Arunta Uranium Project
The Arunta Uranium Projects comprise four exploration licenses totalling 1760 km2 in total area. The projects are located near Alice Springs in the Arunta Region and Aileron Basin of the Northern Territory.
The Arunta region is an underexplored part of Australia which is known to contain several uranium deposits including ‘Bigrlyi’ – 20.6Mlb U3O8 (Energy Metals)1, ‘Napperby’ - 7.4Mlb U3O8 (Toro Energy)2, ‘Nolans’ rare earths, phosphate uranium deposit (30.3 Mt at 2.8% REO)3.
Callabonna Uranium will target several mineralisation styles in these projects including:
- Structurally controlled high grade uranium with rare earth minerals hosted in granites (Nolans style) and
- Calcrete channel hosted uranium deposits (Napperby Style)
Surficial calcrete-hosted uranium mineralisation is present in a number of prospects in the Arunta region and nearby Ngalia and Amadeus Basins. Calcrete-hosted uranium deposits are known to develop as near-surface concentrations in sediments within major palaeodrainage and playa lake systems. They form where uranium-rich granites have weathered in a semi-arid to arid climate. The weathered uranium is transported in drainage systems and redeposited with sediments cemented by secondary minerals including calcrete, calcite, dolomite, and gypsum. The uranium occurs as carnotite which is deposited as a chemical precipitate late in the formation of the calcrete.
The Arunta Projects cover areas of the Palaeoproterozoic Arunta basement comprised of granites relatively enriched in primary uranium. Recent drainage systems over the granite terrain hold potential for the accumulation of uranium mineralisation where it has been trapped in channels with calcrete. The style targeted is similar to that at the nearby Napperby deposit, with an inferred resource of 7.4 Million Ibs contained U3O8.
The Mt Doreen and Denison Projects cover areas of anomalous granitic basement. Known uranium mineralisation in these project areas is believed to be associated with structural zones cutting the granites.
The Denison Exploration License contains four known uranium and two known apatite occurrences within the Denison lease application and the abandoned Mount Adam Tin-Niobium mine is located less than one kilometre to the south.
Within the Denison project area there are numerous large NE trending structural zones which appear to control the known uranium mineralisation and some large apatite veins. The area has strong geological affinities to the Nolan’s Bore area where rare earths and uranium mineralisation is also associated with large apatite veins.
Recent work on the Mt Doreen lease area has identified new targets in the Mt Doreen Granite. Analysis of previous data has shown up some interesting targets with anomalous uranium up to 220ppm recorded in granites inside the tenement and areas adjacent to an area having visible carnotite noted at surface and with rock samples up to 2550 ppm U (3031 ppm U3O8) (NTGS Open File reports).
Processed Radiometrics Image of the Mt Doreen Project area showing anomalous area cut by W-NW trending faults.
