Tenement
The Vickers Well Project covers two exploration tenement applications, E38/3732 and E38/3733, covering a total area of 251km2. The Project is located north-east of Leonora and east of Leinster. Access is via major regional secondary roads and station tracks. The project is conveniently located in relation to our Leonora project and exploration camp at Linger and Die.
Geological Setting
The area is interpreted as being underlain by Archaean granitoids, although the localised geology is poorly defined in the area. Quaternary colluvial and alluvial cover is extensive over the leases.
Previous Exploration
Previous exploration was largely completed in the 1980s as part of regional campaigns targeting gold and base metal potential. Only limited data is accessible from this period.
The CSIRO completed a regional hydrogeological and bio-geochemical sampling project across the Northern Yilgarn in 2007/8. A total of 1,281 samples from Mulga trees were assayed for a suite of elements, with the results reported in 2010. Sample points were largely adjacent to water wells with a typical spacing of many kilometres.
The sampling locations and assay results for cerium, dysprosium, lanthanum and neodymium are shown in Figure 3 to illustrate the REE anomalism. The table below includes data for the full assayed suite of REE’s for each sampled location shown.
The samples covered by the tenement applications show elevated REE’s that are well above the regional averages generated from the total CSIRO data – often by factors of 5-10 times – a common rule of thumb to define significance for geochemical anomalism.
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The uptake of REE’s in vegetation may be suggestive of a regolith that is enriched in potential ionic clay type REE, although the source of the anomalism in the Vickers Well area is currently undefined.
Exploration Programme
Exploration of regolith-hosted mineralisation offers significant cost benefits compared with deeper hard rock exploration.
Low-cost but potentially high-impact future exploration could comprise vegetation, rock chip, soil and XRF sampling along with geological mapping.
The tenements are expected to be granted later in 2022.
Vickers Well showing selected REE assays in the Project area.
REE assays in and around the Vickers Well Project area.