Juntala Project
Summary
The Juntala project occurs in an area where Lower Proterozoic Einasleigh Metamorphics are intruded by uranium-enriched Carboniferous granites. At the southern end of the area this package is overlain in turn by Jurassic sandstones. The Carboniferous granites are a clear potential source of uranium, and there are potential traps in both the reduced metasediments of the Einasleigh Metamorphics and in the overlying Jurassic sandstones. Both of these potential plays are to be evaluated with further exploration.
Target
The two main target types in this area are vein-style orebodies in reduced metasediments around the uranium-enriched granites, and unconformity or sandstone hosted mineralisation in overlying Jurassic sediments at the southern end of the area.
Figure 1 (above): Colour image of Uranium channel radiometrics over magnetics. Yellow dots represent known uranium occurrences. Juntala shown in blue; Mt Hogan area of Interest shown in yellow.
Regional Setting
The Juntala Project is located within the Georgetown region. The gology
of the area is characterised by Proterozoic metasediments and granites which
have been overprinted by late Paleozoic granites and associated volcanic
rocks and sediments which occur in semi-circular “cauldrons”. This
package is unconformably overlain by a younger sequence of shallowly-dipping
Jurassic and younger sediments.
Geology
The Juntala area contains two Carboniferous uranium-rich granites which have intruded the Lower Proterozoif Einasleigh Metamorphics. The Einasleigh Metamorphics in this area are mica schists including graphitic schists and metadolite and metagabbro. At the south end of the area this sequence is unconformably overlain by quartz sandstones and siltstones of the Jurassic Eulo Queen Group and sandstones and conglomerates of thje Jurassic-Cretaceous Gilbert River Group.
Property Status
The project is held in a single tenement with an area of 677.8 km2. It is currently an application which was lodged in August of 2005.
Figure 2 (above): Juntala Project – Areas of high uranium-thorium ratio in radiometrics shown in red; Jurassic cover shown in yellow; background is northwest-shaded magnetics. Numbered sircles represent target areas for followup.
Previous Exploration
The region around Juntala was a strong focus of uranium exploration between 1969 and 1983, with programs carried out by over 20 separate companies. Almost all of this work was focused outside the current Juntala tenement area. As part of this work, a number of promising surface occurrences were found through airborne radiometric surveying and ground-based followup. Drilling in the area focused on vein and breccia-style occurrences in the Proterozoic metasedimentary sequence and on sandstone-hosted mineralisation in the Jurasic-Cretaceous sedimentary sequences. Several programs were ongoing when uranium exploration ceased in the early 1980’s.
Exploration Highlights
Processing of government radiometric data show a number of zones with both high uranium and high uranium-thorium ratio in the Juntala area, near the contact with the carboniferous granites. These anomalies are potential targets for vein-style mineralisation similar to that developed at Mt Hogan.
Work Plan
Upon granting of the tenement, the uranium anomalies already identified will be followed up with ground reconnaissance and sampling. Field-based reconnaissance will be acrried out in order to investigate the potential of the Jurrasic-Cretaceous sedimentary sequence to host sandstone and unconformity-style mineralisation.
