Lake Mackay Project – NT (ABM 100%)

ABM holds approximately 8000 square kilometres of exploration licenses and exploration license applications in the area of Lake Mackay in the Northern Territory. Explored since 1996, a number of prospects are identified. 

LOCATION

The Lake Mackay project is centred approximately 460km WNW of Alice Springs. Access to the Project area is via the Tanami Road, then along the Central Mount Wedge-Newhaven-Nyirripi Road. From Nyirripi, access is via graded tracks cleared by previous explorers. This project area is one of the most remote and underexplored regions of Australia.

The Lake Mackay area is part of the Proterozoic Arunta region covering a large part of central Australia. The Arunta region is complex due to the superposition of numerous depositional, magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic events. NTGS geological mapping of parts of the Arunta region has been combined with whole-rock elemental geochemistry and zircon U-Pb geochronology to assist with unravelling the lithostratigraphy and geological history of the area.

Previous work identified large metal anomalies including gold and copper as well as other pathfinder elements such as bismuth, arsenic, antimony and cobalt. The interpretation of the geophysical imagery and the geology of the tenure area revealed the evidence of very large divergent and dilatant structures.

As correlative magnetic depletion and discordant gravity anomalies are abundant; the use of refined processing of geophysical data will be continued to prioritise exploration targets . On ground application of large scale geochemical surveys will enable correlation with conceptual target areas.

The Tekapo prospect in-particular is associated with iron oxide (hematite) gossanous breccia at the surface which along with the broad suite of anomalous metals suggests an Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) mineralisation model analogous to Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill in South Australia, the Tennant Creek systems in the Northern Territory and Ernest Henry in Queensland. At the Tekapo prospect area the drilling program encountered several high grade intersections which confirmed and extended the magnitude of previously encountered mineralisation in Tanami Gold NL holes. Geological information has prompted the need for a petrologic study which has been initiated.

The Dodger prospect has an extensive intrusive-related gold system with large 6km by 8km underlying intrusion. The regolith (RAB) anomaly is greater than 2.5km long averaging 250ppb gold. There is minimal outcrop, however, surface channel sampling on small ridge with zones up to 4m @ 3.56g/t gold and rock chips up to 10.60g/t gold and 12% lead. 

The Taupo prospect displays an anomalous corridor 8km by 1km defined by surface lag sampling and shallow RAB drilling.  

At the Manapouri prospect area the drilling program intersected a number of key geological units and provided insight into the distribution and composition of igneous suites, sedimentary deposits, and metamorphic facies. Gold and multi-element results have prompted further work to uncover vectors for economic gold mineralisation.

The southern and eastern part of the tenement is interpreted to be underlain by meso- and paleoproterozoic granitoides.The centre is interpreted to be underlain Nicker Beds while the north western part of the tenement is interpreted to be underlain by Lander Rock Beds. Desktop work completed has defined a number of large target areas. In August 2012 ABM has submitted an application to the CLC to undertake a large soil sampling survey covering the majority of the tenure during ABM’s 2013 exploration season.