Iluka Resources is exploring for possible economic heavy mineral (HM) deposits that may have formed in the northern Murray Basin, with a strategy of targeting any mineralised Loxton-Parilla Sand formation sediments deposited during the Pliocene marine regression, and focussing on evaluating the potential of likely higher grade, coarse-grained strands in regions of favourable mineral assemblage. The company's initial exploration for HM utilises two complementary techniques: - the first entailes examining filtered airborne magnetic data as a first pass reconnaissance of the licence area, to directly select drill targets based on automated pattern recognition of linear magnetic anomalies that might reflect zircon and rutile rich deposits as well as more magnetic ilmenite rich deposits; - the second technique involves the planning of drilling traverses based on previous drilling data, regional structural contour maps, interpretation of detailed digital terrain models, and the utilisation of airborne magnetic data to estimate basement depth. Subsequently, following usual practice, exploratory drilling along orientated traverses would then commence with widely-spaced holes to investigate the broad geological setting, and then be infilled by closer-spaced drilling as required by any revealed geology and mineralised intersections. The subject Quondong Vale licence area, which is centred ~101 km east of Peterborough, was purchased by Iluka Resources from Gold Fields Australasia on 8/7/2013. Prior exploration conducted by that company, focussed on orogenic gold in the pre-Tertiary bedrock, has been separately reported under EL 3624 (see Env 11448). Where EL 4842 is situated, along the north-western margin of the Murray Basin, the basin's Tertiary sediments onlap an Adelaide Geosyncline succession of metasediments, volcanic and granite rocks of Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic age. Towards the end of the late Cambrian, intense folding, metamorphism and emplacement of granite intrusions during the Delamerian Orogeny affected both the Cambrian and Precambrian rocks of the Adelaide Geosyncline that lie to the east of the Torrens Hinge Zone; this deformed and granitised set of rocks is known as the Delamerian Fold Belt. Aeromagnetic images of the northern Murray Basin display a large arcuate zone of curvilinear magnetic high anomalies, stretching from south of the Broken Hill Block towards the south-west into the eastern Mount Lofty Ranges (Rankin et. al. 1991). It is likely that this structurally complex region was active during the deposition of the Murray Basin sediments. If the faults were active during the deposition of the Pliocene aged Loxton-Parilla Sand (LPS) lithostratigraphic unit, there is the potential for formation and preservation of localised stacked coastal sand bar sequences as a result of minor marine transgressions or still-stand positions. Iluka's exploration model for finding heavy mineral sand (HMS) deposits within the Murray Basin is therefore aimed at intersecting the littoral marine sediments of the LPS, in particular those of relict beach strandlines that commonly host placer deposits of HMS. Often this beach facies is very well developed, having a well-defined foreshore - surfzone - lowershore regressive depositional sequence. Elsewhere in the basin it has been found that the best HMS accumulations occur within the foreshore sediments. Unlike in most other parts of the Murray Basin, the LPS target along the basin's northern margin may be separated into its separate lithologic components based on their mode of deposition, where the Parilla Sand is the fluvial to fluvio-lacustrine portion and the Loxton Sand is the shallow marine to littoral portion. Within EL 4842 it was anticipated by Iluka that the Loxton Sand, as distinct from the LPS, would be the target horizon for any HMS accumulations. On 20/2/2015, Iluka entered into an Iron Ore Rights Agreement with Royal Resources Limited – who changed their name to Magnetite Mines Limited (Magnetite) in December 2015 – granting Magnetite the exclusive right to explore for iron ore and carry on mining operations on EL 4842. Magnetite planned to carry out desktop studies, ground magnetic surveys and a drilling campaign, but this work programme did not eventuate. No work either was carried out by Iluka on EL 4842 for the majority of the tenure period, except for during Licence Year 2. At that time, a reconnaissance stratigraphic drilling campaign was carried out in February-May 2014 along six traverses, at variable 1600 m to 400 m hole spacing (total 49 vertical RC aircore holes for an aggregate penetration of 3268 m), to test for the presence of prospective marine LPS strata near an interpreted palaeo-bedrock coastal headland target. 163 selected drill cuttings samples were examined for their detrital heavy mineral content in the minus 2 mm sediment fraction, after 53 micron wet screen separation of slimes. Isolated intersections of LPS made on five of the traverses were deemed encouraging, but no significant (>1% content) HMS mineralisation was intersected within the foreshore facies sands. Consequently the licence area was deemed non-prospective for HMS, and following the surrender in 2015 of the rest of the former Gold Fields tenement package covering the Delamerian Fold Belt, Iluka decided to fully surrender EL 4842 also at the expiry of its first term. Exploration partner Magnetite did not oppose this decision.