Deposit Synonyms

Ml 6109; Mpl 15; Mpl 64; Mpl 92

Mineral District

Deposit Summary

roll-front/redox type U mineralisation within buried Tertiary Eyre Formation sands and clays within the Yarramba Palaeochannel. Indicated resource 1.2Mt at 0.24% U3O8 (2 900t contained U3O8).

Deposit Description

HONEYMOON, uranium mineralisation discovered in 1972, with resources delineated in 1976, when a feasibility study concluded that it would be amenable to in-situ leaching. Roll-front/redox-type uranium mineralisation occurred within buried Tertiary age Eyre Formation sands and clays, within the Yarramba Palaeochannel. The mineralisation occurred from 100-120 m below the surface, within either a single or group of sand lenses. It extended for 1000m and was 400m wide at its maximum, averaging 4.3m in thickness. The ore body consisted of microscopic coffinite at redox boundaries. The estimated measured resource in 2006 was 1.2 Mt (million tonne) @ 0.24% U3O8 containing 6.5 MIb (million pound) of uranium oxide. The deposit was hosted by coarse-grained fluvial sand of the Eyre Formation along the outer margin of a bend in the Yarramba Palaeochannel. Controls on the mineralisation included but were not limited to: position within palaeovalley, valley floor topography, and presence/absence of reductant, basement lithology, position in the roll-front and palaeovalley tributaries. The palaeochannel was deeply incised into weathered basement of Willyama Complex metasediment, and was infilled by up to 50 m of Eyre Formation. This was overlain by ~40 m of clays of the Miocene Namba Formation, and ~30 m of sediment of Quaternary age. Mine construction commenced in late April 2010, and production commenced in September 2011. Production from 2011-2013 was 312.4 tonne U3O8. Problems with plant commissioning, and deflated uranium prices led to suspension of mining in November 2013, with the mine closed pending improved markets. In 2015 the operation was purchased by Boss Resources Ltd, an ASX listed company. They announced a remaining indicated resource figure of 2,970 tonne contained U3O8 on 13/7/2015.

Discovery Year

? 1972

Commodities

Uranium, Uranium Oxide

Ore Minerals

Coffinite

Gangue Minerals

Kaolinite, Pyrite

? Tertiary Palaeochannels

Exploration drilling

Yarramba palaeochannel. Also position within a palaeovalley, valley floor topography, presence/absence of reductant, basement lithology, position in the roll-front and palaeovalley tributaries.