701 Mile Project - Manganese

Background and Geology

The 701 Mile tenements consist of two granted tenements (E52/1531) and located approximately 70km south-east of Newman, Western Australia.  The tenements cover Proterozoic age rocks of the Collier and Officer Basins that contain known occurrences of Manganese, similar to those at the nearby Balfour Downs (non JORC compliant resources in excess of 15 million tonnes operated by Hancock Prospecting Ltd) and the Jigalong Prospect (Hannans Reward Ltd).

Within the Collier Basin, stratabound supergene manganese mineralisation occurs within or on the “Manganese subgroup” shales of the Balfour Formation. Shaw River regards the 701 Mile Project as highly prospective for manganese given the similar geology and results to date on surrounding tenements.

The 701 Mile Project area, was historically exploration ground for Dampier Mining (1976) which identified surface enrichment of manganese in shales of the Manganese sub group over a strike length of 3km.  The shales dip on average 5-10 deg to the west and disappear below alluvium to the west and south.  Banded Iron formation was associated with the same horizon along strike.  No surface sampling results were reported by Dampier Mining.

World class Iron ore deposits of the Pilbara occur within the Brockman, Marra Mamba and Boolgeeda Iron Formation of the Hamersley Basin, and whilst these do not occur on surface within the 701 Mile Project area, there is some potential that they may occur at depth or as faulted blocks.

A number of CID (Channel Iron Deposits) and scree slope deposits also occur in the region within the 701 Mile Project area. These may occur buried by thin recent sediments. Closer investigation of strong linear magnetic features over the tenements forms a valid exploration model for this deposit type.

Recent Activity

Results from earlier mapping and sampling work (late 2008) were extremely encouraging for further development, highlights include:

• Composite 1m rock chip traverses include 17m @ 40.3%Mn and 17m @ 37.8%Mn.
• Rock chip sampling, over the manganiferous Balfour Formation returned a maximum individual sample of 48.6%Mn.
• 14% of rocks samples (29) returned >40%Mn and 81% of rocks sampled (165 samples) returned >25%Mn.
• Manganese assay results combined with geological mapping indicate potential for shallow, moderate to high grade manganese resources which may be suitable for upgrading via beneficiation.
• Low iron contents overall offer further encouragement.