A long time ago back in the last uranium boom around 2006, I met...

A long time ago back in the last uranium boom around 2006, I met a young geologist working for Cameco.
She was pretty keen on drilling for uranium on Eyre Peninsular. At the time finding any uranium deposit was very theoretical.
Basically the whole of the Eyre Peninsular sits on a large lump of Granite. The Gawler Ranges is a huge pile of source rocks.
As the slightly radioactive granite weathers highly soluble uranium is released from the slightly acidic rain water and flows down the rivers and streams, and through the ground water. Hence you will hear them talk about paleochannels or ancient rivers. So what they are looking for is ancient river sand that has had the dissolved uranium seeping through it for thousands of years. But the sand alone will not contain enough uranium. Something needs to bring the uranium out of solution and allow it to build up in one spot and not dissolve again.
You need a magic ingredient that starts an oxidation reaction, to release the uranium from the water and to leave it in place.
So if you know where the magic ingredient is already, finding uranium in a paleochannel becomes a much easier task.
At Beverley and Honeymoon two of South Australia's operating uranium mines they found the paleochannels first, and then went looking for the magic ingredient. Alligator Energy is different they found the magic ingredient first and then went looking for the paleochannel. Actually let the truth be known the magic ingredient was already sticking out of the ground for anybody to see! The Magic ingredient is Carbon, or Graphite.
The geological theory was with the Gawler Ranges source rock, as the granite weathered the uranium bearing water would hit the carbon rich layers and be deposited where the water meets the carbon/graphite of eastern Eyre Peninsular. This very theory is how Alligator Energy discovered their deposit. At some point in time Cameco lost interest and stopped funding uranium exploration in Australia and on Eyre Peninsular. Lincoln picked up some of their better tenements on Eyre Peninsular. The same young geologist that was looking for Graphite for Cameco is now the head geologist for Alligator Energy. This is very prospective ground for Uranium and being only 40km from what could be South Australia's next uranium mine. This is not just a folly, there are real opportunities here for a large discovery. We know we have an active paleochannel, and carbon for it to accumulate on, and we have some good U numbers to prove the whole process of forming a uranium deposit has worked.. While we can all look with jealousy at Alligator Energy, Lincoln Minerals can easily have a deposit like theirs lurking beneath the cover. we just haven't done the work required.