Proposed Title 1: - Queen's University

1990, 1991; Wyborn et al., 1990). Historic exploration within the SAVMF resulted in the
discovery of several uranium deposits and occurrences. Nevertheless, the SAVMF is the
smallest uranium field in the Pine Creek uranium province (Fig. 4.1). Between 1956 and
1964 only 874 t of U 3 O 8 was mined from 14 deposits (Foy, 1975). Since the discovery of
unconformity-type uranium deposits in the Kombolgie Basin, research in the Pine Creek
Orogen has been focused on the large and higher grade deposits within the Kombolgie
Basin, which uncomformably overlies the successor El Sherana Basin (Friedmann and
Grotzinger, 1994). The character and formation of unconformity-related uranium deposits
associated with the younger Kombolgie Basin (Sweet et al., 1999) have been well
documented and a general genetic model proposed (e.g. Gustafson and Curtis, 1983; Polito
et al., 2004; 2005; Cuney, 2005). In contrast, uranium mineralization in the successor El
Sherana Basin has been less studied, despite several decades of intense exploration and
mining activities and the discovery of several uranium and precious metal deposits (e.g.
Needham and Stuart-Smith, 1987; Mernagh et al., 1994). Moreover, there is limited
information on the role of the successor basin and the key processes by which these
deposits formed. The U mineralization occurs in basement rocks beneath, and within, the
successor El Sherana Basin (e.g. Ayres et al., 1975; Mernagh et al., 1994) that is
stratigraphically older than, but spatially related to, the younger U-rich Kombolgie Basin
(e.g. Wilde, 1992; Polito et al., 2005). Whether these deposits are unconformity-related
associated with the successor basin or similar to those in the younger Kombolgie Basin is
inconclusive.
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