Minerals Alert April 2014

A monthly online newsletter with product news, data releases and projects relating to the minerals and energy exploration industry.

  1. Mineral Systems at Geoscience Australia: recent and upcoming results
  2. Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2013
  3. Albany-Fraser Orogen reflection seismic and MT survey interpretation workshop, Perth 9 April, 2014
  4. Update on geophysical data releases
  5. About Minerals Alert

1. Mineral Systems at Geoscience Australia: recent and upcoming results

In 2013 a series of articles were published in the Minerals Alert newsletter on recent research undertaken in geological provinces by Geoscience Australia and its partners. These articles will continue this year and concentrate on the results and current activities of Geoscience Australia's sections which undertake research on mineral resources. The first is the Mineral Systems Section. This Section focuses on understanding how mineral systems in Australia form ore deposits in space and in time, at scales from continental, or cratonic, to individual mineral districts. In the past few years, the Mineral Systems Section has produced data and knowledge on mafic-ultramafic magmatic nickel-platinum group element-copper systems, salt lake systems (potash, uranium, lithium, boron) and energy mineral systems (uranium, thorium), as well as more general research on mineralising processes. Recent products from the Mineral Systems Section include:

  1. Mineral potential (uranium and related commodities) and geothermal energy potential in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory, including a report on the potential of the southern Aileron Province for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits.
  2. A report documenting the characteristics and mineral potential of salt lake systems at a national scale.
  3. A report summarising the characteristics and potential mineral system sources for critical commodities such as rare-earth elements (REE), platinum group elements, chromium, cobalt and zirconium.

Currently, the Section is completing a series of reports and GIS datasets which are scheduled for release in June 2014. They include:

  1. A GIS and accompanying report documenting the spatial and temporal distributions of mafic-ultramafic magmatic systems throughout Australia.
  2. Preliminary results of a national scale mineral potential assessment of mafic-ultramafic magmatic nickel-platinum group element-copper deposits (summary map information).
  3. A report documenting the geology and distribution of platinum group element-bearing deposits and occurrences throughout Australia and the characteristics of the associated mineral systems.
  4. A series of reports and maps documenting individual salt lake systems and their mineral potential across Australia.

2. Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2013

Geoscience Australia's latest review of developments in the Australian resources industry for 33 mineral commodities has been released.

Increases in Economic Demonstrated Resources for iron ore, black coal, gold and other mineral commodities are documented in the report, which provides a long term view of the resources likely to be available for mining.

Trends in mineral exploration, production and resources for a range of major and minor mineral commodities are analysed in Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2013. Individual chapters of the report are available as a free download.

3. Albany-Fraser Orogen reflection seismic and MT survey interpretation workshop, Perth 9 April, 2014

A workshop in Perth on 9 April 2014 will consider data obtained from the Albany-Fraser Orogen deep seismic reflection survey. That survey acquired 672 line-kilometres of vibroseis-source, deep seismic reflection and gravity data as well as 400 kilometres of magnetotelluric (MT) data. The joint Geoscience Australia and Geological Survey of Western Australia survey is the first to provide deep crustal images of the onshore component of the Albany-Fraser Orogen, which is a highly prospective area hosting the Tropicana gold and the Nova nickel deposits. The Perth workshop will consider interpretations of the newly acquired data, including an 80 kilometre long seismic survey which transects Tropicana.

Registration details and the workshop program are available from the Geological Survey of Western Australia.

4. Update on geophysical data releases

Geoscience Australia is managing the geophysical data acquisition programs in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The current status of Geoscience Australia's geophysical survey data acquisition is available in a comprehensive table.

Minerals Alert Geophysical Surveys Table - survey boundary polygons in MapInfo TAB format.

5. About Minerals Alert

For more information, please email clientservices@ga.gov.au; or phone 1800 800 173.