The project is being explored under joint venture with Crescent Gold Limited.
John Anderson, managing director said the joint venture’s Calvert Hills project in eastern NT had been one of just 14 to attract collaborative funding support from a total of 39 applications.
“We welcome receipt of this grant to assist our drill testing of priority targets in the regional covered extensions to the geology of the Westmoreland uranium field,” Anderson added.
“Work is scheduled to start at Calvert Hills by August and this program will also initiate a broader campaign of drilling by Southern Uranium for other large uranium targets in pedigree belts in South Australia and Queensland.”
The Calvert Hills project area is being explored under joint venture for unconformity uranium deposits of the nearby Westmoreland style. The area is interpreted from limited outcrops and regional geophysical data to be a thinly covered regional extension of the Westmoreland uranium field.
The Westmoreland field includes substantial known uranium deposits at Red Tree, Huarabagoo and Junnagunna so the regional potential for undiscovered quality uranium deposits is considered to be high.
Southern Uranium has identified prospective locations similar to the Westmoreland geological setting but under cover at Calvert Hills. This was done using modern geophysical techniques that were not available to prior uranium explorers last in the area during the 1970’s.
The geophysics enabled interpretative mapping of the upper Westmoreland Conglomerate that is a prospective uranium host, plus crosscutting dolerite dykes and faults that can focus uranium-rich fluids and mineralisation. Radiometrics enabled further prioritisation of targets where U signals possibly penetrated the thin cover.
The three highest priority targets were selected for immediate drill-testing and this work was nominated for the company’s successful grant by the Northern Territory Government. Six 200m holes are proposed to test the targets with 100m percussion pre-collars and 100m diamond tails. The drilling is expected to start by August 2009.
The drilling aims to test for large uranium systems under the thin cover by confirming the geological interpretations and by intersecting initial indications of uranium mineralisation.
Exploration under Calvert Hills EL24837 is managed by Southern Uranium in a joint venture with a subsidiary of Crescent Gold Limited. Both parties hold 50% interest with Southern Uranium earning to 75% by another AUD400,000 expenditure on exploration.
