During licence Year 4, UraniumSA undertook the following work on EL 3652: - pattern drilling of 232 rotary mud holes totalling 18,416 m, targeting the Blackbush and Plumbush prospects. - core drilling totalling 876 m in 8 holes, to...
During licence Year 4, UraniumSA undertook the following work on EL 3652: - pattern drilling of 232 rotary mud holes totalling 18,416 m, targeting the Blackbush and Plumbush prospects. - core drilling totalling 876 m in 8 holes, to characterise stratigraphy and mineralisation. These core runs comprised 3 cut within the Tertiary sequence, in holes MRC1-3, and 5 done as tails cut within basement (which latter appraisal coring operations were funded by the SA Government's PACE Initiative : see the project DPY6-27 final report held separately in Env 12176). Drill core samples from the 8 cored holes were logged, frozen and used for chemical and metallurgical testing which is continuing. - drilling of 26 hydrogeological piezometer holes totalling 1107 m, for groundwater monitoring. - drilling of solvent extraction trial fluid circulation extraction wells (3 holes totalling 205 m) and injection wells (2 holes totalling 102 m) for pump testing. - geophysical logging of all holes. - acquisition of a second, 1379 line km REPTEM AEM survey during February 2010, to assist with mapping the basin fill and regional structures. - acquisition of a detailed 957 station GPS gravity survey during February 2010. - conducting baseline environmental, hydrogeological and metallurgical studies. - preparing an updated JORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Blackbush prospect, which was announced to the ASX in September 2010. The deposit is now believed to contain more than three times the amount of uranium identified by the maiden resource estimate (cf. ASX release of 5 May 2009). The updated resource comprises 38.7 Mt of mineralisation estimated to contain 10,400 t of U3O8 (22.9 million pounds) at an average grade of 275 ppm eU3O8. The average thickness of mineralised intercepts is 11.85 m. The cut-off grade applied to the estimate calculations was 100 ppm eU3O8 over a minimum intercept thickness of 0.40 m. In August 2010, the northern portion of EL 3652 was relinquished in the interests of eliminating public concerns with uranium mining in and around the Whyalla urban area. During licence Year 5, exploration activities and other work completed by UraniumSA were as follows: - pattern drilling of 203 rotary mud holes totalling 15,027 m targeting the Blackbush and Plumbush prospects. - core drilling in 1 hole for 102 m to characterise stratigraphy and mineralisation. - drilling of 2 hydrogeological holes for 24 m to monitor groundwater behaviour. - drilling of extraction wells (1 hole for 70 m) and injection wells (8 holes for 574 m) to use for pump testing. - geophysical logging of all holes. - conducting baseline environmental, hydrogeological and metallurgical status investigations. Additional studies were carried out during the reporting period as part of establishing the feasibility for a proposed in-situ uranium recovery field trial in the Blackbush prospect [these consultants' reports are attached to the licence 2010-2011 annual report]: - report AGT 2011C on Mullaquana Aquifer Testing, prepared for UraniumSA Limited by Australian Groundwater Technologies Pty Ltd on 27 January 2011. - report EBS 2011 on Mullaquana follow-up Flora and Fauna Survey, prepared for UraniumSA Limited by EBS Ecology in February 2011. - Jensen-Schmidt, B., 2011. Spencer Gulf Seismic Survey [interpretation] Report prepared for UraniumSA Limited by consultant Brent Jensen-Schmidt on 23 June 2011. - report OST 2011a on a Baseline Radiation Survey at the Mullaquana Project, prepared for UraniumSA Limited by On Site Technology Pty Ltd on 8 February 2011. A maiden Inferred Resource estimate for the Plumbush uranium deposit was released by UraniumSA in April 2011. This deposit, located adjacent to and in its southern portion crossing the common licence boundary between ELs 3652 and 4242, is the second mineralised prospect within the Mullaquana area for which a resource had been quantified. The resource comprises 21.8 Mt of mineralisation estimated to contain ~6350 t of U3O8 (14.0 million pounds), at a volume weighted average grade of 292 parts per million eU3O8. The average thickness of mineralised intercepts is 6.88 m. The envelope of mineralisation mapped here extends ~2.5 km to the south-west and remains open to the north and north-east. Regional drilling undertaken on the project licences to date has defined several prospects which still require follow-up drilling to establish if other inferred uranium resources exist. During August 2011, UraniumSA submitted to DMITRE a draft application for a Retention Lease, to convert its substantive mineral rights over the Blackbush deposit from those of existing Mineral Claim 4280. During licence Year 6, exploration activities and other work completed by UraniumSA were as follows: - pattern drilling of 98 rotary mud holes totalling 8965 m targeting the Blackbush prospect, to define sedimentary depositional environments, redox fronts and basement structures. - geophysical logging of all holes. - conducting further baseline environmental flora and fauna investigations. - acquisition of portions of an 8126.2 line km airborne helimag survey during January 2012, along flight lines spaced either 200 m / 100 m / 50 m / 25 m apart. - preparation and submission to DMITRE of a Radiation Management Plan. The following additional studies were carried out for UraniumSA during the reporting period: - Dyson, I.A., September 2012. "Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Kanaka Beds at the Blackbush uranium prospect, eastern Eyre Peninsula." This study has developed a depositional model for the Kanaka Beds of Eocene age that host the sedimentary uranium mineralisation, but further work is required to define the timing of uranium precipitation and to map specific facies and surfaces that were susceptible to mineralisation during former superimposition of the geochemical redox cell as oxidising groundwater passed through the aquifer; - ANSTO Minerals Div., June 2012. Recovery of uranium from high chloride liquors by ion exchange." This study has addressed the issue of the high salinity of the groundwater at the Blackbush prospect. ANSTO assessed the use of alternative resins and solvents for use in high chloride applications, and was able to identify possible extraction options. Work is continuing; - EBS Ecology, 5/12/2012. "Mullaquana follow-up Flora and Fauna Survey – Spring 2012." In July 2012, UraniumSA announced a revised Inferred Mineral Resource for Blackbush prospect, estimated in accordance with the JORC code (ASX 25 July 2012), that comprises 41.5 Mt of mineralisation containing 12,000 tonnes of eU3O8 (27 million pounds) at an average grade of 289 ppm eU3O8, with an average mineralised intercept thickness of 9 m. During licence Year 7, the following work was done: - acquisition of a ground gravity survey of 229 stations in mid-May 2013 at the Blackbush and Blue Dam Well prospects; - soil geochemical sampling within the Blue Well Dam and Sensational East/West prospect areas. A total of 347 x minus 80 mesh samples were collected on 100 m x 200 m spacing and assayed via hand-held XRF equipment; - soil salinity profiling during February-April 2013 undertaken at 16 sites distributed across the whole tenement, for environmental impact assessment; - assaying of bottomhole drill cuttings samples using a hand-held XRF instrument, and the comparison of results with laboratory wet assay data; - the conduct of radiation profiling on all drillholes. An on-site radiation audit was completed in August 2013; - commencement of a soil radon gas emanometry survey on all of UraniumSA's licence ground within the Samphire Project. In survey Round (1), 65 track etch cups were placed in August 2013 and recovered and read in October 2013. In survey Round (2), 73 track etch cups were placed in November 2013 and will be recovered in late December 2013; and - rehabilitation-related work included the creation of drill collar photo sets, making vegetation surveys, and post-activity assessments of the condition of drill sites and access tracks. In September 2013, UraniumSA announced a revised Inferred Mineral Resource for the Blackbush deposit, estimated in accordance with the JORC Code (ASX, 27/9/2012), that comprises 64.5 Mt of mineralisation at a bulk grade of 230 ppm eU3O8, containing 14,850 t of uranium oxide at a 100 ppm eU3O8 cut-off grade. During licence Year 8, the following work was done: - Caon Geophysics reviewed the available AEM and aeromagnetic data, focussing on basement targets within the western portion of the licence area, and processed the new 25 m x 50 m/100 m gridded gravity data from the Blue Well Dam prospect; - Intrepid Geophysics processed and interpreted the new 25 m x 25 m gravity data acquired over the southern portion of the Blackbush West mineralisation; - data produced by the trial radon-in-soil gas track etch survey was evaluated, and initial follow-up drilling was done at the Dragon prospect (two traverses, 12 holes, depth 20-30 m); - revised geophysical models and final well logs were prepared for the reconnaissance drillholes put in at the Cowled prospect (2 holes, IOCGU exoskarn target) and at Stock Dam (1 hole, exoskarn target, magnetite in Broadview Schist); - investigations were continued into the nature of the primary mineralisation and alteration present in the basement below Blackbush West. Concepts generated were tested against additional geochemical hand-held XRF data acquired for EOH drill samples from below Blackbush West. Modelling of the prospect's mineralised basement and sedimentary cover geochemical system was progressed; and - a report was received about research done externally on the Blackbush West basement mineralisation (Source: - Goldsmith, S., 2014. "The Samphire Project: A distal IOCG and evidence for Mesoarchean crust in the Gawler Craton." University of Adelaide, B.Sc. Honours Thesis). In this student's study, useful data were generated about the petrology and mineralogy of the Samphire Granite, through sampling of drill core tails that had been cut in holes MRM751, MRM762 and MRM845. During licence Year 9, the following office-based work was done: - an investigation of the potential for physical processing to upgrade [future open cut mined] Blackbush mineralisation; - an external onsite inspection of a Boart Longyear sonic drilling rig in action cutting intact cores in semi-consolidated cover sediments, working for Arrium Ltd on the flank of the Middleback Range; - preparation of a PACE Frontiers Initiative Discovery Drilling proposal for the 2015 grant year, to conduct 600 m of open hole rotary mud and sonic core stratigraphic drilling targeting two sites having the thickest known mineralisation in the Western Zone of the Blackbush uranium deposit. The two proposed holes would deliver a complete local stratigraphic section of the Pirie Basin, with core of mineralised Eocene sediment and oriented core of altered/mineralised Hiltaba age Samphire Granite basement; and - preparation of a documented exploration strategy which UraniumSA seeks to follow to confirm and quantify the upside potential of the Blackbush deposit in particular and of the Samphire Project as a whole. On-ground exploration could not occur on the area of EL 4979 over Mullaquana Station because UraniumSA had undertaken not to enter there (use of declared equipment) until the current Wardens Court proceedings initiated by the landowner have been finalised: the next scheduled court hearing is set for 8/3/2016. During licence Year 10, no field work was done. A proposal was submitted to DSD for a grant of PACE Initiative Year 9 collaborative drilling subsidy funds to assist with the cost of drill testing a possible basement ISCG target at the Blue Well Dam prospect, and funding for the drilling of four RC holes there was approved as PACE Copper Discovery Drilling Project DPY9-** [but the project did not eventuate]. This prospect contains an anomalous copper content in surface spoil remaining from some historic small workings which lie adjacent to semi-coincident magnetic, gravity and EM anomalies. Other work performed related to the mine feasibility studies for the Blackbush uranium deposit, and included 3D modelling of conceptual open pit designs for Blackbush and Western Blackbush – 4 open pit designs were modelled in Leapfrog Geo. Detailed XRF analysis was done on on granite contained in drill cores from holes MRM751 and MRM762. Significant time and resources were also committed during the reporting period to continuing to conduct laboratory bench scale ore beneficiation studies for the Samphire Project. Processes undertaken included: - sieving the ore raw feed into eight size fractions, and performing XRF analysis on each size range; - recombining all fractions before giving the feed a 10 minute wash and agitation, then re-separating the size fractions and doing further XRF, lithological and microscope analyses of them; - recombining the >38 microns size fractions, and giving that material a further 20 minute wash and agitation before re-separating those particular size fractions for subsequent XRF analysis; - cyclosizing those fine fractions, and then doing sink/float density separation on them. During licence Year 11, no exploration drilling was undertaken while the Wardens Court proceedings initiated by the landowner were yet to be finalised. Activities undertaken by the company during the reporting period included site visits to rehabilitated work sites, data review of available exploration data to identify non-uranium prospectivity, modelling of the Samphire Granite and article submitted to MESA Journal [MESAJ 085: See CNO:2039871 - https://sarigbasis.pir.sa.gov.au/WebtopEw/ws/samref/sarig1/image/DDD/MESAJ085.pdf], plus continued research into secondary copper mineralisation, widespread anomalous cobalt/copper in altered country rocks, uranium modelling at the basal Eocene unconformity, and collaboration with the University of Adelaide PhD research program. During licence Year 12 again no drilling-based exploration activities were undertaken while the company awaits the outcome of Wardens Court proceedings. Work activites undertaken by the company included the completion of review of existing exploration data and the investigation of existing geological models. The aim of this work has been to identify and evaluate new prospects across the area. Investigations into the secondary copper at the basal Eocene unconformity was deemed as no immediate exploration significance. Site inspections were made to confirm that the regrowth on rehabilitated sites was progressing as expected.