An area centred ~230 km north-west of Ceduna, in the far north-eastern corner of the Nullarbor Plain, and lying just south of the Ooldea railway siding on the Trans Australian Railway line, is being explored for possible economic buried deposits of iron, gold, uranium, heavy minerals, and lead, zinc and silver mineralisation. The principal commodity of interest is magnetite ore hosted by Proterozoic basement rocks of the western Gawler Craton, proximal to the Karari Fault Zone which cuts from SW to NE across the centre of the licence. No on-ground field work was undertaken during the sixteenth licence year, but the licensee acquired an airborne EM/magnetic/DTM (TEMPEST) survey immediately afterwards, during September-October 2006, when 1341.5 line km were flown via fixed-wing aircraft across the entire tenement along east-west flight lines 500 m apart, using a mean sensor elevation of 120 m above the ground surface. The contractor's interpretation of the AEM data identified evidence of the presence of several buried palaeochannels besides other shallow conductive bodies which could represent deeper palaeochannels or basins having possible roll-front uranium or alluvial diamond potential. AEM data processing using an adaptive time constant revealed a conductive feature within the otherwise resistive Karari Fault Zone, which it was suggested might be prospective for iron oxide-rich base metal sulphide mineralisation. The separate interpretation of the new aeromagnetic data identified a range of likely faults, fractures, dykes and magnetic domains in the bedrock, with several possible fold axial traces being inferred from mapped litho-magnetic trends. During the seventeenth licence year, Cosmo Developments (Cosmo) conducted reconnaissance aircore drilling along AEM palaeochannel targets during July-August 2007. The drilling programme was trouble-plagued, mainly through having drill equipment that was unsuitable for the hard ground conditions encountered. Eventually 19 vertical open holes were completed for a total penetration of 688 m, but only 13 of these holes succeeded in reaching pre-Tertiary basement. Nevertheless, this work did confirm the presence of palaeochannel sediments that contained minor occurrences of secondary uranium, as indicated by gamma spectral logging of the recovered drill cuttings. A limited amount of useful new stratigraphic and sedimentological information was obtained, providing a geological basis for guiding future drilling. 100 x 4-metre composites of 1-metre drill cuttings sample intervals were sent for laboratory assaying. During the eighteenth licence year, field work consisted only of the rehabilitation of the 2007 aircore drilling sites. However, in this period also Cosmo designed a diamond drilling programme to continue its tests for magnetite mineralisation within the Karari Fault Zone, and submitted a related Declaration of Environmental Factors to PIRSA. Approval for this drilling programme was received in July 2008. This drilling programme's start was then delayed whilst Cosmo secured the services of a drill rig. In other external work progress, Cosmo commissioned a project scoping study looking into design and construction requirements for envisaged mining, ore processing, port and shipping options for a large-scale magnetite mining operation producing high grade direct reduction iron (DRI) concentrate for export. The licensee intends that further diamond and RC drilling will then be undertaken to test the initial assumptions which will be made in the engineering study. During the nineteenth licence year, no field work took place. Instead, the licensee was occupied in reviewing the scoping study report which it had commissioned in April 2008 from ProMet Engineers, and which was handed to its parent company Mineralogy in April 2009. The 'Cosmo Steel Project' described therein, to be based on a large-scale magnetite mine, was envisaged as a producer of high grade iron concentrate from a conventional open pit mine to be built utilising hydraulic shovels and rear dump trucks [ Note: in 2001, Cosmo had estimated that the entire Ooldea magnetite deposit (having a 25 km strike length) contains 3.1 billion tonnes of magnetite BIF at 18% MagFe, down to a mining depth of 200 m under an even 39 m depth of cover and saprolite, calculated using a density for magnetite of 5.18 and the average grade from known drillhole intercepts found to be above 13% MagFe ]. Ore sourced from the mine would be fed to a concentrator plant with an annual capacity of 60 Mtpa, which would result in the production of 12 Mtpa of concentrate. The concentrate would be pumped from site via a slurry pipeline (for approximately 240 km distance) to a dewatering and stockyard facility (600 Kt) at Port Thevenard at Ceduna. Concentrate would be transferred from Port Thevenard via a barge loading facility, with transhipment to Panamax or Capesize vessels offshore. Necessary infrastructure for the project would include: • a gas fired combined cycle power station (250 MW (ISO)) • a desalination plant • gas, water and electrical distribution networks • roads and service corridors • an accommodation village for up to 3000 personnel required during construction • workshops and buildings at the mine, process plant and port. The capital cost estimate for the project is AUD 3.327 billion (July 2008 AUD), plus prestripping and mine development, excluding Owner’s commercial costs, contingency and commissioning costs. The operating cost estimate is AUD 72.44/tonne for concentrate Free On Board (FOB) With timely permitting (including the application for a mining licence), the project can be brought into full production in 36 months from financial sanction. During the twentieth licence year, no field work took place. Cosmo determined that the consultants' recommended magnetite mining project could probably be viable, and therefore it applied to renew licence tenure for a second 5-year term, so that it would be able to undertake a diamond and RC drilling program to test the existing ore metallurgical property assumptions and to better identify the extent and quality of magnetite mineralisation occurring along the Karari Fault Zone.