The NT Independent is providing an update of resource news from across the Northern Territory. Highlights this week include Energy Resources Australia asking to be granted more time to rehabilitate Ranger mine, Kingsland commences drilling at Allamber uranium project, and Tennant Minerals extending mineralisation at Bluebird, plus more.

Kingsland starts drilling program at Allamber uranium project

Kingsland Minerals (KNG) has commenced the first phase of its drilling program at its Allember uranium project in the Territory. KNG will be completing around 3,800 metres of reverse circulation drilling and about 900 metres of diamond drilling at its Cleo prospect to test broad zones expected to contain uranium mineralisation. The early program was designed to check the width and grade of earlier intersections and also aims to extend the known mineralisation in the area.

“We are particularly excited to start our maiden drilling campaign at Cleo,” said KNG managing director Richard Maddocks.

“Geopolitical uncertainties, supply disruptions/shortages combined with increasing concerns about fossil fuel power generation will, I believe, underpin strong uranium price performance in coming years. Kingsland Minerals is extremely well-placed to take advantage of this with the exciting Cleo uranium prospect.”

The company said assay results are expected to be received by early October.

 

Tennant Minerals extends mineralisation at Bluebird

Tennant Minerals (TMS) has extended the mineralisation at its Bluebird, Northern Territory discovery to over 250 metres below the surface, where it remains open. This comes after TMS received assays for another three diamond holes drilled at the project site.

TMS’s assays from diamond drilling at the NT-based copper-gold discovery returned thick intersections of 40 metres at 2.6 per cent copper. Drilling also returned exceptionally high grades of up to 54.5 per cent copper and 39 g/t gold.

“They have confirmed the continuity of the high-grade sulphide mineralisation at depth and the massive chalcocite grades of up to 54.5 per cent copper, coupled with gold grades of up to 39 g/t, are truly spectacular,” TMS chairman Matthew Driscoll said. “The recognition that the majority of the high-grade copper mineralisation is in sulphides has given impetus to our downhole electromagnetic program to detect extensions to this high-grade copper-gold discovery.”

The company is presently waiting on assays for two step-out holes from Bluebird and will be conducting a downhole electromagnetic survey from the westernmost holes to detect conductors that may represent extensions of the Bluebird sulphide zone.

 

 

Energy Resources Australia to be granted more time to rehabilitate Ranger mine

The federal government introduced a bill to grant Energy Resource Australia (ERA) more time to clean up environmental damage left from the now defunct Ranger uranium mine near Kakadu National Park in the Territory. The bill will allow the government to oversee the mine’s clean-up operations beyond 2026. ERA, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, shut down the mine’s production in January last year after 40 years of operation.

New estimates by ERA show that rehabilitation works could cost up to $1.2 billion more than expected and take workers until 2028 to complete the job, which is two years longer than the previous plan. ERA’s current lease, however, stipulates it must complete the rehabilitation and be off the mine site by 2026, a condition legislated by the Atomic Energy Act 1953.

The company has previously pledged it will be able to find the estimated $2.2 billion needed to rehabilitate Ranger properly, without having to plead with the Commonwealth for a taxpayer-funded bailout. But last month, the company applied to drawdown $58 million from a Commonwealth trust fund and is anticipating a decision by the end of October.

The company has not yet committed to a final completion date.

 

Inca launches VTEM survey to enhance drill targets at Jeal Elson

Inca Minerals (ICG) has started new geophysical work to refine drill targets in its Jeal Elson iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) project in the Territory. To test for massive sulphide occurrences, ICG has launched an airborne versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey over five prospects across its project.

After the VTEM survey, ICG plans to start a gradient array induced polarisation (GAIP) survey in mid-September. The work comes as Inca applies for a third exploration licence in the area to increase its Jeal Elson footprint to over 2,100 square kilometres.

“Like the early development of Frewena, which is still in its drilling infancy, exploration at Jeal Elson has ticked all the key lead-up boxes,” ICG general manager Ross Brown said. “Reconnaissance exploration followed by systematic target generation is Inca’s preferred development pathway and we are pursuing this approach to unlock the potential of this exciting new region.”

It says that the large-scale targets defined in the project so far, particularly in Spinifex Pigeon and Kestrel prospects, showed strong indications of sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) and iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) potential.