August 2015

A monthly online newsletter with product news, data releases and project highlights relating to the minerals and energy exploration industries.

1. Stratigraphic drilling field data from the Stavely Project released
2. Mines and Wines Open Afternoon at Geoscience Australia
3. New Australian Geological Provinces Web Map Service (WMS)
4. Australian Fundamental Gravity Network
5. UNCOVER website unveiled and Amira Roadmap launched
6. Update on geophysical data releases
7. About Minerals Alert

1. Stratigraphic drilling field data from the Stavely Project released

The first results from the Stavely Project have been released. The Stavely Project is a collaboration between the Geological Survey of Victoria and Geoscience Australia, which focuses on the geology and mineral systems potential of the prospective Stavely region in western Victoria. This Geoscience Australia Record and Data Package summarises results of the stratigraphic drilling program, which was undertaken as part of this project in collaboration with the Deep Exploration Technologies CRC. Data presented in the release includes drill hole collar information, operational metadata and daily drilling reports, drill core photographs, down-hole surveys, down-hole wireline geophysical logging results, down-hole temperature logging results, down-hole AutoSonde gamma data, Lab-at-Rig® X-ray fluorescence data, diamond drill core recovery percentages, and handheld magnetic susceptibility measurements on the drill core.

The Geoscience Australia Record and data package are available as a free downloads.

2. Mines and Wines Open afternoon at Geoscience Australia

Geoscience Australia is holding a free Minerals Open Afternoon at its Canberra Headquarters, on the 2nd of September from 1:00pm to 5:00pm.

Please join us on the corner of Jerrabomberra Avenue and Hindmarsh Drive to hear about our exciting new products and Geoscience Australia's UNCOVER projects being conducted across Australia.

RSVP to nicole.manning@ga.gov.au by 27th August.

3. New Australian Geological Provinces Web Map Service (WMS)

The Australian Geological Provinces dataset (2013 edition) has just been published as an OGC Web Map Service (WMS). The map service presents the provinces data in time-slice layers which can be overlain to produce a map representing the geological history of the Australian continent and its surrounding marine areas.

The Australian Geological Provinces
dataset allows users to drill down
in time through overlying sedimentary
basins and older basement terranes.

The Provinces dataset contains the mapped and interpreted (ie, buried) outlines of sedimentary basins, tectonic provinces (cratons and orogens), and selected igneous and metallogenic provinces. Attribute data includes the age range of each province, a summary description, and key reference for each province.

• Web Map Service URL
• Web service metadata (REST)
• Data download (ESRI geodatabase and shapefile formats)
• Instructions for loading a WMS in GIS applications

4. Australian Fundamental Gravity Network

The Australian Fundamental Gravity Network (AFGN) database has been updated with results from the 2015 AFGN survey conducted by Geoscience Australia in May. The 2015 field campaign collected new absolute gravity data at sites across every state except Queensland during 24 days of field work. The AFGN is the national baseline network on which all pre-competitive, research and industry-funded gravity measurements are benchmarked. The data are available from the AFGN application.

5. UNCOVER website unveiled and Amira Roadmap launched

Geoscience Australia is hosting the website for the Australian Academy of Science's UNCOVER initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to focus Australia's relevant geoscience effort on providing the knowledge base and technology that will substantially increase the success rate of mineral exploration beneath post-mineralisation cover in Australia. The website provides information on the initiative as well as active projects and news of UNCOVER events.

On the 22nd of July the Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane, together with the Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Bill Marmion, launched the AMIRA Roadmap for Under Cover Exploration, which is the result of an industry-sponsored project aimed at identifying and prioritising the collection and compilation of data together with the research and development needs to unlock Australia's hidden resources. A link to the Roadmap site can be found on the UNCOVER website.

6. Update on geophysical data acquisition

Geoscience Australia is managing the geophysical data acquisition programs in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory on behalf of the state/territory geological surveys.

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

7. About Minerals Alert

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