Encounter Resources – The Aurora Project

As far as nearology plays go, Encounter Resources is exceptionally well placed. If you haven’t been following, in 2022 WA1 Resources conducted a maiden drill program in the West Arunta region of Western Australia. WA1 Resources targeted as they said ‘large gravity-magnetic anomalies that can potentially indicate the presence of large mineralised systems‘. Their strategy worked! They found an extraordinary niobium deposit at their Luni target, and have recently announced (1 July 2024) a Mineral Resource Estimate of 200 Mt at 1.0% Nb₂O₅. If you want to catch up on this discovery, here’s a link to an article that I wrote in January of this year on WA1 Resources and niobium.

The following image shows Encounter’s Aileron Project location relative to WA1 Resources’ Luni discovery. In fact, Encounter holds ground to the north, east and south of Luni.

The Luni discovery has been made in the West Arunta region in WA. I’ve added a red box in the map below to indicate the approximate location. Arunta is in fact a geological region located in the southern part of the North Australian Craton (see inset map of Australia in the top right). As you can see, the Aileron Province of the Arunta region extends from Western Australia across into the Northern Territory.

On the 24 June 2024, Encounter Resources released “shallow, high-grade niobium-REE mineralisation in three adjacent drillholes:

• 52m @ 3.0% Nb₂O₅ from 81m to EOH including 16m @ 6.0% Nb₂O₅
• 32m @ 2.5% Nb₂O₅ from 67m to EOH including 12m @ 3.3% Nb₂O₅
• 15m @ 1.5% Nb₂O₅ from 120m to EOH including 2m @ 3.3% Nb₂O₅

They seem to be onto something.

As we wait for further assays from Encounter Resources’ current drill program, I wanted to take a closer look at other ground they hold. The following map shows Encounter’s tenements held across WA and the NT. You can see Encounter’s Aileron Project – that surrounds WA1’s Luni discovery – in the bottom left. Notice also Encounter’s Aurora Project across the state border in the NT.

I decided to see what I could find out about Aurora and so I visited the Northern Territory (NT) Government’s STRIKE website.

I managed to find Encounter’s Aurora project tenement applications and have highlighted these in green. The website also allows you to highlight major geological faults. From a geological perspective, these are the fluid pathways for the formation of deposits. The faults are the black lines that run across the tenements, sometimes the tenement boundaries are following these fault lines.

The following image shows the importance of faults relative to the geological deposits, known as carbonatites, found at WA1 Resources’ Luni and Encounter Resources’ Crean. Notice the Endurance Fault that runs alongside Luni and the Elephant Island Fault that runs alongside Crean.

I then managed to switch on Magnetic TMI (TMI stands for Total Magnetic Intensity). Remember how WA1 Resources had targeted ‘large gravity-magnetic anomalies‘ back in 2022.

Encounter’s EL 33399, highlighted in green, seems to have a significant magnetic anomaly.

This is what tenement application EL33399 looks like close up, with Magnetic TMI switched on. Notice how the anomaly is bounded by two converging faults that meet at the east end of the tenement.

Gravity surveys have been a useful tool for WA1 Resources. I managed to switch on Gravity Residual data for the tenement and it showed the following. There seems to be a gravity anomaly in the west of the tenement, although it seems somewhat weak. Perhaps a Falcon gravity survey would provide greater resolution. Only time will tell.

Encounter seem to have their hands full with their exploration in WA. I just wanted to have a brief look at the ground they hold east into the NT and further across the Arunta orogen. At first glance, EL33399 seems geologically interesting.

I came across the following map by Trek Metals. It shows a tenement ELA 33191 that they’ve done a deal on with Gempart. The map helps us to understand the NT tenements geographic location relative to Luni.

You can see Trek’s EL33191 in the map below. I’ve highlighted it in orange. Notice its location relative to Encounter’s NT tenements to the north.

Ground in this area of the NT, I believe, is covered by the Lake Mackay Aboriginal Land Trust (see image below).

In a recent ASX news released dated 25 June 2024, Trek Metals noted “The tenement application area is located within freehold aboriginal lands of the Lake MacKay Aboriginal Land Trust and is administered by the Central Land Council. In May 2024, Trek attended an on-country meeting with the Traditional Owners of the land underlaying ELA33191 which is an important step in the process of negotiations and securing land access.”

Encounter Resources, WA1 Resources and others with tenements in this region of the NT will likely be working on similar agreements to enable them to explore. If agreements can be reached, it’ll be fascinating to watch the exploration migrate east into the Arunta Orogen.

If you have any comments on the desktop geophysics offered by STRIKE on the Northern Territory Government’s website then please do let me know in the comments section below.