Ponton

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Ponton prospect is located about 200 km east of Kalgoorlie, on the edge of the Victoria Desert. It is only 20 km from the large Mulga Rock deposit, and is comprised of six exploration licences sprawling across 1,061 km².

Most of the information we have on this prospect has come from Paladin Resources' 1998 Annual Report. At this time, information was sparse on the exact size of the resource and Paladin were recommending 'infill' drilling to improve their picture of the orebody. In line with Paladin's projects elsewhere, they are only exploring at Ponton because they believe it will be suitable for In-Situ Leach mining.

By 1999, in an effort to raise more capital, Paladin were talking up the Ponton prospect:

An assessment of the results of the Double 8 Prospect and related anomalous zones has confirmed their similarities to some of the Frome deposits and mineralisation indicating an ISL resource potential in the vicinity of 20,000 tonnes U308 for this project.
Paladin Resources 1999 Annual Report

Most of the Ponton licence areas are within an A Class Flora and Fauna Reserve. Yet another fragile ecosystem could be turned over to radioactive contamination if the uranium market ever improves.

Ponton in Brief