The Project, consisting of five leases, is located 43 km south east of Meekatharra and is accessible from the Great Northern Highway.
The geological setting is an extensive anorthositic gabbro that is known to strike north west along the 12.2 km strike length of the tenements. The gabbro hosts a series of titaniferous magnetite bands and these are the main focus for vanadium mineralisation.
Modern exploration of the region began in the 1960s when Mangore Pty Ltd sampled and drilled some of the outcropping vanadiferous magnetite in the northern tenements. Consistent grades of 1.2 to 1.3% V2O5 over widths of 6 to 25 metres were obtained while some holes drilled to a depth of 70 metres were still in ore.
Eventually Greater Pacific Gold Ltd re-assessed the previous data and in 2000 completed a successful drilling program allowing the declaration of a JORC standard Indicated Mineral Resource:
OXIDISED 20,638,000 tonnes @ 0.49% V2O5 and 06.62% TiO2
UNOXIDISED 17,021,000 tonnes @ 1.05% V2O5 and 12.25% TiO2
TOTAL 37,659,000 MT @ 0.75% V2O5 and 8.89% TiO2
It must be noted that the above Resource was measured across 8 km of the 12.2 km strike length and drilled to a vertical depth of 50 metres. A full evaluation of mineralisation across the entire width of the leases and drilling to a depth of 150 metres has the potential to increase the resource tonnage by more than a factor of 3. Compared to other Australian vanadium deposits Gabanintha, at present, contains the second highest grade of 0.75% V2O5.
The Indicated Mineral Resource table shows the Unoxidised ore has the higher average value of 1.05% and all ore below the 50-metre mark falls into this category. When the full evaluation of the Project is completed and drilled to the depth of 150 metres, a re-stated JORC resource would indicate a higher vanadium percentage. This figure has the potential to make the Gabanintha Project the richest vanadium resource in Australia.
The Company geologist believes there is an excellent chance that gold,
base metals or Platinum Group Metals could also occur within this complex
Archaean sequence.
The Gabanintha Project is situated 43 kilometres south east of Meekatharra and is accessible from the Great Northern Highway. The five granted tenements cover an area of 58 km²and host a strike length 12.2 km of Archaean mafics, ultramafics and intermediate rocks.
The area is prospective for uranium as well as gold and base metals. The nearby occurrences of uranium found at Kelly Bore, Quinn’s Lake and Cogla Downs are all within 40 km of the tenure while the giant Yeelirrie uranium deposit lies 100 km to the east. The nearest source of uranium mineralisation is a JORC standard deposit on the YRR tenement at Nowthanna, 5 kilometres to the south.
Information available from Government surveys shows the regional total count radiometrics confirm the presence of high-response Palaeo-drainages in the area. These Palaeo-channels return a good enough signal to suggest that significant uranium source rocks are present.
Uranium exploration commenced in this area in the 1970s with WMC being the most active explorer. It discovered the world’s first uranium calcrete-hosted style deposit at Nowthanna as well as several other uranium occurrences culminating with the world’s largest calcrete-hosted deposit at Yeelirrie. These WMC leases, now controlled by BHP, hold an estimated 51,000 tonnes of contained U3O8. Concerns at the time about the future of the uranium industry caused WMC to withdraw from further uranium exploration in the region.
Recently the spiralling rises of the uranium oxide spot price reached USD 120 per pound in May 2007. Coupled with a growing demand for the clean electrical energy that nuclear power provides, the future of uranium exploration is assured.
The exploration potential of the leases for uranium is considered high because:
The Nowthanna lease is located 47 km south east of Meekatharra and is accessible from the Great Northern Highway.
The tenement covers a portion of the calcrete Palaeo-channel near the Quinn’s Lake inland drainage. The predominant minerals are developed from extensive weathering and leaching of uranium-bearing domes and nearby Archaean mafic and ultramafic rocks that are high in vanadium.
The uranium exploration era began in the 1970s when WMC, Union Miniere, BHP and Rio Tinto became active across the Sandstone to Wiluna region.
The WMC uranium discovery at Nowthanna was the first calcrete-hosted style
deposit found in the world. Later WMC found the massive resource, hosted
in a similar style, at Yeelirrie. These leases hold an estimated 51,000
tonnes of contained U3O8.
In the late 1990s Acclaim Uranium NL actively explored the Nowthanna area
and defined a JORC standard resource on the current YRR lease. The resource
measured 3,289 contained tonnes of U3O8 from 7,309,450 tonnes of ore at
0,450 kg/t.
The exploration potential to find further uranium on the lease is high because:
This project is located 100 km east of Darwin and the granted tenement covers an area of 1123 km².
The lease is situated on the Pine Creek Geosyncline, which is recognized as a major uranium and gold province. Geologically, these areas are identified as suitable to host unconformity and vein-style uranium deposits similar to the mineralisation type found further east in the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field (ARUF).
Yellow Rock Resources Ltd has decided the initial exploration focus will be on the southeastern corner as a comprehensive geological review of historical data had identified several uranium targets around Jimmy Creek.
The results from the May – June field work showed five significant uranium anomalies were initially identified at Money Shoal in the Jimmy Creek area. They are distributed along a strike-length of 10 km in a NNE trend. Further ground-work also identified a separate large uranium anomaly 5 km north east of the five previously plotted.
The Company Geologist, Mr. Brian Davis, has now completed a field map setting
out the RAB drill program locations for the 169 vertical holes to be drilled
across the designated area.
This Project is located 120 km south east of Darwin and the granted tenement covers an area of 471 km².
The lease is situated on the Pine Creek Geosyncline, which is recognized as a major uranium and gold province. Geologically, these areas are identified as suitable to host unconformity and vein-style uranium deposits similar to the mineralisation type found further east in the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field (ARUF).
NTGS open data and TMI images illustrate the excellent potential of the Pine Creek Mineral Field. This prospectivity has been confirmed by substantial uranium and gold discoveries in areas close to Douglas Range.
Located 40 km to the south west is the South Alligator Valley Uranium Field, one of the richest uranium mining areas ever found in Australia. The initial discovery of this Field was made in 1953 and by the time the Valley had been worked out in 1965, more than 12 individual mines had been operating.
Three specialist uranium companies are exploring the area 20 km south west of Douglas Range. One has a small historical uranium deposit that is being tested for extensions to the mineralisation. Another company has found a significant uranium occurrence, which is being subjected to further drilling.
In the Douglas Range area uranium can be expected to be associated with Tertiary-Proterozoic unconformity, major Palaeo-drainages, deep-seated basement fault structures and in traps within the Proterozoic and Tertiary sediment sequences.
The tenements are located 200 km east of Meekatharra and are positioned centrally within the Yilgarn Uranium Region. They are 50 km north of Yeelirrie and are strategically located either side of the substantial Redport/Mega uranium deposit at Lake Maitland.
Exploration History
In the 1970s Western Mining Corporation carried out extensive exploration
for uranium across a large part of the northern Yilgarn region. They established
several zones of carnotite mineralisation, culminating in the discovery
of the largest sedimentary uranium deposit in the world at Yeelirrie. This
shallow, but extensive deposit, holds an estimated resource of 50,000 contained
tonnes of U3O8.
Acclaim Uranium and Dominion Mining discovered smaller uranium deposits
at Quinn's Lake and Nowthanna before Acclaim found a much larger deposit
at Lake Maitland. Smaller discoveries were made around the Lake Maitland
district at Lake Way, Millepede, Centipede, Hinkler Wells and Abercromby.
By the time Acclaim quit the Yilgarn Uranium Region, due to the uncertain
future of uranium, the Company had proven up 5 separate resources across
a span of 200km.
Current Exploration Programs
Specialist uranium explorers have now spread across the entire north Yilgarn
region with the majority concentrating their exploration efforts around
the Lake Maitland district. Companies are regularly reporting solid exploration
results in their Quarterly announcements.
Tenement Geology
Archaean rocks of the Yilgarn Craton underlie the Yilgarn Uranium Region.
These are made up mainly of granitoids with some acid meta-volcanics and
sedimentary rocks. The area also includes Quaternary to Recent alluvial
channels and salt lakes, e.g. Lake Maitland. These prospects are usually
characterised as surficial calcrete uranium deposits, which have often developed
in single layers, at depths of 2 to 6 metres from the surface. Mineralised
zones can extend for several kilometres.
The Yanrey tenement is located 95 km south of Onslow and west of Tom Price and Paraburdoo in Western Australia it is strategically located within the Central district of the Yanrey Uranium Province, 20 km east of Manyingee and Bennett's Well and 35 km north of Mundong Well.
This region in the Ashburton area of WA, known as the Yanrey Uranium Province, is again an area of great interest to dedicated uranium explorers. They have not only locked up all the prospective ground throughout Yanrey but also across the Gascoyne Uranium Province, immediately to the south. The Yanrey Province is not a large district by Western Australian standards ensuring that most of the current exploration programs are being carried out on holdings in close proximity to each other.
The main focus for the Province has been the substantial uranium deposit discovered at Manyingee by Total Mining in 1974. Paladin Resources Ltd now owns this project and though small in size at only 13 km2, it has an inferred resource potential of 12,000 contained tonnes of U3O8. Recent exploration results have shown the sandstone-hosted roll-front style of this deposit to be a regional signature for uranium mineralisation. Paladin has proven this style to be amenable for in-situ leach (ISL) extraction.
Tenement Geology
The tenement has a large amount of Quaternary/Recent alluvial cover overlying
Proterozoic sandstone, shale and granite. The nearby uranium occurrences,
20 km to the west, appear associated with Proterozoic sediments and Quaternary
drainages similar to a channel already indicated across the tenement.
YRR holds four tenements in the Arunta region of the Northern Territory located 200 to 350 km north west of Alice Springs.
During the 1970s and 1980s there was considerable uranium exploration activity throughout the areas west and north west of Alice Springs, stretching to the West Australian border. Major companies like BHP Minerals, Energy Reserves Canada, Uranerz and Power Nuclear Japan, were active across the Region and successfully established uranium deposits at Angela, Pamela,
Bigryli and Napperby. Many other occurrences were logged but were never followed up as uranium exploration effectively ceased in 1983.
After the political controls on uranium exploration and mining changed in 1996, specialist uranium exploration companies have returned in numbers to the central Northern Territory.
The deposits of Bigryli, Nolans Bore and Napperby have been confirmed to JORC standard while the significant uranium occurrences at Walbiri, Mt. Wedge, Malawiri, Yalrymbi, New Well and Currinya are all undergoing systematic exploration.
Tenement Geology
The four uranium prospective tenements overlie the early Proterozoic metamorphics
and granitoids of the Arunta Block and are located on the edges of the Ngalia
Basin.
The deformed granites are known to have a high radiometric total count and were emplaced during a major up-warping deformation episode in the late Archaean orogeny.
The exposure of the granites and gneisses, by doming, is considered to have allowed uranium-bearing material to be eroded and accumulated in the Palaeo-channel drainages. Therefore it is expected that pegmatites, veins and disseminations of radioactive minerals could be sourced within these rocks.
