The West Georgetown Project is a JV project with BHP Billiton. It consists of two tenements comprising 1,925 km2, one of which is granted and the other under application. The land position is within the SW portion of the Georgetown Province of Queensland. FalconTM data over the tenements have generated 9 targets for follow-up, immediately on the granted northern tenement and on the pending southern tenement when it is granted later in 2007.

The Target is sediment-hosted Broken Hill style Ag-Pb-Zn and to a lesser extent Mt Isa Copper-style mineralisation within the Robertson River Subgroup under 50-200m of Jurassic sandstone cover. The shallow cover has prevented exploration in the past, but marks this area as an ideal target for an exploration programme including BHP Billiton’s state-of-the art FalconTM airborne gravity technology.

Interest in West Georgetown is 100% after WMT funding of airborne geophysical exploration. BHP Billiton retains a clawback right if a discovery reaches certain hurdles. The agreement provides for access to BHP Billiton’s proprietary geophysical technology.

The Geology of West Georgetown project area comprises highly metamorphosed calc-silicate and biotite gneiss units known as the Robertson River Subgroup. These rocks are targeted based on their similarity to the suite of rocks that hosts the giant Broken Hill Ag-Pb-Zn deposit.

The target assemblage forms the lower-most part of the Etheridge Group which was deposited within an intracratonic rift. The primary age of the Etheridge Group has recently been determined as late Palaeoproterozoic, deposited between 1710-1650 million years ago, virtually identical to the age of the Broken Hill mineralisation.

The inferred age, depositional environment, and tectonic history at West Georgetown all point to a favourable Broken Hill exploration target under cover.

Queensland is a state that has a rich endowment of mineral and energy resources. The Queensland Government actively encourages activities in the mining and exploration sector, and in 2005 initiated the A$20 million Smart Exploration data acquisition program.

Zinc Prices are currently US$3,700/t, almost three times the 2005 average price of US$1,380/t. This rise reflects slow growth in zinc mine supply, concerns over supply disruptions, strong global demand for zinc and low and steadily declining zinc stocks. Market volatility has also increased as investors clamour for resource stocks.

People resources to advance the West Georgetown
project are in place. Western Metals personnel will supervise specialist contarctors gathering geophysical data on the ground and then follow up that work with drilling on all resulting targets.

The 2008 Work Plan at West Georgetown aims to drill targets defined through the use of airborne gravity and magnetics and detailed ground geophysical follow-up.

• Follow-up ground Geophysics	Q2 - Q3 2008
• Drill Testing	Q2 - Q3 2008

 

West Georgetown FalconTM gravity data modeled at 500m depth. Data are superimposed on a generalized geology map with nine first priority anomalies noted as circles.