The banded iron formations associated with various Neoproterozoic tillites in South Australia have for some time been recognised as being potential sources for iron ore, however, the low grade nature of the iron mineralisation within these bands has been one of the limiting factors in determining why they have not been exploited to date. The focus of renewed exploration being done on the subject licence area is on the banded iron formations highlighted in a technical report entitled “The Investigation and Exploitation of the Razorback Ridge Iron Deposit”, authored by geologist G.F. Whitten and published as SA Department of Mines Report of Investigations 33, 1970. At the time when this particular report was written, it was deemed that this iron resource was uneconomic; however, the study formed part of a broader one where iron resources generally were investigated and recorded, and the assignation was relative. The work undertaken at Razorback Ridge by the government during the late 1960s was quite extensive in that a number of drill holes were completed and an adit was dug into the resource, with many ore horizon samples collected from these points then being tested metallurgically by AMDEL. With technological changes that have taken place in both mining and metallurgy in the long period since that time, the economics of developing this resource today are regarded as much more positive. Also featuring in the attractiveness of this resource is the ability to produce a magnetite mineral concentrate quite simply, which has other commercial uses than just for metallic iron production. These other products command a significantly higher price than what can be expected from selling magnetite as a feed-stock for iron smelting. Being located south of Yunta, the deposit location is appealing for a number of logistical reasons. It is close to a population centre, with road and rail not that far away. During June 2006, a limited shallow RC percussion drilling program was undertaken in and around the Razorback Ridge and Iron Peak prospects by licensee Mintech Resources to test for the undercover extent of the banded iron formations in additional locations which, if mineralised, could form part of a larger iron resource development based around Whitten’s original work. 9 inclined open RC holes were drilled on EL 3143 for a total penetration of 623 m, with drill sites selected on the basis of geochemical results from earlier outcrop grab sampling done nearby in 2004 and 2005 (from which 52 rock chip samples were assayed). [The company-funded drilling was a substitute for a more ambitious proposed 10-hole deep diamond drill programme, which had been submitted to PIRSA in November 2005 as a candidate for the grant of PACE Initiative Year 2 collaborative drill project subsidy funds: this submission was unsuccessful, because the programme's targeting model was judged as being too vague and simplistic]. The RC drilling results were very disappointing, because the downhole sampling of mineralised BIF intervals, with 116 samples assayed, only returned an average grade of ~20% Fe, compared to the average found from Mintech's earlier surface sampling (36% Fe). It was concluded that the earlier grab sampling had been far too selective of the better-mineralised but thin (10-300 mm thick) magnetite-rich bands, whereas the RC drill cuttings had been sampled at 1 metre intervals downhole, and thus were clearly more representative of the overall grade. Onsite magnetic susceptibility readings taken on drill cuttings during the 2006 drilling program, which systematically had over-estimated their magnetic iron mineral content, were later proved to be an unreliable indicator of the magnetite content for these samples when the laboratory XRF assay results were to hand. Based on all of the geological information to hand, Mintech next attempted to make a non-JORC preliminary, and in it's view, highly conservative estimate of the total iron ore resource within the licence area, arriving at: - for Razorback Ridge - 138 Mt; - for the area between Razorback Ridge and Iron Peak – 37 Mt; and - from Iron Peak eastward – 56 Mt. The aggregate figure of 230 Mt was seen as comparable with the magnetite resource figure quoted for Arrium's Project Magnet near Whyalla. On 29/7/2006, Damien O’Reilly, a consultant hired by Mintech, produced a report describing what were the cost structures of competitor magnetite exploration and mining companies at that time. He went on to calculate a mining and processing start up cost for Mintech's total resource on the Razorback Iron Project, if it was to produce 4 Mt pa of iron mineral concentrate as fines for transport by slurry pipeline to Port Pirie. He found that this scenario would require an initial mine development investment of only around $300 M, an amount which was comparatively very low for a project of this size when compared to the projects of all other companies. In May of 2007, consultants from Snowdens in WA were engaged to provide an opinion as to whether previous resource assessment work undertaken at Razorback Ridge by Whitten, Mintech and others could be reliably quoted as a resource with regard to ASX (JORC 2004) guidelines. Snowdens conclusions were - • that Whitten’s calculations should be described as an historic estimate of 120 Mt of material with potential to add to this number. • to undertake a drilling program after which they were confident that a JORC standard could be obtained. • that with additional drilling and metallurgical test work Mintech would be able to generate a resources estimate that could satisfy JORC standards. Snowdens recommended a work programme to assist Mintech to achieve a JORC standard. The required work programme entailed - • capturing all the deposit data digitally • Mintech re-logging any available drill samples and the adit to understand the relationship between magnetite and haematite • reviewing historic metallurgical work to see if it met current standards; and • conducting a systematic drilling program. Upon receipt of these recommendations, the principals of Mintech agreed that commencing a work programme to achieve a JORC-compliant resource for the Razorback Ridge - Iron Peak deposits should be prioritised to demonstrate their expected strong commercial value. Obviously it remained for the company to quickly undertake a drilling program concentrated at Razorback Ridge, where the Braemar ironstone facies is represented in much thicker beds, and at Iron Peak where the grades are higher. During 2008, activities on EL 3143 consisted mostly of making brief field visits both with and without consultants to further determine mining feasibility matters, and three site visits were also conducted for overseas visitor technical groups to support potential joint ventures with major Japanese, Korean and Chinese iron and steel companies. In August 2008, the directors of Mintech contracted iron commodity specialist Marcus Flis of Royal Resources Limited to review and write an opinion about the economic potential of EL 3143. One part of his brief was to tell the directors how to value the project in its current state for an investor. In his report Marcus stated that, in his opinion, based on an average magnetite concentrate price being achieved by other competitors, the in-ground value of EL 3143 mineral rights was currently $768 million. By comparing this figure with the previously advised mining start-up minimum investment of $300 million, he suggested that, if Mintech were to seek a JV partner who would inject all of these start-up funds (as is common with other projects) and they were assigned 50% of the JV partnership, this would safely value the total project at a minimum of $600 million. In October 2008, an onsite a visit was made by The Hon. Peter Lewis, of Razorback Iron Project joint venturer Goldus, accompanied by three senior representatives from the Chinese office of the Salim Group, under the guidance of Mintech's consultant geologist John Hillam, to further evaluate mining feasibility on EL 3143. Salim’s personnel conducted more than 100 field reconnaissance geochemical assays of surface samples using a portable XRF spectrometric instrument. 22 of the rocks scanned yielded results of note, and 3 anomalous rock samples were taken back to China for subsequent laboratory analyses. Samil’s investigations suggested to them that the Unit B tillite beds at Razorback Ridge are of a grade too low for beneficiation (<20% mFe), although it was explained to them that the magnetite to haematite ratio is lower in the tillite beds than the underlying iron-rich siltstone member due to supergene weathering effects. However, this negative conclusion was based on the analysis of only one sample, a red tillite boulder located near the highest point on Razorback Ridge. Based only on what Salim observed exposed above the ground at Razorback Ridge and Iron Peak, they reported the following " According to Salim China’s site-investigation: referred reserve in Razorback is 144 million tons (BIF 108 million and tillite 36 million tons) and referred reserve of BIF in Iron Peak is 81 million tons. " Mintech remarked after receiving this report that the company had made no allowance for possible stratabound reserves that must exist at depth in mineralised host beds which are open and continuous at depth, forming part of the northern limb of the Pualco Anticline. Nevertheless, a positive finding from Salim’s XRF assay work was to once again confirm the observation made by many others that the iron oxide content of all the main Unit B ironstone horizons increases significantly across EL 3143 in a easterly direction. Mintech's own work has shown that the magnetite content in these horizons also increases in this direction, in parallel with the total amount of iron present. They attributed this to Delamerian metamorphic/metasomatic upgrading of the Braemar iron oxide mineral assemblage occasioned by the effects of high upper crustal heat flow caused by the Anabama Granite pluton intruding close by to the east. Late in 2008, the adverse market effects brought about by the Global Financial Crisis began to depress the local mineral industry, and served to lessen the chances of Mintech Resources being able to secure a wealthy joint venture partner to help it progress the Razorback Iron Project. The company had envisaged starting a 25,000 m RC drilling programme in mid-2009, at a cost around $6 million, to achieve enough reliable subsurface geological data to prepare JORC-compliant inferred resources for both the Razorback Ridge and Iron Peak prospects, as well as building a deposit definition computer database using MapTek's Vulcan software, which would initially be based on laser mapping of the entire surface-mineralised magnetically anomalous Braemar ironstone facies outcrop region. New detailed aeromagnetic survey coverage of this region was also foreshadowed.