Argonaut Resources NL (ASX:ARE) has outlined that applications for native title over Lake Torrens by three native title groups have been dismissed by the Federal Court of Australia.
Lindsay Owler, CEO for Argonaut, commented:
“Whilst Argonaut has for years sought a pathway through the legal quagmire at Lake Torrens, it has never advocated the denial of rights to parties with longheld connection to the area.
"The emotional investment by aboriginal witnesses is substantial and Argonaut empathises with those concerned.
“To say this judgement simplifies the native title situation is an understatement.”
The Torrens Joint Venture is between Argonaut Resources NL (30%) and Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS) which is exploring for iron oxide-copper-gold systems in the highly prospective Stuart Shelf region of South Australia.
The Torrens Project is located near the eastern margin of South Australia’s Gawler Craton (Stuart Shelf), within 50 kilometres of Oz Minerals’ (ASX:OZL) Carrapateena copper-gold deposit and 75 kilometres from BHP Billiton’s (ASX:BHP) Olympic Dam mine.
Highlights
- A claim by the group that has prevented access to the Torrens anomaly was refused.
- Applications for native title over Lake Torrens by two other groups were also dismissed.
- An application for authorisation to drill the Torrens anomaly will now be made in the absence of registered native title claims or granted native title rights.
- The Torrens anomaly is confirmed to be the geophysical response to a very large iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) system in the area of the Olympic Dam and Carrapateena mineral deposits.
Torrens details
The Torrens anomaly is a coincident magnetic and gravity anomaly with a footprint larger than that of Olympic Dam.
The anomaly is located over the Torrens Hinge Zone, a continent-scale zone of crustal weakness that appears to have been a conduit for mineralising fluids from the Earth’s mantle.
Drilling of the Torrens anomaly by Western Mining Corporation in the late 1970s and by the Torrens Joint Venture in 2007 and 2008 confirmed the existence of a major iron oxide copper-gold mineralising system beneath several hundred metres of sedimentary cover.
More drilling is required to vector-in on the modelled copper-gold mineralisation.
In the event of a discovery, Torrens has the potential to host a world-class copper-gold deposit.
The way forward
The Torrens Joint Venture can now make an application for exploration approval in the absence of both registered native title claims and granted native title rights in the proposed exploration areas.
This change significantly simplifies the approval process, particularly in light of the Joint Venture’s previously approved environmental and operations proposals.
In addition, the Joint Venture must re-establish certain expired government approvals.
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