The Chilling Project, located in the Northern Territory of Australia, represents a prime site to explore for large, high grade unconformity-related uranium deposits. Chilling has the potential to host a mirror image of a portion of the renowned Alligator Rivers Uranium Field containing the large Jabiluka, Ranger and Koongarra deposits on the east side of the Pine Creek Orogen. The area is not affected by some of the significant land access issues that prevail in the Alligator Rivers district.
Crossland has a 100% interest in the Chilling project. Through the Pancon & Crossland Joint Venture, Pancon has the right to earn a 50% interest in this property.
Uranium Exploration Activities
Exploration activities at Chilling have included mapping, sampling and radiometric surveying of the known uranium prospects in the area, including the Mema and Eccles prospects, in addition to a detailed airborne magnetic and radiometric survey of 18,875 line kilometres which was undertaken in November to December 2007. Radiometric prospecting around Mema located several previously unrecorded radiometric spot highs over graphitic Lower Proterozoic metasediments and other altered metapelites. Results of outcrop chip samples ranging from 7.22 ppm up to 658 ppm uranium were reported from Mema, with visible uranium mineralization in some of the samples. A shear zone in granite was identified and exposed over a length of approximately 200 metres with an outcrop width of at least six metres. This shear zone hosts several mineralized veins containing visible secondary uranium minerals, notably meta-torbernite.
The detailed airborne radiometric and magnetic survey commenced on November 9, 2007 at Chilling. At that time, the rains had begun in the Top End of the Northern Territory, signalling the commencement of the wet season. Soil moisture and surface water have a dampening effect on gamma radiation, though Crossland was able to monitor and, to some degree, calibrate the effects on the airborne survey with similar instruments used on ground surveys. The survey line spacing was stepped out to 200 metres once the rains started to have an effect, still providing excellent magnetic data and, although slightly muted, valuable radiometric data. The present phase of the airborne survey is completed and the results have been processed. These are still being evaluated by the geophysicists. Several previously undetected anomalies are revealed in the results. Channel sampling of Mema and additional anomalies identified by ground prospecting is also underway and will continue as surface conditions permit. Ground spectrometer surveys will continue using a GPS-controlled gamma ray spectrometer mounted on an all-terrain vehicle (“ATV”) to follow-up the results of the airborne radiometric survey.
Interpretation of the geophysical results will form the basis for follow-up in the 2008 field season. A fly camp has been left at the site with an ATV to permit helicopter-based access through the wet season and an early start next dry season. The Mema prospect is ready for initial drill testing, though additional targets are likely to emerge from follow-up of the airborne survey. The recently acquired Mount Thomas exploration license contains prospects that will also warrant detailed work. Due to seasonal conditions, access for drill testing in Chilling would not commence before approximately July 2008, and a drilling rig has been booked to commence then. Crossland has also indicated to Geoscience Australia that it will participate in a major airborne electromagnetic survey that is planned in the Pine Creek Orogen in 2008. This should provide valuable data on the structure of basement rocks beneath later Proterozoic cover rocks throughout the Chilling project area.
Location
The Chilling project is located in the uranium-rich Pine Creek Orogen of the Northern Territory in Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south of Darwin.
Property Size
The project area is contiguous and encompasses approximately 1,892 square kilometres. Crossland has received titles for 1,353 square kilometres of the total area.
Principal Target
Targets at Chilling include Alligator Rivers-type large, high grade unconformity-related uranium ore bodies. The Pine Creek Orogen contains the world-class uranium deposits of the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field. These deposits include Jabiluka, Ranger, Koongarra, and Nabarlek. Similar, smaller deposits have been mined in the South Alligator Valley and Rum Jungle Uranium Fields. It is the Joint Venture’s hypothesis that the Chilling area mirrors the Jabiluka-Ranger-Koongarra corridor of the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field. The area is in a similar geological setting, with high uranium background values and is large enough to include a repetition of the entire corridor.
Project History & Geology
Crossland was formed in May 2006 through the merger of Crossland Mines Pty. Ltd. (“CMPL”) and Klondike Source Limited. The Chilling property was originally held by CMPL, a private company formed in late 2003 to evaluate a portfolio of targets across northern Australia generated with proprietary targeting methods. Chilling was a property originally selected using these proprietary targeting methods, and since then, the project area has been expanded to secure a contiguous land position with prime prospectivity for unconformity-related uranium deposits. Past exploration in the area was patchy and isolated, despite several companies’ efforts in the area. It is Pancontinental’s and Crossland’s intention to systematically and comprehensively explore for uranium covering the entire project area.
The Chilling titles cover a significant portion of an arcuate unconformity between Paleoproterozoic (older than 1,850 million years old (“Ma”)) metamorphic basement rocks and less deformed Mesoproterozoic (1,700 Ma or younger) platform sedimentary cover rocks. This unconformity extends north-south for approximately 130 kilometres within the Chilling area and is the most important control for the location of uranium mineralization in the Pine Creek Orogen. The source of the high uranium background values is Archean granite basement, which is exposed in the Rum Jungle and Waterhouse granites, over 20 kilometres to the north-northeast of the project area. It is likely that the Adelaide River Fault System, traversing the area, provided channelways for uranium-bearing fluids. The Depot Creek Sandstone of the Tolmer Group which forms the cover rocks, is stratigraphically equivalent in age to the Kombolgie Sandstone in the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field and the unconformity surface may contain sites for uranium deposition within Chilling. Uranium occurrences are known to outcrop within the project area and gold and tin deposits have been mined in the past.