Highlights
- Six promising Exploration Licences granted for 6 year period in Alice Springs and Central Desert Regions, Northern Territory
- Granted tenements covering 3,421km2, giving EMC significant land holding in Northern Territory
- Preliminary Desktop Studies completed, follow up target generation for Battery and Critical Metals underway
Commenting on the Northern Territory tenements grant, Chief Operating Officer, Simon Phillips said:
“EMC is pleased to have taken the opportunity to be part of a first moving group of companies able to secure significant tenure over areas of geological interest in the Northern Territory. The Company plans to further develop targets for Battery and other Critical Metals over this very large tenure”.
Everest Metals Corporation Limited (ASX: EMC) (“EMC” or “the Company”)is pleased to announce that it has received notification from the Northern Territory’s Mineral Titles office that the Company’s 100% owned tenements have been granted.The tenements include five Mineral Exploration Licences northeast of Alice Springs and one Mineral Exploration Licence, west of Alice Springs, covering 3,421km2 (1,189 blocks) in total.
BACKGROUND
In late December 2022, the Company applied for 15 Mineral Exploration Licences (“ELs”) located to the northeast and west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The tenement package covers an area of 10,207.84km2 (3,443 blocks), including two areas 220km northeast of Alice Springs (Georgina tenure, 5,001.08km2), and 150km west of Alice Springs (Amadeus tenure, 5,206.76km2). The Northern Territory Department of Industry, Tourism, and Trade (“DITT”) have formally confirmed the application and assigned ELA numbers. EL applications include EL33415, EL33416, EL33417, EL33418, EL33419, EL33420, EL33421 which are named Amadeus and EL33422, EL33423, EL33424, EL33425, EL33426, EL33427, EL33433 and EL33439 which are named
Georgina[1] (Figure 1, 2 and 3).
Figure 1: Map showing tenements granted (red) and tenement applications (black) in the Alice Springs and Central Desert regions of Northern territory.
The Company followed up on landowner and native title agreements post-granting of applications. Applications EL33421-EL33424, EL33433, and EL33439 had a National Native Title Tribunal (“NNTT”) clearance period ended on 6 July 2023, the notice of Intention to Grant was received on 10 July 2023 and Mineral Exploration Licences took effect from 26 July 2023 for a term of six years, comprises 1,189 blocks covering an area of 3,421km2 (Figure 1 and Table 1). EMC received a Confirmation of Grant on 8 August 2023.
Furthermore, the Consent to Negotiate was granted on 15 March 2023 for the other EL applications including EL33415-EL33420 and EL33425-EL33427 for the submission of a ‘Consent to Grant Application’ to the Central Land Council (“CLC”). The application for the Consent to Grant an Exploration Licence was prepared and lodged with CLC on 24 April 2023 and the Company received the acceptance letter on 28 July 2023. EMC is expected to obtain all required approvals for these tenements in 2024.
The Company’s Project area in Northern Territory comprises six granted tenements and nine in application status covering 3,443 blocks in the southwest Georgina Basin and north Amadeus Basin and are prospective for Lithium pegmatites and sediment-hosted Copper-Lead-Zinc and Rare Earth Elements. The granting of the new exploration licences provides expanded opportunities for the Company to explore the tenements which lie along the prospective geological basins in the region.
Table 1- Details of granted tenements in Northern Territory
| Tenement ID | Blocks | Area (Km2) | Location |
| EL33421 | 166 | 490.59 | Amadeus Basin |
| EL33422 | 250 | 733.22 | Georgina Basin |
| EL33423 | 250 | 767.6 | Georgina Basin |
| EL33424 | 176 | 471.37 | Georgina Basin |
| EL33433 | 250 | 748.9 | Georgina Basin |
| EL33439 | 97 | 209.84 | Georgina Basin |
EMC is committed to carrying out the exploration program and the potential project development within the prescript of the approved Mineral Exploration Licences and under a Mining Management Plan (“MMP”) for Exploration. Relevant stakeholders will be kept up to date with the development of the exploration activities and all engagement will be conducted with the Native Title Parties and Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority as part of the Company’s Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) responsibilities.
PRELIMINARY DESKTOP STUDY
The Company was attracted to the project area by its strategy in developing projects in battery minerals and precious metals. Due to this region’s rich mineralisation and currently advancing peer projects, this was seen as an excellent project development opportunity. The Preliminary Desktop Study (“PDS”) included an assessment of the local geology, geophysical data, surface geochemistry, peer tenure, and historic company reports. This PDS aims to establish an appropriate mineralisation model for the project and identify geological evidence for target delineation and future exploration activities.
The Georgina Project area is located approximately 220km northeast of Alice Springs. The Georgina Basin is a polyphase intracratonic basin in the central-eastern Northern Territory extending into western Queensland. The southern Georgina Basin is widely regarded as one of the more prospective areas for onshore petroleum in the Northern Territory. The Palaeozoic successions of the Georgina Basin contain base metals mines, prospects, occurrences, and anomalies that can be assigned to several Cu and Pb-Zn mineralisation styles. The basin is also very prospective for phosphate over large areas of its central and northern parts, hosting several substantial deposits.
Other prospective commodities within the Georgina Basin include diamonds, manganese, and uranium. Neoproterozoic and/or Palaeozoic successions of the southern Georgina Basin have also been explored for gold and platinum group elements but to date without success. Due to the lack of surface sampling within the project area, low-cost satellite image processing and low-impact ground traverses across the project to confirm prospective outcrop may be the most effective approach to identify and sample previously unrecorded and unsampled prospects[2].
The PDS concluded that there is sufficient existing geological and geochemical evidence to rate the Georgina project as prospective for both primary and secondary mineralisation targets, including but not limited to; polymetallic base metal deposits, LCT-bearing pegmatites, and Rare Earth Elements mineralisation. The information reviewed suggests that prospectivity is likely for primary mineralisation targets.
Figure 2: Total Magnetic Intensity over the Georgina Project Area (EL33422-33427/EL33433/EL33439), data sourced from STRIKE Northern Territory Government, 2023. Granted tenements (EL33422-33424, EL33433 and EL33439), highlighted in yellow dash.
The Amadeus Project area is located approximately 150km west of Alice Springs. The project can potentially host polymetallic mineralisation for base metals and REE. The Amadeus project aims to explore and investigate the prospectivity of the underexplored mineralisation targets, which are likely sediment-hosted and stratigraphically conformable, in order to evaluate the base metal and REE potential of the project area.
The region is characterised by a large variety of mineral deposits, including sediment-hosted polymetallic mineralisation, particularly copper-lead-zinc, potential Mississippi Valley Type (“MVT”) Pb-Zn mineralisation, and possible REE mineralisation, uranium, and phosphate deposits. Arafura’s (ASX: ARU) world-class Nolans Rare Earth (NdPr) Project is located about 110km northeast of the Amadeus Project[3].
This Preliminary Desktop Study suggest the Amadeus project is prospective for sediment-hosted copper-lead-zinc and REE enrichment/occurrences within the project.
Figure 3: Total Magnetic Intensity over the Amadeus Project Area (EL33415-EL33421), data sourced from STRIKE Northern Territory Government, 2023. Granted tenement (EL33421) highlighted in yellow dash.
The Company is planning a hyperspectral remote sensing study, and preliminary site visit and reconnaissance program for Q4, 2023.
NEXT STEPS
- Consultations with Native Title Parties and the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, prior to the commencement of physical exploration activities
- Hyperspectral remote sensing study and reconnaissance fieldwork
[1] ASX: EMC announcement; EMC Lodge Application for Prospective Tenement Package in Northern Territory, dated 17 January 2023
[2] The Northern Territory Geological Survey, Geology and mineral resources of the Northern Territory, Chapter 28: Georgina Basin, 2013
[3] The Northern Territory Geological Survey, Geology and mineral resources of the Northern Territory, Chapter 23: Amadeus Basin, 2013
