Uranium ore-forming systems of the - Geoscience Australia

Uranium ore-forming systems of the Lake Frome regionLocality 7 (340050E ; 6653900N) No. 6 Mount Painter uranium workingsAccess to the No. 6 Mount Painter uranium workings is several 100m north along the tracktowards the old Exoil Camp off the main Ridgetop Track. From here the historic workings, atthe hilltop, can be accessed by hiking up a disused track. The workings are within hematiticbreccia which is hosted within granitic breccia. Small amounts of vivid green torbernite coat thehematitic breccia. Biotite schist of the Radium Creek Metamorphics at this location containsoccasional, small, bright blue corundum crystals. From top of the hill an overview of thebasement, breccias and the sinter of Mt Gee is provided, including a large dyke-like body ofsiliceous hematitic breccia which crops out on the western side of Mount Gee.The uranium mined in the original workings in circ 1910 was carried out on camel back for theproduction of radium. The hematitic breccias of the Mount Painter Inlier have fascinatedgeoscientists since the first major attempt to understand the geology during and immediatelyafter World War II. At this time, the Australian and British Governments were activelyexploring the province for uranium, and a major effort was made in the Mt Gee and East Painterregions. Mt Gee is a prominent hill with a silica rich capping situated amongst the breccias.After the Governments ceased their operation in the area interest in the uranium waned until theOilmin Group and Transoil NL carried out an extensive drilling program during 1968–71, anddefined a resource (excluding East Painter) of 3.8 Mt at 0.1% U 3 O 8 in hematitic and minorgranitic breccia. The primary uranium mineral was determined as uraninite. It is these tracksforged into the hillside by this exploration program that we travel on to the following locations.Marathon Resources have undertaken further drilling programs in the area in recent years and inSeptember 2008 Marathon Resources redefined the Mt Gee uranium resource upgrade to 31,400tonnes of contained U 3 O 8 in 51 million tonnes of mineralisation. At a cut-off of 300 ppm U 3 O 8the average grade was 615 ppm.Page 132 of 151