With the federal ALP set to scrap its three uranium mine policy and the Rann state government salivating, South Australia will almost certainly host more uranium miners in future.
The queue is forming now. Indeed, most exploration dollars spent in South Australia are focused on exploiting uranium.
This is for good reason as South Australia is the world’s best address for uranium.
Pressure to cut CO2 emissions and the ballistic growth of the Chinese and Indian economies has heightened expectations that the worldwide use of uranium for power generation will mushroom beyond its current 17% market share. The recent Australia-China deal only seems to confirm this; hence uranium’s growing popularity among miners and explorers.
Such is the attractiveness of uranium-related floats, when Toro Energy sought $18m in March it was swamped with more than three times share application volume.
The company was quick off the mark, too, mobilising a rig to its Yaninee project near Streaky Bay within a fortnight of listing on the ASX.
It is undertaking a 7000m aircore drilling program to test sedimentary deposits within the Yaninee Palaeochannel system. Toro says exploration in the area in the early 1980s “discovered and partly outlined the palaeodrainage system with anomalous uranium concentrations but did not test the system further”.
More recently still, Uranium Exploration has begun a two-staged, 3450m drilling program within its Gawler Craton uranium prospects in South Australia’s remote north west. Diamond drilling is underway at the Sloanes Hill prospect on the company’s Prominent Hill South EL 3429.
The Sloanes Hill prospect is one of seven prospects the company has within the same mineralised corridor that hosts resource discoveries such as BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam, Oxiana’s Prominent Hill and Teck Cominco-RMG Services’ recently discovered Carrapateena project.
Also in the Gawler Craton, Monax Mining has applied to almost double its uranium exploration portfolio. The application for two tenements around its Abrosia project near Tarcoola follows a report from Monax in March describing as “spectacular” results from an airborne gravity survey of a potential uranium-bearing palaeochannel.
The company says it believes the “Abrosia Channel” is a major tributary of the Kingoonya Palaeochannel and may host rollront uranium.
Staying in the north west, Southern Gold and Hindmarsh Resources are expectantly drilling for commercial uranium deposits all around the acreage that hosts the Challenger gold mine in the Gawler Craton.
Meanwhile, the first exploration drilling for uranium in quaternary-age river channels will take place in South Australia’s far north in May.
Red Metal says while the older and deeper tertiary river channels in the area that host the Beverley uranium mine were explored for uranium, the younger near-surface channel has not had a single hole drilled for uranium. This is despite the area being one of the “hottest radiogenic terrains in South Australia”.
The company will target calcrete-style uranium mineralisation similar to the Yeerlirrie deposit in Western Australia (52,000t U308).
Talking about good addresses, Tasman Resources will start drilling to test seven uranium targets within 30km of Olympic Dam, the world’s largest known uranium deposit, later this year.
Tasman also holds tenements adjoining the Warrior uranium deposit near Tarcoola that contains known radiometric anomalies within the 40km-long Wynbring palaeochannels.
Tasman’s portfolio ranks it as the fourth largest uranium explorer in South Australia after Toro Energy, Maximus Resources and Hindmarsh Resources.
Lastly, but by no means exhausting the list, is Alliance Resources and its JV partner Quasar Resources who are exploring at the Beverley 4 Mile uranium prospect at Arkaroola. Quasar is an affiliate of Heathgate Resources, which owns and operates the Beverley uranium mine.
The JV has just received native title clearance and is awaiting the availability of drill rigs to recommence drilling adjacent to hole AK051, which intersected uranium mineralisation at an average grade of 0.44% eU3O8.
Need we go on!