Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM) has been granted the Devil’s Elbow uranium, gold and palladium prospect in the Northern Territory by the Department of Primary Industry and Resources.
Detailed planning for field exploration is underway with plans for the 2020 field season including drilling.
Jabiluka similarities
Devil’s Elbow has strong geological similarities to the Jabiluka Uranium-Gold mine, which is 20 kilometres to the north of the Ranger uranium mine and about 75 kilometres west of Devil’s Elbow.
Prospect EL27584 was granted to the wholly-owned subsidiary of Eclipse, North Minerals Pty Ltd.
Historical data analysis
Granting of the prospect means that Eclipse is now able to recognise the increased value of the project area, including with its substantial historical exploration expenditure.
It also means the company can develop its potential as a major asset.
Uranium and gold mineralisation in this project area was discovered and first explored by Uranerz Australia.
Subsequently, Devil’s Elbow was further explored, mainly to the north of Ranger Fault, by Cameco Australia between 2002 and 2008.
Historic samples from shallow trenching yielded high-grade uranium, gold and palladium assays including 3.2%, 3.7%, 4.40%, and 5.8% triuranium octoxide (U308) with 38.1 g/t gold and 28.02 g/t palladium, related to fractures within altered amygdaloidal basalt of the Nungbalgarri Volcanics.
The Devil’s Elbow uranium-gold-palladium prospect.
Exploration plans
Analysis of the extensive detailed historical technical data in conjunction with walk-up drill targets defined by the company will provide a solid platform for proposed exploration.
The Eclipse exploration program will focus on the ground around the Devil’s Elbow, Terrace and Ferricrete uranium prospects, concentrating on areas of high priority defined by historical geochemical and radiometric anomalies centrally within EL27584.
Based on earlier assessment of the collated original exploration results, Eclipse has delineated several new electromagnetic/gravity/radiometric targets, untested highly anomalous structural zones, and areas to the south of the Ranger Fault which warrant further significant follow-up exploration activity.
Conventional helicopter supported diamond core drilling is planned to follow on-ground geological and geophysical confirmation of targets in the 2020 field season.