Energy Minerals - Coal and Uranium
Coal - Canning Basin, WA
The Canning Basin is regarded by Cullen as an important exploration frontier for coal with substantial resource potential. Cullen has one tenement application and six granted tenements for coal in the Canning Basin of north Western Australia(see Figure), all of which are the subject of a Heads Of Agreement with Advaita.
Cullen has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Advaita Canning Resources Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of a private, Singapore-based, energy-focused, investment company Advaita Power Resources Pte Ltd. (Advaita). The agreement relates to coal rights only, with Cullen retaining all other mineral rights.
Advaita was founded by Mr. Hari Kiran Vadlamani, who was earlier the co-founder of a successful power development company in India. Advaita is aiming to become a preferred fuel supply partner for Indian power producers and has mandates for coal supply from several power companies setting up over 10 GW of imported coal-based power capacity in India.
In July 2011, Advaita completed a reconnaissance drilling programme of 23 drill holes for 4,246 metres, comprising six RC drill holes for 778 metres and 17 rotary mud drill holes for 3,468 metres. This drilling discovered coal seam intercepts ranging from 0.19 to 0.55m thick at relatively shallow depths (40-190 m) in four of 23 holes drilled.
Two samples were collected by hand from the open-hole chip samples derived from the coal intervals in CBRM_006 and CBRM_007. The samples – CBRM_006-C1 and CBRM_007-C1 were analysed by SGS in Newcastle. Analysis of sample CBRM_006-C1 indicates a medium rank thermal coal quality which may be deemed suitable for export to international markets, however, further testing of additional samples would be required to confirm this. Unfortunately, sample CBRM_007-C1 contained insufficient material to provide a full quality analysis.
A forward work programme for 2012 and budget will now be prepared targeting areas of interest with more detailed work.
EROMANGA, MILLUNGERA, AND GALILEE BASINS, NW QLD - Coal Cullen (100%)
Millungera Basin
Cullen has been progressively reviewing available stratigraphic information from petroleum and mineral exploration drill holes, company mineral exploration reports and water bores, and has constructed basic cross sections for its application areas. This has allowed prioritisation of applications a number of which have now been withdrawn on the basis of the lack of target coal horizons.
Eromanga/Galilee Basin - Winton area
The assessment work described above has, however, identified an area of interest west of Winton where water bore “WB2498” intersected 193.5m (from 112.8m to 306.3 EoH) of “shale and coal” that is interpreted to be Cretaceous Winton Formation. Petroleum wells in the same region include “McQueen #1”, that intersected 4m of shale and coal (164 -168m) and “Cork #1” that intersected 5m of shale and coal (380-385m; 80% coal) within a broader carbonaceous ( trace, to 20% coal) sediment sequence from 60-420m down hole. Cullen has applied for four EPCAs covering “WB2498” and extensions north and south towards the McQueen and Cork drill collars (now under applications by another company). Near Adavale, 400km SE of Winton, the Winton Formation is known to contain substantial thicknesses of carbonaceous sediments and coal seams (ASX: NSL release 18/7/2011)
Review of petroleum exploration reports by Esso has located results of seismic surveys over this new Winton application area. The coal occurrence in “WB2498” is located over the Lovelle Depression which appears to be a basinal structure formed in the Permian, west of a basement high and the major NNW trending Cork Fault. The Permian Aramac Coal Measures and Betts Creek Beds are well developed in the area of the EPCAs but are relatively deep – between 800m and 1300m.
Recent inspection of drill cuttings from McQueen #1 and Cork #1 at the Queensland Mines Department data storage facility in Brisbane has shown that the coal of the Winton Formation is dull black, with minor brown coal. A small sample from each hole was taken and submitted to “Preplabs” in Rockhampton for analysis to give an indication of the coal rank. The results are reported on an air dried basis in the following table compared to results of Governement drill hole sampling and water bore sampling in 1975.
Table: Results of analysis of drill chip samples from petroleum wells and water bores, Winton Qld.
| Sample Id | Calorific Value MJ/kg | Moisture % | Ash % | Volatile matter % | Fixed carbon % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| @Cork #1, 380-385m | 19.56 | 9.4 | 11.7 | 38.1 | 40.8 |
| @McQueen 1, 164-168m | I/S | 12.5 | 21.1 | I/S | I/S |
| #Ayrshire NS13 62.7 – 63.7m | 8.52 | 12.4 | 54.0 | 17.2 | 16.4 |
| *Winton Town Bore 54.8 – 91.4m | N/R | 17.6 | 16.5 | 30.7 | 35.2 |
| **Government Well | N/R | N/R | 4.58 | 42.93 | 52.49 |
Notes: @ Coal sample separated from rock by heavy media separation; # Sample of 0.98m interval of coal and carbonaceous mudstone: *Select sample of drill sludge: ** Coal debris from drill site; I/S: insufficient sample; N/R: Not reported. “Preplabs” have indicated that the coal quality of samples from McQueen and Cork appears to be sub-bituminous rank which agrees with the ASTM (D388) classification of sub-bituminous C coal.
Galilee Basin - Hughenden area (EPCAs 2226 and 2236)
Recent drilling results announced by Guildford Coal Ltd (ASX: GUF) from their Hughenden Project, approximately 80kms north of Hughenden, included a combined total of 11.9m of coal seams, with the thickest being 5.6m of coal, within an interval 360-406m of the Permian, Betts Creek Beds. This intersection in GUF’s drill hole “H005C” is approximately 30km south of Cullen’s EPCA2236. Stratigraphic bore GSQ#6 drilled 10km east of H005C intersected several seams of coal to 3.0m thick (225.5 – 228.5m), in the interval 220-283m. Review of driller’s logs of water bore “15014”, 18km east of EPCA2236, identified a 4m sandstone/coal intercept from a depth of 113m. Correlation between the coal-bearing stratigraphy in H005C/GSQ#6 and water bore 15014 is difficult because water bores in-between either did not penetrate to sufficient depth or intersected granite. Three target areas for coal have been interpreted from aeromagnetics data for further exploration upon grant of the applications.
View Queensland Coal Projects pdf
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Uranium
SALTWATER POOL JV: Els 52/1890, 1892, Thundelarra and U3O8 can earn 70%.
The Company has a Joint Venture agreement with Element 92 Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thundelarra Exploration Ltd (Thundelarra), over its three tenements (EL52/1890-1892) at Tunnel Creek/Kunderong, in the Ashburton Province. U308 Limited (U3O8) and Thundelarra have agreed for U3O8 to farm-in and take over management of two of the Els (E52/1890 and E52/1892). U3O8 and Thundelarra can together earn 70%, with Cullen to retain 30% in these two tenements.
During the Quarter, U3O8 announced high-grade gold and silver assays from rock chip sampling carried out on the Saltwater Pool Joint Venture area in the Ashburton District of Western Australia (see Figure). Rock chip sampling from the Monster Prospect on E52/1892 in the Saltwater Pool JV area has returned up to 8.8g/t gold (Au), 150g/t silver (Ag) and 1.1% antimony (Sb). Samples from the Monster Prospect are from a complex, brecciated quartz vein system and were collected from a small area over various parts of the veins. A total of 22 samples returned between 1.0 and 150g/t Ag, whilst 10 samples returned between 0.1g/t and 8.08g/t Au.
A review of radio metrics, electromagnetics and satellite imagery is on-going. This will be followed by a detailed follow-up sampling and geological mapping programme.
Figure: Saltwater Pool / Nalgomia Creek area showing channel Z10 from the TEMPEST airborne EM survey along with the Uranerz RAB drillholes (black points). A zone of contorted anomalies, interpreted to represent intense deformation, occurs along-strike from Nobby ’s Prospect and is a priority target for unconformity-style uranium mineralisation. A paleochannel is also evident as a linear conductor that parallels the N-S running Nalgomia Creek. CRA drilled two holes nearby (red points) to test beneath surface carnotite mineralisation.
View Ashburton Projects - Simplified Geology and Tenement Location pdf