The Amadeus Basin Project comprises licenses (EL26920, EL27016, EL27017, EL27018, EL27019 and EL27020) which cover an aggregate area of a 1000 km2 and are situated approximately 60 km east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
A regional overview has shown phosphorite occurrences to be widespread in the Proterozoic and Cambrian sediments of Australia. Although the major Australian phosphate deposits occur in the Georgina Basin, several significant occurrences have been recorded within the Cambrian sediments of the Amadeus Basin. Early Cambrian phosphate occurrences of the Amadeus Basin are confined to the north-central and north-eastern portion of the Amadeus Basin and were deposited during phases of marine transgressions.
Interest
Northern Uranium has a 100% interest in the Amadeus Basin Phosphate Project.
Location
The Amadeus Basin phosphate project is located approximately 60 km east of Alice Springs and within close proximity to existing rail and road infrastructure.
The Target
The target is near surface high grade rock phosphate associated with Early Cambrian sediments.
Project Geology
The Amadeus Basin Project lies towards the north eastern portion of the elongated Late Proterozoic/Cambrian Amadeus Basin. The Early Cambrian basal deltaic sediments of the Arumbera Sandstone underlie the lower Cambrian Todd River Dolomite which itself is overlain by the Giles Creek Dolomite and subsequently the Chandler Limestone. The Early Cambrian Todd River Dolomite comprises a dominant pink and grey fossiliferous, glauconitic dolomite with minor shale and siltstone and is considered to be the most prospective unit for hosting phosphate mineralisation in the Amadeus Basin.
Exploration Potential
The tenements host 36 km strike length of the Early Cambrian Todd River Dolomite which is confined to the eastern portion of the Amadeus Basin and considered to be the most prospective unit for hosting phosphate mineralisation. Unpublished exploration reports on work completed by Broken Hill Pty Ltd record that the dolomites and interbedded sandstone are phosphatic and one drill hole yielded a 6m intersection of calcareous silty sandstones associated with minor limestone, chert and ferruginous siltstone averaging 22.8% P2O5 and a 2m intersection of 17.2% P2O5 from 30m. Historic drilling has shown another drill hole to have returned assay values of 2m at 4.13% P2O5 from 30m from within the Todd River Dolomite.
Work Program
The following work program is proposed:
- Geological survey (to include rock chip, soil and geological mapping) to follow up areas of interest defined from the historic data review
- Detailed mapping program will be focused on identifying target zones for surface geochemical sampling (rock chip and soil sampling) where appropriate
- Generate drill targets based on geological mapping and sampling
- Wide spaced RAB or Aircore drilling of target areas