News Detail

News > West Lake Eyre Positive Geophysical Interpretations

ASX confirms the release to the market of Doc ID: 542723 as follows:
Release Time: 11-Dec-2007 at 14:21:23
ASX Code: MNC
Announcement Title: West Lake Eyre Positive Geophysical Interpretations

Download ASX Announcement Here - 1.2 meg PDF

HIGHLIGHTS

Metminco has recently engaged Flagstaff Geo-Consultants (Hugh Rutter) to undertake a thorough review of the available geophysical data over the West Lake Eyre Exploration Licence, which includes airborne magnetic, airborne radiometric and gravity data. Hugh Rutter has extensive experience in the region and was closely involved in assessing geophysical data that led to the discovery of Olympic Dam.
Promising features have been identified from the review:
• There are two strong gravity signatures with coincident subdued magnetic responses that are indicative of potential Iron Oxide Copper Gold Uranium (IOCGU) deposits.
• A series of near surface uranium anomalies, possibly structurally controlled, have been delineated and are targets for further exploration.

Background
Metminco’s 100% owned Exploration Licence 3929, on the western side of Lake Eyre in South Australia (Figure 1), lies near the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton, and is prospective for Iron Oxide Copper Gold + Uranium (IOCGU) deposits and shallower sandstone hosted uranium deposits. These shallow deposits are believed to derive from either deeper sources below or granitic rocks to the west.
As with most of the Gawler Craton the prospective rock units are obscured by layers of younger sedimentary rocks. None of the geological situations interpreted from the geophysical data can be explained by the available geological mapping.
Figure 2 summarizes the current interpretations of the anomalies derived from the modelled data.
Those interpretations are:
• The magnetics indicate rock types, probably volcanics, relatively close to the surface with both dyke and sill-like structures (M1 & M2).
• The radiometrics indicate highly anomalous uranium values at specific locations and possibly close to faulting (U).
The gravity data has identified at least two positive amplitude anomalies, one of which is within the southern part of the EL and the other in the northwestern corner, also present further to the west of the EL. Both could be caused by rocks similar to those encountered at Olympic Dam.

Date:  Tuesday 11 Dec 2007