Uranium | Venus Metals

Argyle North Super Project

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Argyle North Project (E80/3253)

A desk-top spatial review of previous work undertaken with the Venus Argyle North project showed that there remain three un-drilled diamond targets. The targets lie along the concealed interpreted position of the prospective Glenhill Fault which hosts the Argyle diamond mine approximately 20 kilometres to the south of the project area (Figure 2). All three targets correspond to concealed discrete aeromagnetic highs which may be indicative of volcanic pipes. The most southern target, “Pomona” was the subject of a single Venus reconnaissance drillhole (VRC006) which returned geochemically anomalous Ba, Fe, Ni, Rb, Ti, Y, Al, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Sc, Sr, V, and Zn from composite drill cuttings of “faulted and ferruginous quartzite basement”.

Argyle Alluvial Diamond (Lower Smoke Creek) Project

The Argyle Alluvial Diamond project area comprises 22 Prospecting Licence applications covering the lower reaches of Smoke Creek. The 1979 discovery of alluvial diamonds in Smoke Creek led to the discovery of the world-class Argyle diamond deposit. Prior to mining operations commencing at Argyle in 1985, Argyle Diamond Mines (ADM) mined the upper parts of Smoke Creek. The Venus tenement applications cover the extent of four forfeited Argyle Diamond Mines (ADM) Mining Leases over the lower reaches of Smoke Creek where ADM had only undertaken reconnaissance gravel sampling for diamonds. Systematic diamond exploration work is planned by Venus when the tenements are granted.

ADM reconnaissance gravel bulk sampling diamond grade results obtained by Venus during the September 2009 Quarter record the presence of diamonds within all the bulk samples taken within the Venus ground (sample size was typically around 30 tonnes). The highest grade ADM diamond result was from bulk sample SC24-6 which returned a result of 200 carats/ hundred tonnes (cpht) from the sample depth interval 5-6 metres. Other encouraging results include bulk sample SC22-1 which returned a diamond grade result of 186 cpht from surface to one metre depth, and sample SC31-3 which returned a result of 185 cpht from 2-3 metres.

Venus spatial analysis of the historical ADM results has identified a high priority exploration target area within the upper part of the project area. Based on the ADM-mapped extent of “C Terrace Gravels” , and the ADM reconnaissance bulk sampling diamond grade results , it was concluded by Venus that there are three high priority exploration target areas within this area (targets LSC-T1, LSC-T2 and LSC-T3) with potential for economic alluvial diamond concentrations. Diamond exploration target LSC-T1 is the highest priority target of the three targets. It is estimated by Venus to contain approximately 13 Mt of gravels based on a spatially determined surface area of approximately 1.6 million square metres, an average gravel thickness of seven metres, and a bulk density of 1.2 . ADM results record that Trench 11 within Target LSC-T1 returned “sample grades from 0.3 to 0.35 ct/m3”, equating to 25 -29 cpht using a bulk density of 1.2. Grade results from bulk sample sites SC23 and SC24 within the target area record an average grade of 35 cpht. It was therefore assessed that high priority diamond target LSC-T1 has a diamond grade potential of between 25 and 35 cpht. Results from samples SC24 and SC23 also show an overall increase in diamond grade towards the base of the gravels, suggesting that selective mining of the basal gravels could result in a higher average diamond grade.

High priority diamond exploration target LSC-T1 was therefore assessed as being in the following range:

	TONNES	GRADE (cpht)	CARATS
Minimum	10,000,000	25	2,500,000
Maximum	16,000,000	35	5,600,000

The above tonnage and grade is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration work to define a Mineral Resource. It is also uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource. Further exploration activities are required to define and advance the conceptual figures discussed above which is planned following grant of the applications.

Geological Reconnaissance

High priority exploration targets within the Argyle North Super Project were examined during a helicopter-supported reconnaissance field program undertaken July 2009. The primary aim of the field work was to assess the mineral prospectivity of the Venus Argyle South, Argyle North, Argyle Alluvial Diamonds (Lower Smoke Creek), King River, Deception Range and Durack Bore project areas. Argyle North (E80/3253) was the only granted Venus project area within the Argyle North Super Project. Diamond consultant Wolf Marx, who was instrumental in establishing the successful Bow River alluvial diamond mining operation near Argyle, participated in the field reconnaissance work to assist in assessing the exploration potential of the Venus Argyle Alluvial Diamond project area.

Principal results of the field reconnaissance work were as follows:

All the high priority hard rock exploration targets examined within the pending Exploration Licences were found to correspond to areas of little or no outcrop with no obvious evidence of previous systematic exploration activities like gridding and drilling. The targets lie along, or in the vicinity of interpreted major faults, and so remain as untested high priority Venus exploration targets.
Helicopter-supported field reconnaissance over lower Smoke Creek confirmed the reported presence of extensive terrace gravels within the Venus Argyle Alluvial Diamond project area.

King River Project (E80/4226, E80/4376)

Exploration Licence application E80/4376 of 130 blocks was lodged by Venus principally to cover the Donkey Creek uranium prospect (“Donkey Creek”) occurring within the Dunham Fault zone (Figure 2). To the south of Donkey Creek, the Frog, Dunham River A and Dunham River B uranium occurrences all lie along, or near, the Dunhill Fault . The fault cuts the Lower Proterozoic Paperbark Supersuite containing “hot” (uraniferous) granites with elevated uranium concentrations (a Venus rock chip sample of a Paperbark Supersuite granite returned a uranium assay of 10 ppm). At Donkey Creek, the Dunham Hill Fault cuts Lower Proterozoic Carr Boyd Basin clastic sediments in a geological setting considered by Venus to be analogous to that hosting the world’s largest high grade uranium deposit at McArthur River in Canada.

Venus reconnaissance exploration work at Donkey Creek identified uraniferous, sheared and altered (chloritised) mafic volcanic exposed in a shallow trench adjacent to Donkey Creek along the interpreted position of the Dunham Fault Zone at coordinate MGA52, 418998E, 8193197N. A peak scintillometer uranium “assay” of 1006.6 ppm was recorded at this locality using a SAIC Exploranium GR-135 spectrometer, and a composite grab rock chip assay taken from the exposure returned a uranium assay of 420.35 ppm. An historical exploration report (Dale, G., R., 1976) records the presence of a rock chip sample result of 3950 ppm uranium oxide located approximately 650m to the north of the Donkey Creek uranium-bearing trench exposure. In October 2009 Astro Resources NL announced that reconnaissance rock-chip sampling of the “Dunham River A” uranium prospect, located along the Dunham Hill Fault approximately 3.3km to the southwest of the Donkey Creek trench exposure, returned uranium assays up to 4804 ppm (ASX release 29 October, 2009). Based on these reports, together with the Venus reconnaissance exploration work at Donkey Creek, Venus considers that the 13 kilometre strike length of the Dunham Fault within E80/4376 to be prospective for high-grade uranium mineralization.