Strategic Energy Resources (ASX: SER) has won the exclusive right to apply for two Exploration Licences covering 139.3 sq. km of the East Tennant Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) province in the Northern Territory.
Executive Chairman, Stuart Rechner, said the East Tennant region was identified as bring favourable for hosting large mineral systems during a wide-ranging government survey programme in 2019.
Data acquired under Geoscience Australia’s $100 million “Exploring for the Future” programme revealed a lithospheric connection between the Tennant Creek and Mt Isa mineral fields. In particular, it uncovered previously unrecognised major features favourable for hosting large mineral systems were seen in the East Tennant region.
As a result, the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre selected the East Tennant region for the National Drilling Initiative (NDI). The NDI will drill multiple holes through cover to map the regional geology, structural architecture and mineral systems of East Tennant.
The region has seen very limited historical mineral exploration and cover is assessed as relatively shallow (less than 250m depth to basement).
A moratorium on Exploration Licence Applications was placed over the region and a competitive tender process initiated in October 2019. The area was filled with applications from multiple exploration companies including both Majors and Juniors.
Strategic has now been informed that it has won the exclusive right to apply for licences EL-32306 (39 graticular blocks) and EL-32307 (four graticular blocks) in the heart of the East Tennant region.
The application areas are covered by sediments of the Georgina Basin, have no basement outcrop and have seen very little previous exploration.
Mr Rechner said SER believes prospective basement geology lies beneath the younger cover based on interpreted crustal-scale structures extending along-strike from the areas of known mineralisation.
SER will immediately commence advancing these tenements to grant whilst implementing land access arrangements to allow on ground exploration activities to begin.
SER will also continue evaluation and interpretation of the key datasets collected via the “Exploring for the Future” programme.
