COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
DEPARTMENT OF SUPPLY AND DEVELOPMENT.
BUREAU OF MINERAL RESOURCES
GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS.
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Record No.
14
REPORT ON THE OCCURRENCE OF RADIO-ACTIVE IoiUlIiERALS
IN THE VIClI-iITY OF RUM JUNGLE RAILWAY SIDINQ
NOl-{THERI'i TERRITORY.
by
H.J. Ward.
CAliBElffiA. A. C. T.
27th April, 1950
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Page
IN:L\~ ODUCT ION
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LOCA1'ION AND ACCESS
'l'IL'IBBR Aim HNI.'.cn.
1
SUP.l?I,Il~':S
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1
PREV10UG WOIU\:
2
ACKNO'i[U;DGEI,rrmTS
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',,[O::11(I NGS
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bcmWLUC GLOl:OGY
HAD I O-Ac'r IiF-~
No~-.th
hillX}~P..AL
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0CCUrI.IclGNCI:l:;) ..
Bx.'anch of East It'inniS6 .faver
Vicinit y of hIt. Fit c11
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Geological Uap of TOl'ber-nite-Carnotite Derosit on
.
]'inniss Hi ver (~~G.st B)."anch) 3ituated appl."'ox. 2~ miles
Horth 300 .Last of Hum Jungle Hailv7ay Siding Northern
Territoryo Scale 100 ft. = Linch.
f.lap s110'/l1ng clistl.'ibution of" gl'anite in the vicinity of
Hum Jungle, lTo;:'the).'l1 'l'erri tory. Scale 1 miles = 1 inch
M1:.QELON
.~
OCCURRE~.QE
RADIO-ACTlVE_MnlERA1§
IN 1'tre VICINrry OF RUM JUNGLE
---------------
RAILWAY SIDING
---
-NORTI-mRN TERRITORY
- •.
INTRODUCTION.
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..
~e discove~y of the ~adioactive mine~ala ca:-no:~-::::---\
torbernite, in the vicinity of Rmn jungle, was reported by Mr.
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Joele White on the 7th September 1949 in a letter to the Director
of Mines, Alice Springs. Mr. Vfuite recognised the minerals as
similar to those described in the Bureau of Mineral Resources
Pamphlet No.3 "Radio-Active fJineral Deposits". Officers of the'
Department of Mines, Alice Springs confirmed his conclusions.
The area was visited by J. Daly (Geophysicist), J.F.
Ivanac (Geologist) of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, and
~1. Sneddon of the Mines Department, Alice Springs late in
September. They suggested that detailed geophysical and geological work should be carried out. H.J. Ward and G.F. Joklik made
a detailed geological investigation in October and prepared a map
(~late'l) which covers an area of approximately half a mile by a
quarter of a mile. A general reconnaissance of the country.in
the vicinity of Rum Jungle was also carried out.
I
In conjunction with the geological work D.F. Dyson, of
the Geophys ical Sect ion of t he Bureau, made a Geiger-Muller survey /
of the torbernite-carnotite deposit.
{
-LOCATION AND ACC'ESS.
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----.-------
Rum Jungle Railway Siding is situated 56 miles south of
Darwin and approximately 5 miles northwest of Batchelor Railway
siding on the Darwin-Birdum Railway line o
Rum Jungle can be reached by taking the turn off to
Batchelor Airfield 54 miles from Darwin on the Stuart Highway.
The torbernite-carnotite deposit is situated on the northern bank
of the East Finniss River about two and a half miles northeast of
Rum Jungle Siding, and is reached by a.bush trackofrom the Siding.
A radio-active leached outcrop about 5t miles N30 W of Rum Jungle
Siding can be reached by a bush track Which crosses the northern
flank of Mt. Fit ch.
.
lliillER ANlLWATER §.QE:fLIE§..
Supplies of timber which can be used in mining are readily available.
Water Suitable for both domestic' and mining purposes can
be obtained from large pools in the East Finnies River.
TENURE.
Mr. Villi te has pegged out about 24 acres on Block 1090,
Division of Goyder, County of Falmerston which is freehold land
owned by Mr. E. V. V. Brown of Glenelg, South Australia. MI'. White
is awaiting the decision of the Department of Mines concerning his
right to work the mineral deposit.
- 2 WORK •
.PREVIOUS
-
Reports by Tenison Woods (1886) H.Y.L. Brown (1895,
1906){ J.V. Parlces (1892), O.J. Sullivan (1946) and L.O. Noakes
(1947) include references to the geology of the area.
hQKNOWL1:!:DGEl\/fENTS.
The writer wishes to acknowledge the help of the Department of Mines, Alice Springs, M]JJ. Smith, Mining Registrar, Darwin,
and Mr. Jack White who discovered the deposit. The company and cooperation of D.F. Dyson, GeOl)hysicist, was appreciated.
1fiORK1B.Q-.§ •
When the geological party arrived at Rum Jungle, the
minerals torbernite and carnotite were exposed
in two small costeans, 8 feet and 10 feet long, and 2 feet deep,
on the northern bank of the East Finniss River. As a result of
an extremely high geiger-muller reading obtained over another
small area (2 feet by 4 feet) about six inches of soil were re- '
moved and both torbernite and carnotite were found.
uraniu~bearing
Other workings in the area mapped are less than 100
feet west of the above costeans o They consist of two costeans
and two shallow pits, one 9f Which is probably an old shaft now
only 5 feet deep.
l
QEN]l~L
GEOLOGY.
The rocks of the area consist of interbedded quartzite,
conglomerate, haematite quartzite, quartzite breccia, limestone,
carbonaceous slate and graphitic schist, all of Which have been
intruded by granite.
The sedimentary rocks are regarded as part of the Brocks
Creele Group (Noakes, 1947), Which is considered to be of early
Proterozoic Age.'
In the immediate Vicinity of the torbernite-carnot ite
deposit there are two principal rock types, namely, quartzite
breccia and carbonaceous slate. The trend of the rocks is in an
easterly direction but variations in strike show that the rocks
have been folded. The dip varies from 70 degrees south to
vertical.
The carbonaceous slate Which outcrops in the central
portion of the area mapped contains thin bands of felspathic
quartzite, graphitic schist and ferruginous slate.
The quartzite breccia is predominantly a red rock conSisting of irl."'egular pieces of milky white quartzite to translucent quartzite set in a fine grained matrix of quartz and
haematite. The rock is considered to be of detrital origin.
Grani te . .out c,rops about half a mile to the north, east
and south of the mineral deposito The most common type of granite
is a medium grained biotite-hornblende granite; coarse grained
varieties have been observed in the vicinity of Giants Reef, about
half a mile to the east.
The contact of the granite with the metamorphosed sediments is ~enerallY sharp. In some places, however, it assumes a
brecciated appearance over a width of up to 6 feet; in this
brecciated zone abundant angular fragments of country rock are
embedded in a ramifying matrix of granite.
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J\bout 118,lf 0. ml18 due co. st of the carnot it e-t orberni t e
a ba):'ren CJ,Uf-WGZ reef (llGiont' s Recf") extends in a northc:),'3tGrly direction foJ.:' five miles and outcrops intermittently for
Di)Lmt D j,iile to the s01.l.th-r/est.
This J.'eef, in S0111e places 70 feet
i"1:i.de, to ncar the junction of the g)."'anite ana. metamorphosed sedii'lcnts but where obse;evecl has been confined to the granite.
'lq')o~it
1' he ro.dio-8ct i ve inine:eals co. J.:'not i te and torberni te are
found dissemt118t8c1. o.lon~ joint and beddin~ planes in carbonaceous
slnt e and Graphi t iG sch ist. etc ic;er-h[uller readings of r,10re than
J.OO counts per n1J.nute above background show that radio-active
mineL"'als occur over npIJ1"'oximately 1'7,000 square feet.
In the costenns the two minerals>of which carnotite is
.l")rec1ominont, are 88sociated with Ltlalachite and an unidentified
bIn ck mineral in two sean1f::l, one of which is 6 inches and the other
12 inches wtd.e. 'l'he seams have an appL 0ximate N60°l!; strike and
a o.il) of 80 0 S. 1'11e;:l 110. ve not been exposed along their st rike.
Ilao.iometric E:nalyses of ftve sam:ples from these seams showed that
app,po:xima tely one 1)e)."' cent of U30S is l")resent.
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A gossanous outcrop at least 600 feet long and 70 feet
v'lide is situated" 5';~ miles on a true bearing of 330 degrees from
Rt.u!l JUl1[;le l1ail'ilay Siding, al)pX'oximately three quarters of' a mile
south of villat is known as 1'alllblyns Cop1)er workings.
No radio-nctive minerals ~ere observed in the gossan,
bu.t the Gei€;er-J,luller counteL' gave act i vi ty ).~eadi ngs of 100 count s
pOl" minute (. twice background) in several places.
'l'11is deposit
reltB i 1'1S to 'be :Curthe).... invest tgot ed.
Exa:.nino.t ion unclel'" the binocular 111ic):'osco:ge of specimens
from the main deposit sho\'/ tl1o.t carnotite o.nd torbernite are
associated with malachite and q:uartz; thiS, together with the
ro,dio-activtty recOL'c1ed in the gOGSEll10US out-c:eop near hIt. :Blitch,
suggest s that t he uranium minel.. . als found to date result from ,t he
oxidation in situ of pJ.. . j.mary uranium minerals' occux'ring at depth.
H.adio-active minel"'ols are exposed over a small area· only
in the vicinity of H:um J\lngle, but it seems lilcely, from the
).. . esults of tIle Geige).. .-Muller Survey, that i'urtllex' depOSits may
occur under the \'1idesp).. . eud soil cover. Account has to be taken
81[:;0 of the \"/Gl1-1monl1 fact tl18. t uranium-bearing minerals are
cor;rrnonly leached fror,l the GUl.~face.
,
,
This proSIlect cor.1pares favourably with other known
};)1'031)Octs in Australia; at l,lt. Painte).. . , the No.6 workings ~'/ere
developed 'on a vein, an inch wide at the surface, Which opened
VI) to 25 feet in width at the 50 f't., level.
'.L'llis, t oget her VIi th
t he knowledge that elsewhere in the world all discoveries of
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radio-act'ive minerals aI'e 'thoroughly test ed before abandonment,
just ifies exhaust ive test in.g of both prospects described above.
It is recommendec1 t hat the mineral-bea).'ing rocks on
the nOl:'th banI\: of the 1::ast l\li 11niss RiveI' be co steaned and that
a sl1a:I::t be sunl;: on the }!rospect to test the natuI'e of the mineraliGation at ctej?th. '.lI11e position of the pI'oposed shaft and costeaus
are shown on Plnte 1.
lJ.'he gossanous outcrop nOI'th of Ht. lvitch should be,
systemat ically mapped and studied foI' distribut ion of radioactivity_ 1111e l)art of' the outcrop with the highest I'adio-activity
should be tested either by shaft sinking or by diamond drilling.
\
mw'ifI'f,
II.Y.L., 1895
Govermnent Geologist's Report on
EXploration in the Northern Territory.
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, 1895 , p. "7'
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. L.t)..
1906
by Government Geologist
f'md Staff during 1905. i:!tb .Aust.
l'arl.l..lnper No.55, 190h...p.34.
L.C.,
1947
'rhe Geology and l.Jineral Resources of
the Northern Portion of the Northern
'llerritox'y. C~\Y£Qlth of Aust.Bur.Min.
Res. Rel)Ort 1'.10.1947 !4S2.
PARlillS, J. V • .,
1892
Heport on NOl'thern 'l'erritory Mines and
riineral Resources. Sth.,Aust. Parle Panel'
~
No.52, 189.!h-12_o..28.
N01\YJ~S,
)~;Xl,lol'ations
----
H.eIlo)'.'t on Batchelor Gold l)rospect
Northerh Territory. C'wealth of Ausi.
Bur. I'h n. Hg§.!.---B-ep ort No:1946728.
,WUODS, Rev.J.E.
!/'
1 ENISON,
1
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1886
Report on Geology and Mineralogy of
HortheX'n 'll er X'itoX'y. Sth.Au.st.Parl.I'a))eX'
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N 0.122, 188£.
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Geological Map
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Torbernite-Carnotite Deposit on Finniss River (East Branch)
21/2
Miles North 30° East of Rum Jungle Railway Siding
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Plane Table ,11, Telescopic Alidade Survey by G,F.JOKLI H
Geology by H,J, WARD 13,-15, October 1949
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NORTHERN TERRITORY
Scale
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Scale
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:1uW:AU OF MINE.HAL RESCJURC.. S
GEC'~OGY .& GFOPHYSICS JAN 50
1 La/enle
l-:: j [arOOllaceous Slates
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NT34-1
MAP SHOWING
DISTRIBUTION Of GRANITE
IN THE VICI NI TV OF
RUM JUNGLE
MAP
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N. T.
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SCAL£
IEE333/4::J'b~\oli~:::i?====3:===:=:J~ MILU
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LEGEND
TERRITORY
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Probable GeologIcal
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Inferred Geological
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Boundary.
Dip &- Sfrike of Bedding.
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BURE.,.u
G.E.OLO~V
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OF
MINE.RAI.. RE.SOURCES
AND
MARCH 1'350
G['OPH~SICS.
NT 34-2
£ H.M