Onshore Energy Security Program - Five year Work Plan

Appendix one

Mount Isa-Georgetown-Charters Towers (commenced May 2007)

Three principal seismic reflection traverses are proposed for the Mt Isa-Georgetown-Charters Towers regions. Line 07GA-IG1 crosses the eastern margin of the Mt Isa block and extends to the western margin of the Georgetown Province. Line IG2 further examines the western margin of, and internal structure of the Georgetown Province. Line GCT1 probes the internal structure of the Georgetown, Cape River and Broken River Provinces and the northern part of the Drummond Basin. IG3 will also image the location and geometry of the Tasman Line and a number of regionally significant NE-SW fault systems.

Objectives – energy-related:

• Determine the depth to top of Proterozoic and Carboniferous granites for geothermal potential.
• Image possible oil reservoirs in the Carpentaria Basin (IG1).
• Identify favourable basin geometry, crustal architecture and crustal scale controls on potential U mineralisation, including U-rich iron oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) and unconformity-related U deposits in the eastern Mt Isa and Georgetown regions (IG1, IG2).
• Identify suitable Proterozoic and Carboniferous granites (IG2 & GCT1) that may be associated with U mineralisation.

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Image deep crustal architecture between the Mt Isa and Georgetown provinces in order to advance current tectonic models linking the two regions.
• Image deep crustal geometry of the Tasman Line, a fundamental boundary between Proterozoic and Palaeozoic Australia .
• Investigate the internal structure of, and relationships between, the Georgetown Province, Cape River Province and Broken River Province and the northern margin of the Drummond Basin.

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Curnamona Province and linkages to Gawler Craton

Three seismic traverses are proposed. An east-west traverse (line 1) extends from the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton across the Adelaide Fold Belt to the north-central region of the Curnamona Province. Line 2 extends northwards from an existing E-W traverse in the south of the Curnamona Province to the Mt Painter region in the north. Line 3 extends E-W across the northern region (Mt Painter) of the Curnamona Province.

Objectives – energy-related:

• Image the crust related to the South Australian Heat Flow Anomaly (SAHFA) and its margins. Two of the seismic lines are designed to image the subsurface location, extent and depth of the granites believed to be important for geothermal energy in the northern Curnamona Province and Mt Painter region.
• Identify crustal structures and geological units favourable for U mineralisation including:
• IOCG-U style mineralisation in the northern Curnamona Province related to igneous rocks similar in age to the host rocks of the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au deposit (lines 2,3).
• Possible Palaeozoic IOCG-U style mineralisation in the Mt Painter region (lines 2, 3).
• Palaeochannels and Mesozoic and Tertiary basin geometry (lines 2, 3).

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Image the crust between the Curnamona Province and the Gawler Craton, a better understanding of which is critical for testing models for the evolution of the Australian Proterozoic.

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Gawler Craton-Musgrave Block-Amadeus Basin

The proposed seismic line traverses the northern margin of the Gawler Craton, Officer Basin, Musgrave Block, and parts of the Amadeus Basin. Areas traversed by the proposed line south of the Officer Basin, across the Gawler Craton, are considered by Geoscience Australia to hold the highest potential for uranium and geothermal energy resources. This section of the line therefore is viewed as higher priority for OESP funding than northern sections of the line (as shown in Fig. A1).

Objectives – energy-related:

• Image the subsurface distribution of Mesoproterozoic granites, and depth of overlying sedimentary cover, for assessing geothermal energy potential.
• Test whether NW trending structures in Mt Woods and Coober Pedy regions are similar in geometry to crustal-scale structures in the Olympic Dam IOCG-U region, and hence could have been important in U systems of the northern Gawler Craton.
• Image palaeochannels that may be favourable for sandstone-hosted U mineralisation.
• Image basement topography beneath the Pandurra Formation to facilitate modelling of fluid flow, U transport and deposition of sandstone-hosted and/or unconformity-related U mineralisation.
• Determine basin architecture in upper stratigraphic levels of the eastern Officer Basin and Amadeus Basin to assess Neoproterozoic and Cambrian gas and oil potential.
• Image the Archaringa Basin to assess coal potential beyond known reserves.

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Image the crust between the Musgrave Block, the Gawler Craton and the North Australian Craton to test reconstructions of Proterozoic Australia.

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Central Gawler Craton - northern Eyre Peninsula

The proposed seismic line commences at the eastern margin of the Gawler Craton (beneath the Flinders Ranges ) and traverses westwards across the northern Eyre Peninsula to the central Gawler Craton.

Objectives – energy-related:

• Image the crust across the western margin the SAHFA to understand how it is different to the crust hosting the SAHFA.
• Determine the depth of sedimentary cover over granites in the eastern Gawler Craton, to assess geothermal energy potential.

• Image palaeochannels that may be favourable for U mineralisation.
• Image the base of the Pandurra Formation to assess prospectivity for unconformity-related U mineralisation and facilitate modelling of groundwater flow, U transport and deposition of sandstone-hosted and/or unconformity-related U mineralisation
• Test the model in which IOCG-U mineralisation is preferentially situated near the margins of the Archaean core of the Gawler Craton, controlled by crustal-scale shear and fault zones.

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Test models of the tectonic setting of the Hiltaba Suite and Gawler Range Volcanics, with possible implications for models of Olympic Dam style IOCG-U mineralisation

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Paterson Province

Four seismic lines are proposed, traversing different parts of the Paterson Province and surrounding terranes.

Objectives – energy-related:

• Crustal architecture and controls on unconformity-related U mineralisation similar to the Kintyre U deposit.
• Image the basin architecture of parts of the western Officer Basin and the Kidson Sub-basin, to assess the petroleum and gas prospectivity.
• Determine the subsurface location and distribution of granites (overlain by Canning Basin ), to assess the geothermal energy potential.

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Image the crustal architecture of the Cannaughton-Talbot and Tabletop terranes to understand their relationship with known magnetic and gravity ridges that link the Paterson Province with the Musgrave Complex in central Australia.
• Determine the architecture of the Yeneena Basin and its relationship with the Tarcanyah Group sedimentary sequences.

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Pine Creek Orogen

Three principal traverses have been proposed for the Pine Creek Orogen. Line 1 traverses the central Pine Creek Orogen crossing the Cullen Batholith, the Pine Creek Shear Zone (Au) and the mineralised (U, Au and PGE) Alligator Rivers region. Line 2 crosses Neoarchean basement (Rum Jungle) and earliest Palaeoproterozoic Nanambu Complex. Line 3 traverses the major tectonic boundaries that separate the high-grade Litchfield Province from the Central Pine Creek region. This line also crosses the unconformably overlying Meso-Palaeoproterozoic Tolmer Group sediments.

Objectives – energy-related:

• Image the geometry of the deep crustal structures and plumbing systems in the Alligator Rivers region that may have been important in unconformity-related U mineral systems (Lines 1 & 2).
• Image the ‘depth to (Archaean) basement’ across the central Pine Creek Orogen in order to assess U prospectivity for Rum Jungle-style U mineralisation (line 2, 4).
• Determine the distribution, depth and geometry of Palaeoproterozoic (Cullen Batholith) and Archaean (Rum Jungle) granites, to assist with understanding U mineral systems (line 1, 2, 3, 4).

Objectives – geodynamics and tectonic environments:

• Image Archaean basement architecture in order to better assess models of basin evolution within the Pine Creek Orogen (line 1, 2, 4).
• Assess the litho-stratigraphic relationships and the nature and tectonic significance of the major terrane boundaries between the central Pine Creek region, Litchfield Province and the Nimbuwah Complex (line 1, 2, 3).

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