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Principal Office:
Toro Energy Limited
3 Boskenna Avenue
NORWOOD
South Australia 5067
ABN 48 117 127 590
Telephone: (08) 8132 5600
Facsimile: (08) 8362 6655
Email: info@toroenergy.com.au
Perth Office:
Toro Energy Limited
Level 2, 35 Ventnor Avenue
WEST PERTH
Western Australia 6005
PO Box 584
West Perth WA 6872
Telephone: (08) 9214 2100
Facsimile: (08) 9226 2958
Email: info@toroenergy.com.au
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The Wiso Uranium Project involves the greenfields Wiso Basin that has received very little attention in the past, as it has been viewed only as a petroleum province, analogous with the gas-producing Amadeus Basin. A sedimentary hosted uranium model, akin to the Angela and Bigrlyi deposits, has not previously been interpreted for this basin despite many similarities with the Amadeus and Ngalia Basins. Toro Energy flew a SkyTEM airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey during 2010 to resolve the geometry, depth and thickness of the Wiso Basin sequence and determine its relationship with the adjacent Aileron Province. This provided a foundation for drilling programs in 2011. |
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Wiso Project: Toro Energy100% covering EL27138 and ELA27123 LOCATION AND ACCESS The Wiso Uranium Project, 350km north of Alice Springs (Figure 1), includes one granted tenement on pastoral land (native title affected) and one application over Aboriginal freehold (ALRA affected) land. Access to the region is via the Stuart Highway.  Figure 1: Location of Wiso project. Granted tenements have no pattern fill, while applications are stippled. GEOLOGICAL SETTING The location of the project area is on the southern edge of the Wiso Basin where it meets the northern edge of the Arunta Region, specifically the Aileron Province (Figure 2). The Aileron Province consists of: (1) a basal Lander Package (1880-1840ma), which makes up about 60% of the north, centre, and west of the region; (2) the Ongeva Package (1810-1800ma) in the south-east, of unknown relationship to the Lander Package; (3) an unnamed sandstone unit above the Lander Package, with a maximum depositional age of 1820-1800ma; (4) the Reynolds Package, which is unconformable on the Lander Package and unnamed sandstone (Geoscience Australia, 2009).  Figure 2: Geological setting of the Wiso project. The brown tone depicts Aileron basement and the pink tone indicates Neoproterozoic to Carboniferous basin cover. The overlying Wiso Basin is a Neoproterozoic/Palaeozoic structural downwarp in the central north-western portion of the Northern Territory between Victoria River Downs station and Tennant Creek. The sedimentary basin lies between 15O- 22OS and 129O - 135OE and is 160,000 sq km in area. 80% of the Basin contains less than 300m depth of sediment. It forms a broad, intracratonic depression which comprises an east south-east trending trough (Lander) in the south and an extensive shallow shelf to the north. The Wiso Basin sequence was deposited on a basement of deformed Proterozoic rocks, the Granites-Tanami Block in the west, the Arunta Block in the south and the Tennant Creek block in the east. The Basin is continuous with the Daly River Basin and the Georgina Basin in the North and East and with the Dulcie Syncline of the Georgina Basin in the South East. The Lander Trough at the southern edge of the Basin has an area of 30,000 sq km. 2000-3000m of sediments occur in this trough. It is a shallow marine to fluviatile depositional environment with the lower and upper limits of the sequence defined by unconformity surfaces. Two additional unconformities are recognised in the sequence. The most significant faulting is along the southern margin of the Lander Trough. A series of parallel, ESE trending faults with an overall displacement >2000m places sediments of the Wiso Basin against the crystalline rocks of the Arunta Complex. Uranium mineralisation is known in the region and is restricted (thus far) to the Proterozoic Aileron Province and the Devonian to Carboniferous parts of the Ngalia and Amadeus Basins. Uranium at Nolans Bore (Arafura Resources), to the south, occurs in phosphatic and REE-enriched metasomatic pods and veins within the high-metamorphic-grade Lander Rock beds. This deposit is subject of ongoing feasibility studies. Uranium is also present in high grades at Bigrlyi (Energy Metals-Paladin JV) to the southwest, within carbonaceous sandstones of the Mt Eclipse Sandstone. The deposit is a roll-front style formed during uplift and deformation of the Basin in the Carboniferous Alice Springs Orogeny. Uranium has also been identified by Thundelarra to the southwest in Tertiary lignite-bearing palaeochannel sands. These are all potential analogues for uranium mineralisation being sought in the Wiso Basin. The Wiso Basin has not been subject to uranium exploration in the past and only limited petroleum exploration. However, based on available data, it is analogous with the Amadeus and Ngalia Basins, being of similar age and having sedimentary components and intracratonic-foreland setting, and therefore has potential for Bigrlyi and Angela style deposits. Important attributes for this model are: • radiogenic basement rocks of the Aileron Province as a source of coarse detritus and leachable uranium for recycling into younger basins; • 3000m thick foreland-style shallow marine to fluviatile Palaeozoic sedimentary succession of the Wiso Basin; • Basin contains TOC-bearing source rocks at several stratigraphic levels; • in situ hydrocarbons higher in the stratigraphy have access to intrabasinal fluids; • hydrocarbons from deeper in the Basin have reached oil or gas window and have subsequently become mobile reductants, for example the "tarry residue" in BMR Green Swamp Well 1. This is required for the reduction of uranium-carrying fluids and deposition of uranium oxides; • presence of thick porous aquifer sandstone package to chemically access the labile uranium species into an oxidised brine pool; • presence of unconformities and structures within the Basin to provide the lateral and vertical variations in permeability needed to focus fluid flow and fluid mixing; • steep structurally-reactivated Basin margin to provide hydraulic gradient; and • the extent of the Basin is large enough to host a world-class uranium resource. The regional geological setting of the project area satisfies many of the required characteristics for sandstone-hosted uranium deposits as outlined in Table A5 in Skirrow et al, 2009 - Uranium Mineral Systems: Processes, exploration criteria and a new deposit framework. Figure 3 illustrates the various 'Sandstone' U styles i.e palaeochannel, roll-front and tabular. The tabular model in particular can be applied to the survey area within a regional geological context.  Figure 3: Model of basin-related uranium mineralising systems, during the extensional stage of basin evolution (Skirrow at al, 2009) PREVIOUS EXPLORATION There has been no uranium exploration within the project area in the past. Exploration has largely been focussed on petroleum systems in the Wiso Basin, but they have been preliminary in nature. The BMR drilled 22 shallow stratigraphic bores with an average depth of 100m. Geophysics included one seismic survey (5 fold, 1967; 200km), two aeromagnetic surveys (1967) and one gravity survey (1965). EXPLORATION OBJECTIVES After reviewing of the available data and reports, Toro composed the following objectives for this project: • Image the edge of the Wiso Basin and its internal stratigraphy and compare to the Amadeus and Ngalia Basins. • Identify potential sedimentary uranium systems within the Wiso Basin sediments and determine if there is reduced facies or evidence of redox changes resulting from migration of hydrocarbons. • Develop exploration tools for the identification of drilling targets under cover, such as soil gas, MMI, water bore chemistry, vegetation chemistry, ground EM etc. • Assess the amenability of the sediment package to in situ leaching (‘ISL’), an efficient mechanism of uranium extraction, as used extensively in Kazakhstan.  Figure 4: Regional magnetic image showing the proposed SkyTEM survey over the Reynolds Project. EXPLORATION IN 2010 In the Wiso project area, for 2010 Toro planned to explore for tabular sandstone-hosted uranium deposits, not unlike those of the Amadeus and Ngalia Basins. To explore effectively, it is essential to have a geological framework to work within. Toro believes this is best facilitated by airborne electromagnetics. This is a cost effective way to resolve sedimentary architecture and structural features over large areas, without undertaking expensive 1D or 2D seismic. The SkyTEM system was preferred because it captures calibrated shallow high resolution and deep-penetrating EM data that is highly suited to quantitative geological interpretation. In July, 2010 Toro Energy conducted a SkyTEM airborne electromagnetic survey over EL27138, covering 1625 km2 (1077 line km; Figure 4). The collaborative geophysical survey between Toro Energy and the NT Department of Resources involved the acquisition, processing and interpretation of helicopter-borne electromagnetics. Figure 5 shows conductive zones (red) and resistive zones (blue) in the AEM data. The interpreted southern basement contact appears to be a reverse fault (thrust), which is paralleled by a series of back-thrusts (labelled in majenta). Indications of palaoechannels are outlined in yellow.  Figure 5: Depth slice image of the Airborne SkyTEM over EL27138 (250m) EXPLORATION PROPOSED FOR 2011 Further interpretation of the AEM data, integrating Aster and Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) data, is underway to assist in drill targeting. Early indications are that targets exist within shallow palaeochannels and deeper structural zones where basinal fluids may have mixed. |
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