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Opportunities and challenges for
exploration in the Territory Ian Scrimgeour
Executive Director, Northern Territory Geological Survey
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$ M
illio
ns
Mineral exploration expenditure since 2000
2012/13 –
$131.7M
Challenging times for mineral exploration, but there is still good news
• Development of Roper iron field underway as NT enters new mining boom
• Teena discovery leads resurgence of interest in shale-hosted zinc-lead
• Exciting copper results across Arunta highlight potential of central Australia
• Smart exploration is delivering results
• Shale gas exploration boom
• Rapidly expanding geoscience knowledge base
Western Desert Resources: Roper Bar
Total resource: 611 Mt @ 40.3% Fe
Includes: 30.8Mt @ 59.0% Fe (Area F)
and 16.6 Mt @ 54.2% Fe (Area E)
• Targeting first DSO shipment in Q4 2013
• Export through Bing Bong port
• Offtake agreement with Noble Resources
Sherwin Iron: Roper River
Total resource: 488 Mt @ 41.7% Fe
Includes 41.1Mt @ 57.8% Fe
Deposit C – 18.42 Mt @ 58.3% Fe
Deposits W, X – 22.74 Mt @ 57.5% Fe
• Export via Roper Hwy, then to Darwin port
• First DSO shipment from bulk sample this
month
v
Roper iron field
1.88 Mt @ 10.10 g/t Au (300 g/t top cut) 1.88 Mt @ 11.96 g/t Au (no top cut)
• High-grade vein-hosted deposit with potential to be a low-cost mining operation
with a simple gravity extraction process
• New discoveries in area (eg Golden Hind) show potential for size of system to
increase (34,000t @ 45.59 g/t Au)
• Trial mining/bulk sampling and processing underway, >5000t mined
Company: ABM Resources
Old Pirate Au
Gold – Pine Creek
Cosmo Deeps
Company: Crocodile Gold
Cosmo Deeps in production
High-grade resources beneath Union
Reefs
Spring Hill
Company: Thor Mining
Plans announced for development
4.0 Mt @ 2.32 g/t Au
Mount Todd
Company: Vista Gold
350 Mt @ 0.81 g/t Au
Revised two-stage development
Mount Bundy project
Company: Primary Gold Ltd
Investigating restarting Toms Gully
Rum Jungle Resources - Barrow Creek 1
Near-surface high-grade phosphate
238 Mt @ 14.6% P2O5
Now combined with Arganara :
310 Mt @ 15% P2O5
Barrow Creek region
TNG Ltd - Mount Peake V-Ti-Fe 160 Mt @ 0.28% V2O5 , 5.3% TiO2, 23% Fe
Significant downstream processing
Recent greenfields discoveries moving
towards development
Copper in central Australia
Kidman Resources –
Home of Bullion Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag-Au
Geophysical targeting identifying extensions
to mineralisation
Main Lode:
5m @ 6.5% Cu, 53g/t Ag, 2.75% Zn, 0.63% Pb, 0.61 g/t Au
36m @ 2.78% Cu, 0.9% Pb, 2.3% Zn, 27.6g/t Ag, 0.2g/t Au
including 10m @ 8.5% Cu, 0.6% Pb, 4.35% Zn, 40.9 g/t Ag
Southern Lode:
26m @ 4.6% Cu, 5.5% Pb, 1.84% Zn, 142.9 g/t Ag
(true width 6-8m)
Momentum building for copper and copper-
gold exploration
KGL Resources Ltd – Jervois Cu-Ag-Au(-Pb-Zn)
• 13.5 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, 25.8g/t Ag
• 20,000m drilling program commencing
Reward: 9m @ 4.9% Cu, 1.22 g/t Au, 66.2 g/t Ag
72m @ 3.27% Cu, 1.16g/t Au, 51.3g/t Ag
Bellbird : 6m @ 1.2% Cu, 12.43 g/t Au, 10.3 g/t Ag
Copper in central Australia
Copper in central Australia
Arunta Resources Ltd - Johnnies Reward
Gold-copper mineralisation in granulites
• 24m @ 4.19% Au, 0.33% Cu
• 34m @ 3.83% Au, 0.44% Cu
• 22m @ 1.23% Au, 1.21% Cu
TNG Ltd - Mount Hardy
• 10.7m @ 4.1%Cu
• 1m @ 2.35% Cu, 3.08%
Zn, 1.16% Pb
Mithril Resources Ltd – Illogwa IOCG
• Greenfields discovery of potential new regional-
scale iron-oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) system, following up
NTGS mapping
• 2m at 1.15% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au and 5.3 g/t Ag
• New drilling program underway
• MMG drilling for Ni-Cu targets
Copper-gold discoveries using HeliTEM
Mineralisation in shear zones with quartz-
chlorite-sulfide veins
Goanna - 15m @ 4.19% Cu, 8.13 g/t Au
- 26m @ 4.75% Cu (incl. 8m @
9.32% Cu)
Monitor - 15m @ 5.05% Cu
- 12m @ 16.9 g/t Au, 2.00% Cu
Emmerson Resources Ltd
Gecko mine corridor Cu-Au
Tennant Creek and Rover Cu-Au fields
Metals X Ltd – Rover 1
Approvals process for exploration
decline underway
Tennant Creek Cu-Au
TUC Resources Ltd: Stromberg
Discovery of high-value heavy rare earth elements
(yttrium and dysprosium) at surface
4.2m @ 0.93% TREO (92% HREO/TREO)
Potential for numerous deposits
Arafura Resources: Nolans Bore
Major resource upgrade
47Mt @ 2.6% REO, 11% P2O5, 0.02% U3O8
55% in Measured and Indicated category
Crossland Uranium Mines: Charley Creek
Potential for development of mining of alluvial
sand for production of a REE-bearing concentrate
Indicated: 387 Mt @ 295ppm REO
Inferred: 418 Mt @ 289ppm REO
including 17% HREE (in xenotime)
Rare earth elements
• high-grade discovery in western
Arnhem Land
Hole WRD0084:
12.2 m @ 1.1% U3O8 followed by
20.2m @ 5.2% U3O8 incl. 0.5m @
27.8% U3O8
Cameco Australia - Angularli
$10M in expenditure in 2012/13 (down
from $55M in 2008/09)
• Mining ceased at Ranger 3 open cut
• Ranger 3 Deeps exploration decline
and drilling underway
39m @ 0.88% U3O8
ERA – Ranger 3 Deeps
Uranium
Hole 1:
26.4m @ 13.3% Zn+Pb, from 1060m
including
8.0m @ 21.2% Zn+Pb
Hole 2:
20.1m @ 15.0% Zn+Pb from 944m
including
12.5m @ 19.5% Zn+Pb
Teena – a major zinc disovery
• Rox Resources – Teck Australia joint venture
• 10 km west of McArthur River
• Similar deposit to McArthur River, but deep
(up to 1 km)
Zinc
MMG JV into
AngloAustralian’s
Victoria River
project – untested
potential shale
sub-basin
EM and drilling
planned in 2013
A resurgence of zinc exploration?
Batten Fault Zone –
• Teck exercise $10M
option in Reward JV
• MMG enter $10M
exploration JV with
Sandfire
Pitchblack Resources
Ltd acquiring 90%
interest in Crocodile
Gold’s base metals
assets in the Pine Creek
Orogen (includes $4m
exploration
commitment)
Map of shale oil/gas basins, Geoscience Australia
Shale gas
Surprise -1: Central Petroleum • 200-400 barrels per day of light sweet crude
• First onshore oil discovery in NT for 50 years
• 4560 bbl produced, 3D seismic acquired
• Santos farm-in into other Central tenements
Onshore petroleum
Batten Fault Zone: Armour Energy • 3 wells in 2012
• flows equivalent to 3.3 million standard cubic feet of
gas per day from Glyde-1
Beetaloo Sub-basin: Falcon Oil and Gas • 3,600 line km of 2D seismic in 2012
• Hess withdrawl from JV
Georgina Basin: Petrofrontier-Statoil • 3 horizontal wells drilled in 2012
• positive oil shows but hampered by technical issues
Challenges for greenfields
exploration
• Difficulties in raising funds for
greenfields exploration
• Rising costs of discovery, especially in
Australia
• High-risk nature of undercover
exploration
Role of Government is to lower the risk
and cost of discovery relative to other
jurisdictions
CORE – Creating Opportunities for Resource Exploration
• Regional gravity surveys
• 1:100,000 scale geological mapping and regional prospectivity studies
• Increased focus on sedimentary basins
• Collaborative grants for greenfields drilling and geophysics
• Online delivery of company reports
• Investment Attraction
NT Government Support for exploration
The Geology and Mineral Resources of
the Northern Territory
• first ever comprehensive overview of the
geology and resources of the NT
• definitive reference for mineral and
petroleum explorers
• 1100 pages, with more than 800 photos,
maps and figures
• 42 chapters describing each geological
province and basin descriptions of all
named geological units in the Territory,
and all major mineral deposits and
petroleum fields
Order from the NTGS website
($250 including postage)
Gravity
• Southern McArthur gravity survey
– late 2013
• South Wiso gravity survey
– mid-2013
• East Amadeus gravity survey
– mid-2012
CORE gravity surveys
NTGS Geoscience Programs
• Scoping of a major collaborative study
in the McArthur Basin for shale gas
and zinc
• Arunta Region continues to be a major
focus – Jervois 1:100k mapping
underway
• Amadeus Basin study underway –
including collaboration with CSIRO
and commencement of mapping
• Hyperspectral logging of drillcore
incorporated into projects
Summary
• Despite a major downturn in exploration, there are positive signs in the Territory
• Recent exploration boom has generated a pipeline of new mining projects
• New discoveries and emerging mineral fields in the McArthur and central Australia
• Gas exploration and development is emerging as a major industry
• NT Geological Survey is working to stimulate exploration in the region through the
CORE initiative
March 18-19 2014,
Alice Springs Convention Centre
Annual Geoscience
Exploration Seminar (AGES)