PepinNini is exploring the subject EL 3278 for all potential mineralisation styles known to occur in Palaeoproterozoic basement metasediments, but the company considers that the most prospective opportunities include stratabound Cu-Au akin to the Cloncurry deposits, iron oxide - associated copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation similar in type to that of Olympic Dam or Prominent Hill, and primary, hard rock pegmatite/granite hosted uranium of the Crocker Well / Mount Victoria or Radium Hill deposit styles. Mineral exploration in the Bimbowrie district has been semi-continuous since before 1973, with a variety of companies and the SA Government being involved. The initial focus was on the uranium potential of the Crocker Well uranium prospect. This work was followed by more recent investigations for wollastonite, diamonds, uranium, Cloncurry style IOCG, and stratabound Zn-Pb-Ag. Many opportunities have been created by the activity of these previous explorers, which PepinNini thinks have not been fully tested within the tenement area. PepinNini commenced exploration of the subject EL 3278 by making an extensive review of open file data and literature, which identified eleven prospects of interest for further investigations. Several uranium prospects within the Crocker Well Uranium Field were also identified from examining detailed regional airborne radiometric survey uranium channel spectrometric data. A potentially major iron oxide - associated copper-gold (IOCG) target was identified at the Willow prospect lying in the centre of the licence area, which PepinNini thought possessed strong conceptual, geophysical, geochemical and geological characteristics similar to those described for the Olympic Dam Cu-Au-U-Ag deposit. PepinNini applied to PIRSA, under the conditions of the South Australian Government's PACE initiative programme, for a grant of collaborative subsidy funding for assisting the company to conduct high risk drilling at this prospect. Funds were awarded to it under the approved PACE Year 2 project reference number DPY2-14. Prior to performing the drilling, a detailed gravity survey was acquired across the prospect in June 2005 to confirm and improve the spatial resolution of the 8-10 mGal amplitude Willow gravity anomaly primary target. 531 stations were read over a 16 square km area on a regular 250 m x 250 m grid; of this total, 96 stations served to infill certain parts of the base coverage. The PACE-subsidised drilling at the Willow prospect during August-September 2005 of one angled, percussion precollared diamond cored hole plus six vertical or inclined RC holes, for a combined total penetration of 785.5 m that included 187.5 m of NQ coring (for details see the Project DPY2-14 final report held separately in Env 11091), identified the source of the gravity feature as a large and previously unrecognised buried amphibolite intrusion, probably belonging to the Lady Louise Suite of mafic intrusions. Although downgraded as an IOCG opportunity, weakly elevated copper values were returned from assaying drill cuttings of metasediments intersected near the contact with the amphibolite intrusion. Reconnaissance rock chip and soil geochemical sampling of 4 and 11 samples respectively were undertaken across parts of the Willow IOCG target in May 2005; no anomalous assay results were returned. No evidence was found to support North Ltd's historically reported anomalous surface sample ZA387 (5.65% Cu). A mineral resource estimate was sought from consultants Hellman and Schofield Pty Ltd to establish a JORC compliant resource for each of the Crocker Well Uranium Field uranium deposits and the one at Mount Victoria, based on much available historic drillhole data obtained from those deposits by the SA Department of Mines and private companies between 1951 and 1978. A combined Inferred Mineral Resource of 12.65 Mt at an average grade of 0.53 kg/t U3O8 was calculated in September 2005 in compliance with the 2004 JORC Code, for a contained total of 14,850,000 pounds of U3O8. Five selected rock chip samples collected from the Crocker Well Uranium Field returned anomalous uranium assay results that PepiNini decided would require further follow up. During Year 2 of tenure, work was focussed on evaluating the uranium potential of the Crocker Well and Mount Victoria Uranium Field by undertaking ground handheld scintillometer surveys over five radiometric anomalies, doing 1:10,000 scale reconnaissance mapping plus GPS surveying of remnant historic exploration features including drillhole collars and grid marker pegs, and doing rock chip geochemical sampling (34 samples) in the vicinity of the known uranium deposits. GRD Minproc were commissioned to undertake a scoping study to investigate the potential development of the JORC compliant Inferred Resources at the Crocker Well and Mount Victoria uranium deposits. The study was completed in March 2006, and had these main outcomes: • identification of a mining and processing concept to produce U3O8; • estimation of mining and processing costs at ($US21/lb U3O8); • estimation of capital costs (incl. processing plant, mining comtractor, waste disposal, water supply, power and rehabilitation) amounting to as much as $A160 million; • requirement for additional resources of mineable uranium ore to justify capital costs; • estimation of a fifteen month time-frame to complete permitting and statutory requirements to commence a mining and processing operation; and • recognition that unknown factors such as - an increase in the price of U3O8, a reduction in the capital costs, improvement in recovery rates, or the definition of additional resources to extend the proposed mine life - would all have a significant beneficial impact on the potential development of the project. During 2006 PepinNini was approached by a number of Australian and international companies seeking to acquire an interest in the Crocker Well – Mount Victoria Uranium Project. PepinNini undertook a number of reconnaissance site inspections with prospective partners in August and September 2006. On 13/9/2006, the company announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese investor Sinosteel Corporation (Sinosteel) allowing for that company to enter a strategic alliance to jointly participate in the development and operation of the Crocker Well and Mount Victoria uranium deposits and other mineral commodities in the Curnamona Project ground then owned 100% by PepinNini. Under the agreement Sinosteel would acquire 60% of a newly formed company set up to manage the Curnamona Project. Sinosteel would also contribute $A6 million towards funding exploration for commodities other than uranium within the Project. During Year 3 of tenure, on 26/9/2006, PepinNini finalised the transfer of ownership of EL 3278 to PepinNini Resources Curnamona Pty Ltd, then signed a joint venture agreement with SinoSteel Corp. and set up the new project management company, Sinosteel PepinNini Curnamona Management Pty Ltd. Initial activities operated by the latter included field ethnographic surveying, sampling of mullock piles at Crocker Well East, re-logging of historic drill cores, limited new diamond core drilling and downhole wireline gamma ray logging, and commercial negotiations. The mullock dumps remaining after historic mid-1950s SADM mining at Crocker Well East deposit, which were estimated to contain at least 100 t of ore grade material, were sampled in March 2007 to determine that ore’s suitability for bulk sampling and metallurgical testing. Highest uranium values returned from laboratory assaying were between 912 and 9470 ppm U. In April-May 2007, a selection of stored historic drill cores from Crocker Well were re-logged. These had been stored out-of-doors in wooden core trays at PIRSA’s Moonta Core Library annexe. Although somewhat oxidised after 40+years, the drill cores were in a fit condition for examination. Scanning with a Geiger counter showed that radioactive brannerite and davidite mineralisation occurs as narrow vein intercepts within a variety of different rock types, but primarily seemed to be associated with biotite-rich zones and fracture or shear zones. To start to verify past drilling datasets which had last been used by Esso Australia (cf. Env 4301) to calculate the uranium resources contained within the Crocker Well Uranium Field, one vertical HQ diamond cored hole for 105.36 m was drilled at the Crocker Well Junction occurrence, and another, inclined HQ/NQ2 diamond cored hole for 88.9 m was drilled at the Crocker Well East deposit. Assaying of selected drill core samples returned best results of 0.529 kg/t U3O8 over a 6 m downhole interval, and 10.9 kg/t U3O8 over 0.5 m. Downhole wireline gamma ray total count and spectral logging was undertaken in the nine recently drilled holes and in 12 historic holes still left open in the Crocker Well area. This logging recorded 89 m @ 0.05% eU3O8 from 10 m down into PepinNini’s hole DD07CWJ001, which was collared 1.5 m south-west of SADM DDH E150. Probing of the rediscovered capped and uncovered Esso Australia 1970s Crocker Well Calibration Pits was undertaken with a modern ray logging tool, the aim being to certify those pits for future use. The four pits were found to still be in good physical condition. Each comprises a heavy gauge steel drum (of similar dimensions to a 200-litre fuel drum, but 1.3 m long) buried ~1 m below ground level in a vertical position, with a central hole put into it which is connected to the surface with a length of plastic bore casing. The four drums were reported as containing differing graded amounts of uranium ore from the Crocker Well area, mixed with concrete, as follows: Drum A - 236 ppm U3O8 and 111 ppm ThO2; Drum B - 600 ppm U3O8 and 278 ppm ThO2; Drum C - 1390 ppm U3O8 and 540 ppm ThO2; Drum D - 5667 ppm U3O8 and 2635 ppm ThO2. During Year 4 of tenure, Sinosteel PepinNini Curnamona Management Pty Ltd (SPCM) commenced intensive field activities and preliminary evaluation studies to advance the priority JV project target of completing a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) of the proposed uranium mine at Crocker Well. The aim of seeking to develop this mine as quickly as possible was to advantage of the current uranium market by securing purchase contracts that would off-take the production of at least 600 t of U3O8 per year for at least 10 years. Therefore at this time no work was undertaken at the Mount Victoria uranium deposit or at other regional uranium targets, and no exploration for non-uranium commodities was performed. A drilling campaign began that was designed to validate and delineate the uranium resource at Crocker Well so that it could be converted to JORC compliant Indicated and Measured categories. 17 diamond cored holes for 1743.7 m and 210 RC holes for 22,033 m were drilled across the East, Central, Junction, and Original deposits. Wireline geophysical logging was undertaken in these holes to identify where the mineralised intervals occur, to sample them for laboratory assaying. >13,500 drill core and drill cuttings samples were analysed along with site specific QA/QC check standards. But numerous assay result discrepancies arising between the check standards necessitated doing many re-analyses of the field samples to confirm their results' validity. Consultants were engaged to assist the preparation of a BFS and to facilitate the navigation of the government regulatory approvals process. Mine planning and design, ore processing and recovery, environmental base line work, permitting and stake holder liaison, were all issues addressed within the active consultancy programs. Mineral Claim pegging notices, a Mining Lease application, and an Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) referral were all submitted to government agencies by SPCM. Detailed colour aerial orthophotographs and LiDAR elevation data were collected across the Crocker Well Project area. During licence Year 5, SPCM finalised field data acquisition work and the many studies required for it to complete drafting a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for the proposed uranium mine at the Crocker Well Uranium Project. Airborne geophysical and ground gravity surveys were also acquired in order to further characterise the mineralisation and to aid with interpretation and identification of additional prospective areas. In December 2009, a decision was made by the joint venture partners to delay the completion of the Bankable Feasibility Study for the development of the Crocker Well Uranium Field uranium deposits. Earlier, acting on the updated advice of resource mapping consultants Hellman and Schofield, SPCM had planned to do infill RC drilling and downhole wireline geophysical logging to further define the extent of uranium mineralisation and to aid conversion of the majority of the deposits' non-JORC compliant resources to a JORC (2004) compliant status. It was expected that the infill holes would provide enough data to allow converting >80% of the non-JORC compliant resources to a JORC compliant Indicated Resource status. A minimum infill drill programme of 78 inclined or vertical RC holes for 8088 m was undertaken between April and July 2009, which resulted in an ~5% increase in contained U3O8 to 5290 t. The increase was primarily due to an increase in bulk tonnage to 18.84 Mt. But a minor decrease in overall grade was noted, and was attributed primarily to the highly erratic style of “nuggety” mineralisation. The new drilling data enabled the classification of ~70% of the Crocker Well resource to JORC (2004) compliant Indicated Mineral Resource status. Six drill core samples considered as representative of basement lithological units intersected by drilling in the Crocker Well area were submitted for petrological examinations. Consultant Doug Mason described the samples as coming from a cogenetic suite of granitoid rocks ranging from quartz diorite, through tonalite and tonalite porphyry, to granodiorite and leuco-granodiorite. The primary mineralogies are dominated by plagioclase, quartz and ferromagnesian species (mainly ?biotite), with K-feldspar, minor opaques (?magnetite) and accessory minerals (apatite, zircon). Low grade metamorphic effects were observed in all samples, and were attributed to a low grade regional metamorphic event at P-T conditions in the middle greenschist facies (biotite grade). A high resolution helicopter-borne magnetic / radiometric survey was acquired in May-June 2009 over the project area, and was extended to give semi-detailed surrounding coverage of a number of highly prospective regional uraniferous targets. For the former, 755 line km were flown along north-south lines 25 m apart, using a 30 m sensor mean terrain clearance. For the latter, 5758 line km were flown along north-south lines 50 m apart, using a 50 m sensor mean terrain clearance. Preliminary interpretation of the magnetic data showed very strong regional NW and WNW structural trends, and to a lesser degree, NE orientated structures/trends. A weakly defined large regional N-S structure was apparent in the data and was interpreted to be overprinted by all the previously mentioned orientations, indicating a possible complex structural evolution. The Mount Victoria uranium deposit is associated with a strong magnetic feature closely associated with the major N-S trending structure. In the regional data, the ENE magnetic linear that is spatially associated with the Crocker Well mineralisation is truncated in the east by the N-S structure. Dominant WNW and NW features were visible within the mineralised area, but are quite disrupted. They appeared to restrict the extent of known mineralisation towards the south-west. Another notable observation from the aeromagnetic data is the occurrence of a number of significant high amplitude (>10,000 nT) anomalies: these are equivalent in amplitude to the magnetic anomaly associated with the Ernest Henry IOCG deposit. The detailed radiometric data acquired over the Crocker Well uranium deposits highlighted the extent of probable surface radioactive contamination associated with historical mining and exploration. Regionally, the U channel readings and U2/Th channels' spectral ratio data defined a number of priority anomalies, of which Becaroo, Anomaly A, Mount Victoria and Anomaly H were chosen for further drill testing. A second ground gravity survey of 355 stations was acquired in July 2009 to better cover the Crocker Well deposits and previously defined highly magnetically anomalous regional prospects interpreted from the regional airborne data. The survey was extended to the east to cover a large positive gravity feature identified in regional gravity data to the west of the Willow prospect. 226 stations occupied a central 1 km x 1 km grid, while 129 stations spread from there to the north and south with a 1 km by 2 km grid spacing. 40 of the latter stations were read within the adjoining EL 4239. Preliminary interpretation of the new gravity data suggested that the core 17 square km area surveyed in detail is underpinned by a significant gravity low that was interpreted to represent an extensive intrusive body. The gravity low is located mostly NE of Crocker Well, and is truncated to the south by an ENE trending regional structure which transects the Crocker Well Original deposit. Interpreted regional structural trends were similar to those noted in the 2009 aeromagnetic survey data, being principally northeastwards and northwestwards orientated. Further off to the east, the large positive gravity feature noted in regional data west of the Willow prospect received better definition. A sterilisation drilling programme comprising limited RC percussion and diamond drilling was performed over sites proposed for the ore processing plant and for a tailings dam. Nine diamond holes for 153.7 m were put in at the first-mentioned site, and 6 RC holes for 737.7 m were put in at the latter. In addition, URS excavated 47 trenches/pits and drilled 13 short diamond holes to determine geotechnical parameters for informing the designs of building foundations. Water bore drilling was undertaken to determine the hydrogeological parameters of the proposed mining lease area and to investigate possible water sources in the immediate vicinity of the planned mine. Three water bores were completed for a total of 265 m.