Woodfords
(U3O8 Limited 100%)
Exploration licence 6458 was granted to Fast Reactor Pty Ltd ( Fast Reactor subsequently changed its name to U3O8 Limited) on the 2nd August 2005 covering an area approximately 48 km2. The licence is situated to the south west of Inverell NSW and covers numerous small farming leases and a large portion of state forest.
EL6458 sits over an area consisting of both state forest and farming leases. Roads connecting Inverell to Brodies Plains and Gilgai give reasonable access to the northern and eastern portions of the lease.
Most of the area consists of medium to coarse grained large granite outcrops with areas of weathered granite and granitic soils.
EL6458 on Magnetics with mineral occurrences
EL6458 on U radiometrics with mineral occurrences
With the exception of some limited mapping, the work carried out historically over EL6458 is minimal. The exceptions to this are the government geologists reports on the Woodford Uranium Prospects which date back to 1954.
Woodford’s Uranium Prospect No1. was first discovered by Mr. A.A. Woodford in 1954 with a preliminary survey being conducted shortly after by government geologists Mr. J. C. Lloyd and Mr. R. J. Griffin.
The workings consist of five pits and numerous costeans worked to shallow depths up to 1959. Of these five pits, pit 1 and pit 5 have returned the most promising results.
Pit 1 is located on the initial discovery and is the largest prospected mass of greisen in the area. Excavated to a depth of 16 feet, the grade of the torbernite encountered bulked at less than 0.1 % U3O8 with patchy occurrences of higher grade material. It is reported that even with selective hand mining however that the grade of this patchy material would not exceed 1.0%.
Pit 2 is located WSW of pit 1 and is situated on a ‘pipe like’ greisen approximately 2 feet in diameter. Torbernite and arsenopyrite were observed but the size of the occurrence did not justify continued exploration.
Pit 3 & 4 consist of torbernite bearing greisens however very little work was carried out in these areas.
Pit 5 is located over 500 feet SSE of pit 1 and consists of a 120 foot cut into the side of a hill. The occurrence consists of patches of greisen in weathered and sheared granite which excavation uncovered small lodes of arsenopyrite with minor galena, chalcopyrite, and microscopic sphalerite. The arsenical lodes are a stockwork in the granite with the ‘ore’ located in prominent joint features. The main joint directions are –
- N 75 degrees W dipping southerly at 75 degrees
- N 45 degrees W dipping north-east at 75 degrees.
- North dipping east at 10 degrees.
The exposure in the cut reveals that the arsenopyrite does not outcrop at surface but intruded the granite to within a few feet of the present surface. Near the upper limit of the lode some of the sulphide minerals have been removed by weathering leaving a gossan in which torbernite is still visible. Selected specimens of the gossan were assayed and were found to contain up to 3.0% U3O8, however the distribution of the torbernite in the gossan is very irregular. A small patch of powdery arsenical ‘ore’ from the bottom of the pit was tested and found to contain equivalents of 1.2 to 1.3 % U3O8.
Since the 1960’s there have been six exploration licenses covering portions of EL6458, very little or no work was carried out over the current EL.