The Roper Bar Iron Ore project is located in the Roper River region of the Northern Territory, some 40 kilometres from the Gulf of Carpentaria. The nearest settlement is at Roper Bar, 80 kms to the northwest.

WDR in partnership with IMEA Exploration and Development Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the Japanese company ITOCHU Corporation hold tenements which cover extensive areas of outcropping ironstone and substantial quantities under thin cover.

Under the terms of the farm-in agreement, ITOCHU will spend up to A$15m to earn a 51% interest in the Roper Bar Iron Ore project. In addition, ITOCHU will have marketing rights to 100% of product from the joint venture.

The Roper Bar tenement area totals almost 2,300 sq kms, comprising six granted exploration licences EL25672, EL26759, EL24307, EL24944, EL24665 and EL26992. The project is located in the northern part of the Northern Territory, a geological region endowed with numerous world class mineral deposits.

The iron ore deposits have many attractive attributes to develop into a major project.   Located only 40 kms from the coast, the area is ideally placed for export of a bulk commodity.   Furthermore, the top end of Australia is closer to Asian steel mills than any other major iron ore producing region.

A drilling program in 2008 confirmed substantial ironstone under cover assaying up to 60% Fe.  Subsequent beneficiation testwork successfully upgraded material of moderate grade to 63%-65% Fe using low cost gravity techniques.

A geological mapping program conducted during March 2009 extended the known area of outcropping iron mineralisation to 55 square km, some of which yielded surface samples assaying over 60% Fe.

In 2009 RC drilling was completed on areas D, E , F (east) and F (west).   Although much of this drilling was completed on wide-spaced traverses typically 400 metres apart, the continuity of the hematite mineralisation allowed three JORC-compliant Inferred Mineral Resource calculations to be completed.   These are:

Area D : 90 million tonnes of hematitic iron ore @ 37.2% Fe

Area E : 12.3 million tonnes of hematitic iron ore @ 44% Fe

Area F (east) : 14 million tonnes of hematitic iron ore @ 49% Fe

         including 7 million tonnes @ 59% Fe.

Other work completed during 2009 included trial ground EM surveys, detailed helimag survey over most of the tenement area, and a gravity survey at area F (east).   The gravity and magnetic surveys show that the hematite mineralisation can be mapped out in areas under cover using these geophysical techniques.   This opens up the potential target exploration area to over 200 square kilometres.

In 2010 WDR will carry out further mapping and drilling to refine resource definition and explore other target areas within the tenement group.

Outcrop of Sherwin Ironstone membar at Roper Bar Area E

Outcrop of Sherwin Ironstone Formation assaying 59% Fe at Area F

RC drilling at Roper Bar Area D

RC drilling at Area E

This is WDR's second iron ore project area located adjacent to and northwest of the Roper Bar project area.   Mountain Creek EL27143 covers 1,000 square kilometres and is 100% owned by WDR. 

Limited mapping and sampling was complted on the ground in field season 2009 following grant of tenement in August.   Mapping shows the "Hells Gate Hinge line" extends from the Roper Bar project area into the Mountain Creek area.   This is a major geological structure which has influenced the development of high grade hematitic iron ore mineralisation.

The prospective Sherwin Ironstone member (SIM) also extends from Roper Bar project area into the Mountain Creek EL.   Surface samples have reported assays in the range 46-62% Fe.  A detailed ground gravity survey is in progress to define sites for drill testing in 2010.

     Outcrop of Sherwin Ironstone Formation at Mountain Creek

WDR has entered into a joint venture with listed company TNG Limited (ASX Code : TNG) with respect to several leases in the emerging Rover Field, situated to the south west of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Under the terms of the Rover joint venture with TNG Limited, WDR can earn up to an 80% interest in the tenements by spending $1.35m on exploration.

EL 25581 has a boundary some 800m east of Westgold Resources Ltd’s (ASX Code : WGR) Rover 1 prospect, and 2km south-east of Adelaide Resources Limited’s (ASX Code : ADN) Rover 4 project.

Recently announced intersections from the Rover 1 project included:

• 32m at 20.8g/t Au from 467m
  
• 65.75m at 11g/t Au from 492m
• 49m at 5.8g/t Au from 477m; and
• 135m @ 1.9% Cu.

In 2009 WDR completed a detailed airborne magnetic survey over the most prospective part of the Rover area. This defined the magnetic targets broadly outlined by historical government data. WDR also completed a detailed gravity
survey on EL24471, which outlined a substantial new target.

In early 2010, WDR will drill the priority targets to test for copper-gold mineralisation.    There has been no previous drilling on the selected targets.

EL 24471

In recent years the gravity geophysical technique has been successfully applied by explorers in the Tennant Creek region to complement magnetic surveys, and to explore for non-magnetic ironstone bodies.   A detailed gravity survey commissioned by WDR in the northern part of EL 24471 was completed in August.   The results, shown in Figure 3, have clearly defined a significant gravity anomaly.     A single deep drillhole by previous explorers on the edge of this feature reported 2 metres at 0.5 g/t Au.    Following site clearance, this response will be drill tested in 2010