Atlas Geology
The Atlas resource is a continuous body of mineralisation approximately 15km long and up to 150m wide with an average thickness of 6m. The southem 12km is planned to be mined with HM grade decreasing to the north.
The sedimentary package that hosts both the Atlas and Campaspe deposits is typical of most other mineral sands deposits in the Murray Basin, comprising:
• Woorinen Formation (recent dunes);
• Shepparton Formation (terrigenous fluvio-lacustrine deposits); and
• Loxton Parilla Sand (littoral marine sediment) hosting the mineralisation.
A consistent high-grade domain, denoted Domain 1, occurs along the length of the deposit which is typically less than 100m wide. The deposit is overlain on average by 26m of overburden which consists of a thin 1-3 m layer of the Woorinen sandy clay Formation and approximately 20m of Shepparton Formation, which consists of sandy clays and minor sand beds with mildly indurated zones.
Geological interpretation splits the high-grade Domain 1, which is defined by a 5% HM grade cut-off, into two sub-domains, 1A and 18. Domain 1A has an average HM grade of 25.2%, with 17.2% rutile and 11.4% zircon in the HM. Domain 18 typically lies below and to the east of Domain 1A, has an average HM grade of 14.0% and contains 14.6% rutile and 7.7% zircon in the HM. Domain 2 is a lower grade envelope defined by a 1% HM grade cut-off.
The orebody dips 39m over 10km, before being f ........