A package of fourteen mineral exploration tenements were taken up that straddled the north-eastern and south-western sides of the Padthaway Ridge, to allow the licensee to explore both the Tertiary Murray Basin and Gambier Basin sediments where they impinge against this Palaeozoic basement feature. The primary aim of exploring there was to find possible economic roll front style or tabular sandstone-hosted uranium mineralisation which could have formed in palaeochannels, sedimentary basins and bedrock unconformity settings, as hitherto this particular region had been largely untested for its uranium potential. It was also recognised that it could have good prospectivity for discovering economic Tertiary coal deposits, since a buried lignite seam over 6 m thick was known to occur in the vicinity of Mount Perry, and lows in the regional gravity data suggested that localised sub-basins might be present which could contain significant carbonaceous strata and lignite. The licensee’s pre-tenure review of past mineral exploration data for the region had found that some of the bedrock-intruding Cambro-Ordovician granites on the Padthaway Ridge were reported to contain more than 5 times the average content of uranium expected in a typical granite, thus making the surrounding region highly prospective for sedimentary uranium occurrences. The licensee’s own later testing showed that some granite bodies in the Kongal-Bordertown area contain 10 times this expected average content (i.e. >40 ppm U). Furthermore, like in other parts of the State, the Padthaway Ridge region has been subjected to hotter and wetter climates during the Tertiary, and a number of marine transgressions occurred then, during which carbonaceous and pyritic permeable sands with intervening bounding finer-grained sediments were deposited. These sediment facies were considered by the licensee to be ideal traps for uranium, and an early examination made of available drillhole data indicated that they are well represented on all of the tenements. During Years 1 and 2 of the project activity South East Energy undertook a detailed prospectivity review of its tenements, compiling and modelling all of the available drillhole information on subsurface sedimentary geology, which included the exercise of re-logging stored sample records of selected drillholes and determining their uranium content qualitatively with a scintillometer. Due to the perceived diminished prospectivity of the Tertiary Gambier Basin marginal sediments for hosting sedimentary uranium occurrences, EL 4039 situated therein was surrendered on 29/1/2009 (see Env 12025); this divestment was later followed by the surrender of adjoining ELs 4038 and 4055 on 24/2/2010 (see Env 12022). In addition, significant portions of another seven project licences were relinquished at their renewal on 29/1/2010 (see Env 11984). On 12/10/2010, ERO Mining acquired 100% corporate ownership of South East Energy, and assumed technical management of the Padthaway Project licences. No field work was done during Year 3 of the project, while the licensee conducted negotiations with parties who might be interested in a joint venture. On 18/7/2011 Iluka Resources entered into a joint venture with South East Energy over eight of the project licences, intending to evaluate their heavy mineral sands (HM) potential. A shallow exploratory roadside drilling campaign along two regional traverses, comprising 160 vertical NQ aircore holes for 4242.4 m, was completed by Iluka during Year 4 on ELs 4041 and 4043. Encouraging stratigraphy was penetrated by most of the drillholes, with marine sands being encountered in the Bridgewater Formation. Minor HM (HM content <3.0%) were intersected in 3 drillholes. It was concluded by Iluka that further drilling was warranted nearby, as there was the possibility of discovering well-developed coastal barrier style strand sequences which could host significant HM deposits. During Years 5 and 6 of the project acreage tenure, no additional field work was completed. ERO Mining sought unsuccessfully to introduce a new jont venture partner to help meet licence commitments, before eventually deciding to surrender the ground.