Aurora’s project portfolio includes a large number of calcrete uranium projects in the Yeelirrie region of Western Australia, held through its 100% subsidiary, Dawn Metals Limited, and through its 50% (approximately) subsidiary, Desert Energy Limited. These types of uranium deposits can be very valuable.
Initial drilling at Desert Energy’s Downs East and Old Station West projects, while focussing on only a small fraction of the prospective ground, has outlined the significant potential of the portfolio by identifying very large volumes of the target rock, calcrete, hidden beneath sand cover. Calcrete is the host rock to the world’s largest calcrete-uranium deposit at Yeelirrie (reported to contain 52,000 tonnes of U3O8) located in the same region.
Together, Aurora Minerals (through Dawn Metals Limited) and Desert Energy hold many uranium projects in the sand covered areas of the Yeelirrie region, the richest calcrete uranium province in the world. All of these projects are covered by a thin blanket of sand and soil, which has masked the potential presence of uranium deposits lying beneath the surface. Aurora and Desert Energy use sophisticated, modern techniques to identify the uranium targets through the sand, making them a compelling exploration targets.
Dawn Metals Limited also holds a significant number of similar exploration tenements and applications more widespread across central Western Australia, on the Yilgarn Block a noted host of uranium deposits.
In September 2008 a new government was elected in Western Australia with a strong pro-mining policy and indicating its intention to allow the mining of uranium. Aurora Minerals is well positioned with uranium exploration projects in this new pro-mining environment.
(37 Tenement applications)
Aurora Minerals Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary Dawn Metals Pty Ltd (renamed from Piccadilly Resources) has applied for 37 exploration licences in 14 project areas which it considers are highly prospective for calcrete hosted uranium deposits, covering a total area of 7,131 km2 within the Central and North Eastern Yilgarn block of Western Australia (refer location map).
The Projects are:
These projects were selected on the basis of the Yeerlirrie deposit Model. This is the geological model of "hot" radiogenic granites crossed by Tertiary rivers and creeks which have, over the past 12 million years or so, eroded and dissolved uranium from the granites, carried it to " quiet or semi-stagnant" areas, for example in creek bends, deltas and basins and deposited minerals such as carnotite. ( the uranium-potassium-vandium mineral )
Of particular interest is that while a significant percentage of these projects have Uranium-channel radiometric anomalies, they are all typified by extensive soil cover, thus creating the opportunity for discovery of a hidden uranium deposit at shallow depth beneath the sand. Thus the setting is similar to that of the Desert Energy projects Downs East and Old Station West ( 50% owned by Aurora Minerals ) in the Northern Yilgarn Block of WA where initial drilling in both projects detected anomalous uranium.