploration. Interpretation of aeromagnetic data failed to define any anomalies of interest on EL33756.
EL25664 2014	Nupower. Search for unconformity uranium. Collected 23 stream sediment samples, all just to the northwest of EL33756, and assayed for Au, As, Be, Bi, Cd, Ce, Co, Cu, La, Mo, Pb, Sb, Sn, Ta, Te, Tl, U, V, W and Zn. Results for all elements are of low tenor.
EL24726, EL25185, EL27987, EL28402, EL28403 & EL29373 2017	Rum Jungle Resources. Exploration for phosphate in Cambrian Arthur Ck Fm. Reported Ammaroo phosphate deposit as “The current JORC 2012 resource for the main Ammaroo Project is over a billion tonnes at 14% P2O5 using a 10% cut-off”. No documentation to substantiate this resource has been reported. The deposit is located outside and to the west of EL33756. Within EL33756 drilled two holes with no significant P.
EL31211 2018	Peninsula Resources. Investigated historical prospects at Juggler and Trew Ck for granite/pegmatite related mineralisation. Assays of 26 rock samples reported anomalous W, Ta, Nb, Bi and Mo at Juggler; nothing at Trew Ck. Program ceased due to focus on kaolin project in SA.
EL32019 2019	Earth AI Operations Aust. Used ‘Proprietary Targeting Technology’ to create mineral prospectivity data. No fieldwork due to Covid issues.
EL33077 2024	RTE. Checked for pegmatite-hosted lithium. Could not access preferred sites. Multielement assays on 2 rock samples near Trew Ck had nothing of interest. Assays on one sample near Juggler had weak Sn-W-U.