Minerals Alert, December 2005

• 1. New Western Australian Survey Data added to the Australian National Gravity Database
• 2. Update on geophysical survey data acquisition
• 3. Update on contracts for geophysical data acquisition
• 4. Exploration and Discovery of Australia's Copper, Nickel, Lead and Zinc Resources 1976-2005
• 5. Next Edition of Email Alert
• 6. About Email Alert

1. New Western Australian Survey Data added to the Australian National Gravity Database

New gravity data from the recently completed survey over the western two thirds of the Paterson Range and Rudall 1: 250 000 sheet areas, has now been incorporated into the Australian National Gravity Database.

The new data is from a survey project managed by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the Geological Survey of Western Australia and were acquired at a station spacing of 2.5 km x 2.5 km. The data will be available from Wednesday 7 December 2005, and, as with all data in the Australian National Gravity Database, can be obtained free-of-charge using the Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System "GADDS".

For further information, please email Mario Bacchin; or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9308.

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2. Update on geophysical survey data acquisition

The following surveys are currently in progress:

• Paterson Central airborne survey (45% complete on 21 October);
• Gascoyne airborne survey (18% complete);
• East Yilgarn airborne survey (87% complete);
• Ooldea - Nullarbor airborne survey (57% complete);
• Bowen-Surat gravity survey (8% complete).

For further information, please email Murray Richardson, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9229.

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3. Update on contracts for geophysical data acquisition

Geoscience Australia will be managing the flying program for three contracts awarded to acquire airborne magnetic and radiometric data as part of the Queensland Government's four year $20 million Smart Exploration Initiative to stimulate exploration investment in Queensland.

1. UTS Geophysics will collect a nominal 170 000 line kilometres of new data over an area of approximately 60 550 km² in the northern Bowen-Surat region of southern Queensland. The survey is proposed to commence in February 2006.
2. Fugro Airborne Surveys will collect a nominal 154 000 line kilometres of new data over an area of approximately 53 800 km² in the southern Bowen-Surat region of southern Queensland. The survey is proposed to commence in January 2006.
3. Fugro Airborne Surveys will collect a nominal 63 500 line kilometres of new data over an area of approximately 22 000 km² in the Mount Isa region of western Queensland. The survey is proposed to commence in February 2006.

When completed, the projects will add more than 387 000 line kilometres of magnetic and radiometric data to the public domain. The new data will be acquired on east-west flight lines spaced 400 metres apart with a ground clearance of 80 metres.

For further information, please email Murray Richardson, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9229.

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4. Exploration and Discovery of Australia's Copper, Nickel, Lead and Zinc Resources 1976-2005

An article in the September issue of Resources Policy, examines the copper, nickel, lead and zinc (base metals) exploration expenditure and discovery in Australia over the period 1976-2005, and reveals some significant trends.

For further information, please email Lynton Jaques, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9745.

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5. Next Issue of Minerals Alert

This will be the last issue of Minerals Alert for this year. Our first issue after the Christmas break will be in February 2006. Geoscience Australia would like to wish all its subscribers a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

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6. About Email Alert

For more information, please email Mike Huleatt, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9087.

To view past editions of Geoscience Australia's Minerals Alert, visit the Minerals Alert Newsletter Archive.

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