Pancontinental Uranium Adds New Australian Uranium Property and Identifies New Target
Market Wire
Pancontinental Uranium Corporation ("Pancon") (TSX VENTURE:PUC) is pleased to announce that a new Australian property, Crossland Creek, containing an unconformity-type uranium target, has been added to the joint venture with Crossland Uranium Mines Ltd. ("Crossland") of Australia. Pancon continues to expand and diversify its exploration portfolio to include projects in areas with high probability for the discovery of major uranium deposits.
Crossland Creek is located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia, 190 kilometres west of Wyndam and 150 kilometres south of Kalumburu, and encompasses an area of approximately 348 square kilometres. Pancon is earning a 50% interest in Crossland's significant uranium project portfolio in Australia through the expenditure of A$8 million. In addition to Crossland Creek, the uranium properties include the Chilling and Charley Creek properties in the Northern Territory and the Kalabity property in South Australia.
The project area is situated in the Kimberley Basin, a relatively undeformed Paleoproterozoic sequence of sandstone, siltstone, shale and basalt up to 5,000 metres in thickness. Basaltic rocks of the Carson Volcanics outcrop over much of the project area. This is underlain by the King Leopold Sandstone. The target for a possible source of uranium and other metals is on the basal unconformity of the King Leopold Sandstone. The basement rocks below the Sandstone remain unexplored, as no evidence of previous drilling has been found near the prospective area, although uranium occurrences are known in areas where the basement rocks are exposed around the edge of the Kimberley Basin. Refer to the following link for an image of the area: http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/pancon.jpg.
The potential for uranium at Crossland Creek was identified by Crossland through the interpretation of results from a recently completed airborne magnetic and radiometric survey. Past exploration at Crossland Creek focused on several targets including uranium, copper, diamonds and bauxite. The property was initially viewed as most prospective for copper based on copper values from soil and rock sampling discovered from a broad area of alteration which coincided with a magnetic anomaly. This had originally been defined in regional, government-funded surveys and confirmed by Crossland during 2006. The recently completed airborne magnetic and radiometric survey was undertaken by Crossland to provide definition of this anomaly to delineate drill targets. The results identified uranium-channel anomalies along a linear magnetic structure to the east of the original magnetic anomaly.
Crossland has developed the concept that the uranium might originate from leakage along a dyke-filled fault from a deposit on the sandstone unconformity at depth. The source of the magnetic feature is likely to be a basic intrusive that has entered a pre-existing structure. This structure would occupy a setting very similar to that which hosts unconformity-related uranium deposits, such as the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan and the McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory. These deposits are also relatively unfolded and contain younger Proterozoic rocks, with basal sandstone units, which lie over an older more folded basement terrain.
The project area lies in Drysdale River Station, a pastoral property. The area is also covered by native title of the Wanjina/Wunggurr-Willinggin People. Native Title and Heritage Protection Agreements have been entered into with Kimberley Land Council on behalf of the Native Title Holders. These agreements recognize the mutual rights of the parties and set out terms for compensation during exploration in the area.
Ground follow-up, with prospecting of the radiometric anomalies and confirmatory magnetics will commence at the end of the wet season in the Kimberley, which typically ends by June. This will be followed by drilling of magnetic targets.
Crossland Creek is located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia, 190 kilometres west of Wyndam and 150 kilometres south of Kalumburu, and encompasses an area of approximately 348 square kilometres. Pancon is earning a 50% interest in Crossland's significant uranium project portfolio in Australia through the expenditure of A$8 million. In addition to Crossland Creek, the uranium properties include the Chilling and Charley Creek properties in the Northern Territory and the Kalabity property in South Australia.
The project area is situated in the Kimberley Basin, a relatively undeformed Paleoproterozoic sequence of sandstone, siltstone, shale and basalt up to 5,000 metres in thickness. Basaltic rocks of the Carson Volcanics outcrop over much of the project area. This is underlain by the King Leopold Sandstone. The target for a possible source of uranium and other metals is on the basal unconformity of the King Leopold Sandstone. The basement rocks below the Sandstone remain unexplored, as no evidence of previous drilling has been found near the prospective area, although uranium occurrences are known in areas where the basement rocks are exposed around the edge of the Kimberley Basin. Refer to the following link for an image of the area: http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/pancon.jpg.
The potential for uranium at Crossland Creek was identified by Crossland through the interpretation of results from a recently completed airborne magnetic and radiometric survey. Past exploration at Crossland Creek focused on several targets including uranium, copper, diamonds and bauxite. The property was initially viewed as most prospective for copper based on copper values from soil and rock sampling discovered from a broad area of alteration which coincided with a magnetic anomaly. This had originally been defined in regional, government-funded surveys and confirmed by Crossland during 2006. The recently completed airborne magnetic and radiometric survey was undertaken by Crossland to provide definition of this anomaly to delineate drill targets. The results identified uranium-channel anomalies along a linear magnetic structure to the east of the original magnetic anomaly.
Crossland has developed the concept that the uranium might originate from leakage along a dyke-filled fault from a deposit on the sandstone unconformity at depth. The source of the magnetic feature is likely to be a basic intrusive that has entered a pre-existing structure. This structure would occupy a setting very similar to that which hosts unconformity-related uranium deposits, such as the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan and the McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory. These deposits are also relatively unfolded and contain younger Proterozoic rocks, with basal sandstone units, which lie over an older more folded basement terrain.
The project area lies in Drysdale River Station, a pastoral property. The area is also covered by native title of the Wanjina/Wunggurr-Willinggin People. Native Title and Heritage Protection Agreements have been entered into with Kimberley Land Council on behalf of the Native Title Holders. These agreements recognize the mutual rights of the parties and set out terms for compensation during exploration in the area.
Ground follow-up, with prospecting of the radiometric anomalies and confirmatory magnetics will commence at the end of the wet season in the Kimberley, which typically ends by June. This will be followed by drilling of magnetic targets.