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Karoo Region, South Africa
Project Facts
- Where: Karoo Region of South Africa, approximately 250 miles (400km) to 300 miles (600km) ENEN of Cape Town.
- Six project areas (Sites 5, 22, 29, 45, 29 and 37) granted to Peninsula wholly owned subsidiary Tasman Pacific Minerals Limited over Permian sandstones of the Karoo Basin; PEN 74%, Mmakau mining (BEE Partner) 26%.
- The Karoo Basin is a known uranium and Molybdenum mineralised province and is host to several historically defined ore bodies (Ryst Kuil containing approximately 40 Mlbs U3O8 and Riet Kuil reported to contain approximately 10 Mlbs U3O8).
- Minimal U exploration in South Africa since late 1980's.
- Target areas pegged as a result of published SA Government reports on the results of a 1980's radiometric survey and a 1990's sampling and mapping project for Mo and uranium.
- All sites contain outcropping to sub-cropping uranium and Mo anomalism.
- Historic Work: Sites 22, 29 and 45 contain historic resources defined by JCI (sites 22 and 45) and Union Carbide (site 45).
- Historic Drilling: At Site 22, 254 holes have been located where uranium and Mo mineralisation was identified over a 6.2 mi (10km) strike length at depths of 60ft (20m) to 450ft (150m). The mineralisation was determined to be approximately 1m thick with mineralised holes grading between approximately 0.2 and 0.3% eU3O8 and gently dipping.
- Historic Drilling at Site 45 was very broad spaced over a 6.2 miles (10km) strike length and mineralised holes averaged around 0.1 to 0.2% eU3O8 at depths ranging between 0 and 600ft (200m).
- Historic Drilling at Site 29 was conducted over a small area with mineralised intervals averaging 1m wide at 0.1% eU3O8
- Most sites would be most likely by amenable to mining by combination of open pit and underground mining.
- Uranium Mineralisation: Hosted by sandstones of the Permian Karoo Basin. U mineralisation mostly located in tabular or ribbon style bodies, where U mineralisation is concentrated where porous and oxidized sandstones come in contact with reduced shale units or concentrations of organic material.
- Mo Mineralisation: Appears to halo U mineralisation and is part of same oxidation/reduction process. Not factored into previous resource estimations or economic models. Potential to add approximately 50% to the value of the in situ uranium. This significantly impacts on the economics of mining these types of mineralisation.
- A detailed Radiometric Survey covered a total area of 1,985km, with a flight line spacing of 100 metres and a nominal 25m flight height was completed in February 2008. This compares with the original South African Government Geological Survey (now Council for Geoscience) completed over the region in 1976, which was flown on 1km spaced lines at a greater flight height. The closer line spacing, lower sensor height and improved instrument sensitivity have resulted in the identification of a large number of areas with elevated uranium response.
- Review of the Radiometric Survey data has been completed and new areas of uranium anomalism were identified at all six Prospecting Rights. It is expected that several high priority drill targets will be defined following the ground follow-up work.
- Ground checking of the anomalies will now be prioritised by the Company so that the anomalies can be put into geological and topographic context. As radiometric surveys can only test the very shallow surface environment (a few cm) a uranium mineralised body covered with a thin layer of sand or soil will give a minimal response in the uranium channel. Thin overburden can also dilute a uranium response and make it very weak highlighting the importance of placing anomalies in context.
Location map of Karoo Project, South Africa
2011 Program
The first phase of the Tasman Pacific drilling programme in the Karoo commenced in early 2011 at Site 29 and Site 22 and was focused on a selection of the JCI and Union Carbide drill holes to be redrilled and logged to determine uranium correlations in order to confirm the historical resources. Further exploration work has identified numerous other untested uranium occurences at these sites and other sites (Sites 5, 49 and 37). In many cases old boreholes were re-opened and gamma probed for e U3O8 values to be determined. Where reverse circulation (RC) or diamond drilling (DD) work was undertaken, the samples were submitted for analysis at an accredited laboratory to verify the gamma probe grades and obtain a value of molybdenum which is considered to be an important by-product.
Site 22
Site 22 is located below an escarpment approximately 45km south of Fraserburg. On 19 February 2011 Peninsula commenced a program comprising the re-opening and logging of the historic JC boreholes. In conjunction with the logging, Peninsula began a programme of RC drilling designed to provide samples of uranium and molybdenum geochemical analysis and to establish the correlation between uranium and molybdenum. Historic reports suggest a high ratio of molybdenum to uranium within these areas in the Karoo.
During 2011, a total of 159 historic boreholes and 123 newly drilling RC holes were logged. This comprehensive programme has produced a total of 272 intersections that exceed 200ppm e U3O8. A total of 1,699 RC samples have also been collected for assay. Assay results confirmed a widespread distribution of molybdenum in assocation with the uranium and suggest there is potential to delineate a significant level of molybdenum with very favourable implications for the economics of the project.
In addition to validating the high grade uranium reported from the down-hole gamme logging programme, the high grade of he associated molybdenum is particularly encouraging as it has the potential to add significantly to the economics of any future mineral exploration for this area.
Peninsula has also completed four diamond holes at Site 22. These holes were drilled with primary purpose of providing QAQC validation checks on the down-hole gamma logging technique that is being utilised as the main measure of grade in the Karoo programmes. In addition, samples were assayed for molybdenum.
The results generally demonstrated a very good correlation between the assay and gamma logging methods with average core assay values for U3O8 reporting 18% higher grade than the respective average gamma grade. When comparing the RC assays with the corresponding RC gamma grades ther eis an average 10% decrease in grade. The is due to the dilution of the RC samples with unmineralised material which was included in the fixed sample intervals. The uranium to molybdenum ratio varies from 0.3 to 0.9 with an average of 0.6.
In addition to the numerous higih grade uranium and molybdenum assays several holes reported mineralised thickness in excess of 10ft with a maximum thickness of 13.1ft (grading 920ppm U3O8 and 1,003 Mo) returned to DH 06FF0065RC. The highest uranium intersection received to date is from DH06F0151RC which reported 1.6ft grading 8,420ppm U3O8.
Site 29
SIte 29 is located some 10km south-east of the town Beaufort West in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Since commencement of exploration at Site 29 in January 2011, Peninsula has completed 210 RC drillholes for 5,381m (17,654ft). This drilling has returned a total of 95 intersections in excess of 200ppm eU3O8. A further 167 historic holes have also been probed returning 82 intersections in excess of 200ppm eU3O8.
These drill results have confirmed strong high-grade mineralisation in paleochannels averaging a thickness of 3.05ft (at 20ppm eU3O8 cut off). This mean thickness is consistent with the historic results of the project site and is typical of the thickness of mineralised zones in the Karoo.
Exploration activity to date has been concentrated on a very limited part of Site 29. Further exploration drilling is planned for 2012 to determine 200m spaced stratigraphic holes in both east-west and north-south fences across the property.
Site 45
Site 45 is located 120km northwest of Beaufort West and comprises a contiguous area of 489km2. During the late 1970's JCI completed a total of 431 exploration holes in a central portion of the project area. Based on this data JCI calculated the presence of approximately 4.8Mlbs eU3O8 in the Davidskolk formation. Post the JCI drilling, rock chip sampling by the South African Geological Survey returned maximum values of 4,210ppm U3O8 and 1,372ppm Mo wihin the project area indicating an associated high grade molybdenum occurence.
During December 2011 Peninsula field crew were able to undertake non-invasive exploration work in preparation for an extensive drilling campaign planned for 2012 at Site 45. A total of 15 drillholes that were open to the expected mineralisation depth were probed with a gamma tool. This initial programme returned results for 13 with intersections exceeding 200ppm.
