An area extending for 26 km to the south and south-east of Wudinna was taken up by Minotaur to evaluate the economic potential of known but poorly defined occurrences of the industrial minerals gypsum and alunite that are associated with Recent...
An area extending for 26 km to the south and south-east of Wudinna was taken up by Minotaur to evaluate the economic potential of known but poorly defined occurrences of the industrial minerals gypsum and alunite that are associated with Recent salt lakes situated on plains adjacent to the south-western margin of the Gawler Ranges. During licence Year 1, Minotaur performed an office-based compilation and review of historical data and open-file geological and geophysical datasets, which revealed that alunite might be present at Lake Wannamana, which appeared to have an unusually high potassium radiometric response, as did two other smaller nearby salt lakes. No work occurred during licence Year 2. During licence Year 3, reconnaissance geochemical sampling of surface waters vectored the exploration focus within EL 5395 towards groundwater potentially enriched with Na-Mg-K-Al sulphates that is entering or exiting key evaporative lake systems. Plans were made to drill test the dissolved salt load of Tertiary palaeochannel brines for potassium, lithium and boron with 6 RC or rotary mud holes, their drilling to be facilitated via a PACE Discovery Drilling Program $55,000 funds grant which was successfully obtained from DSD as approved collaborative drilling project DPY9-41; however, commencement of this work became delayed by heritage clearance issues arising at some of Minotaur's planned drillsites located outside of EL 5395. Only one vertical hole was planned for inside of EL 5395, to penetrate nominally to 10 m depth into a potential palaeochannel entrance to Lake Wannamana. Early in April 2016, a field trip was undertaken to conduct a salt lake sediment and brine sampling program. Three sediment samples and two water samples were collected from EL 5395 and were submitted, amongst others, to Bureau Veritas' Perth laboratory to undergo water and sediment leachate water assaying. During licence Year 4, resolution of negotiations with the Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal Corporation concerning heritage clearance issues at planned drillsites outside of EL 5395 became indefinitely delayed, and the PEPR which Minotaur submitted to DSD for use of the privately owned drillsite on EL 5395 was not approved, meaning that PACE Project DPY9-41 could not proceed. Instead, during March 2017 Minotaur undertook opportunistic subsurface brine sampling from an existing groundwater observation bore located at the Dubois Road rubbish dump [drillhole unique identity indeterminable], but the samples returned disappointing potassium, lithium, boron and magnesium assay results. Therefore a decision was made to surrender the tenement.
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