Limbla Project

The Limbla project area, about 120 kilometres east of Alice Springs, is attracting substantial exploration interest after nearby discoveries of nickel and gold.

Western Desert has one granted exploration licence (EL25402) of 365 square kilometres.

Western Desert picked up this ground in 2007 targeting uranium but has since recognised the multi-element potential. Early stages of exploration have found significant mineralisation, although exploration activities have been limited to source samples and airborne geophysics.

Uranium rich granites of the Arunta Block intrude into the southern lease area. Detailed radiometric surveys have outlined a 600 by 100 metre uranium anomaly at the Tourmaline Gorge Prospect, which has not been drilled.

At the Albarta Prospect, a 400 by 100 metre uranium anomaly has been delineated, with surface samples containing up to 0.9% uranium hosted within a shear zone with strong chlorite alteration.

The northern lease area contains metamorphic rocks of the Harts Range Group, which are the same host rocks in which outcropping nickel, cobalt, copper and phosphate mineralisation have been discovered on nearby leases. An airborne electromagnetic survey identified targets but no drilling has been done.

Mapping by the NT Geological Survey recently highlighted the potential for gold and copper mineralisation. One sample containing 35% copper was collected from an ultamafic hosted shear zone, while another sample containing a network of quartz veins containing 13% copper and 3 g/t of gold was collected in a gneiss.

Regional sampling and mapping was done on the Limbla project in 2011. Surface samples taken from the Tourmaline Gorge and Albarta prospects returned maximum assay values of 161 parts per million (ppm) of uranium and 386 ppm of copper. Further work will include a detailed structural analysis to identify favourable sites for upgrading mineralisation and further mapping and sampling to follow up malachite mineralisation (copper) encountered in stream float.