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Arafura Resources has interests in a number of gold tenements in the Pine Creek region (AN 389, EL 10137, EL 22270, ERL 116, EL 23237, ML 23839), approximately 170 km south-east of Darwin. These include the Frances Creek and Mt Porter projects.
Tenements defining the Frances Creek project (AN 389, EL 10137, EL 22270, EL 23237) are held by Territory Resources Limited, with Arafura holding gold exploration and development rights. The project area covers metasediments of the Palaeoproterozoic Namoona, Mount Partridge and South Alligator Groups, and the adjacent Allamber Springs Granite. Work programs undertaken by Arafura in the Frances Creek area include stream sediment sampling and RC drilling. These programs built upon earlier work completed by Homestake Gold of Australia in 1996-1999 which discovered several gold prospects in the region.
Arafura's Mt Porter project, defined by ERL 116 and ML 23839, is located 15 km north of GBS Gold International's Union Reefs mill, near Pine Creek. Metasedimentary rocks present in the Mt Porter project area belong to the Koolpin Formation of the South Alligator Group. Sediment-hosted stratiform gold mineralisation and quartz-sulphide-vein-hosted stratabound gold mineralisation at Mt Porter is associated with cherty iron formation and carbonaceous mudstone mainly in the Koolpin Formation.
The Mt Porter project contains a JORC compliant resource of 34,200 oz of gold (355,000 t @ 3.0g/t gold, using a 1.7g/t cutoff grade) conducive to open pit mining. In recent years, Arafura has completed two drilling campaigns at Mt Porter. The 2006 program encountered a 13 metre intersection grading 2.28 g/t gold to the west of, and beneath, the identified resource. This represents a new and unexpected zone of mineralisation.
In summary, the Mt Porter project contains a JORC compliant defined resource, an agreement with the Northern Land Council for mining and environmental approval from the Northern Territory and Australian governments.
Opportunities to develop the Mt Porter gold mine are now under active consideration.
