Location

This Project consists of two contiguous Tenements (EL3651 and EL4035), with a current aggregate area of 204km2, located near the northern margin of the Curnamona Craton and immediately southeast of Lake Frome (Figure 10). Access is via the sealed Barrier Highway from Adelaide to Yunta, then north on unsealed roads to Frome Downs Station. The climate is arid and the topography is flat, being dominated by wind-blown sands and salt lakes.

Figure 10. Geological setting of the Curnamona Project

Project Geology and Exploration History

This region, known as the Frome Embayment, is an area where Tertiary and younger sediments of the Great Artesian Basin host several major uranium deposits (Honeymoon, Beverly and Four Mile) as well as numerous occurrences and prospects. These are sandstone-hosted roll front type deposits, and the Energia tenements are considered to be prospective for further discoveries of this type. On the basis of reconnaissance drilling by previous explorers, the major Billeroo palaeochannel is interpreted to trend into the tenements from the south. Known uranium mineralisation occurs within this channel at Gould’s Dam some 35km to the south.

There may also be potential for basement-hosted copper-gold deposits given the presence of the Portia and White Dam prospects some 45 and 115km to the southeast. In a recent compilation, Connors and Priess (2008) cite the Olary Domain (this western portion of the Curnamona Craton) as highly prospective for IOCG deposits. Conor, C.H.H., and Preiss, W.V. 2008: Understanding the 1720-1640Ma Palaeoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup, Curnamona Province, south-eastern Australia: implications for tectonics, basin evolution and ore genesis. Precambrian Research 166(1-4), p297-317.