Minerals Alert August 2016

August 2016

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

  1. Release of new geochronology results from the Northern Territory and Queensland
  2. New National Onshore Gravity Grids produced
  3. Geoscience Australia at ASEG
  4. Stratigraphic Drilling in Southern Thomson region
  5. Mining 2016 Resources Convention
  6. Update on geophysical data release
  7. Updated GIS dataset of Onshore Seismic Surveys is available now
  8. About Minerals Alert

1. Release of new geochronology results from the Northern Territory and Queensland

Two new geochronology reports have been released in the past month:

Northern Territory Geological Survey Record 2015-010 by Kositcin et al., reports new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age results from five samples of granites and sedimentary rocks from the Arnhem Province, Northern Territory. This work was conducted under a National Collaborative Framework agreement between Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey.

Queensland Geological Record 2016/03 by Cross et al., reports new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon and monazite age results from 19 samples from the Thomson Orogen, New England Orogen, Mossman Orogen and Mount Isa region of Queensland. This work was conducted under a National Collaborative Framework agreement between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Queensland.

In addition, the following manuscript has recently been accepted for publication by the journal Gondwana Research, and is available via the journal website:

Purdy, D. J., Cross, A. J., Brown, D. D. and Carr, P. A. New constraints on the origin and evolution of the Thomson Orogen and links with central Australia from isotopic studies of detrital zircons.

Geochronology data presented and discussed in these reports and manuscripts are also available for download via Geoscience Australia's Geochron Delivery system. For further information on geochronology at Geoscience Australia, please email: geochronology@ga.gov.au

2. New National Onshore Gravity Grids produced

Geoscience Australia has updated the national gravity grids with the addition of new gravity data acquired by the State and Territory Governments as well as company data which has become open file. Geoscience Australia will be launching a suite of national gravity grid products in August to coincide with the ASEG-PESA-AIG 2016: 25th International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide. The last release of the national Bouguer gravity anomaly grid was in 2009 and since then almost 400,000 high quality gravity observations have been added to the Australian National Gravity Database (ANGD) which is administered by Geoscience Australia. Updates have been made to the Bouguer Gravity Anomaly Grid, Complete Bouguer Anomaly Grid and Isostatic Residual Gravity Anomaly Grid. These products will be available from Monday 22 August 2016 from the Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System (GADDS), Geoscience Portal, Web Map Services and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

3. Geoscience Australia at ASEG

Geoscience Australia geophysicists will be at the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG) 25th Geophysical Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide from 21-24 August 2016. Presentations, both oral and poster, will be given on the various geophysical programs conducted by Geoscience Australia and will include results from (i) Geoscience Australia's UNCOVER program and (ii) recent geophysical surveys in Australia that have collected passive seismic, magnetotelluric, ocean-bottom seismometer, airborne electromagnetic, magnetic, radiometric, gravity and seismic datasets. If you are in Adelaide at this time please come and visit the Geoscience Australia booth in the exhibition hall for more information about the numerous geophysical activities at Geoscience Australia.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

4. Stratigraphic Drilling in Southern Thomson region

A program of stratigraphic drilling of up to 19 boreholes will commence during August in southern Queensland. This is a component of a collaborative project in the Southern Thomson region of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland between Geoscience Australia, GSNSW and GSQ. The project will contribute to the broader UNCOVER initiative, which seeks to address the challenges of 'greenfield' exploration in undercover areas in Australia through the provision of precompetitive fundamental geoscience data and concepts.

The project aims to understand the mineral systems potential of this region through four key objectives:

  • Characterise subsurface geology and recognise favourable geological environments where major mineral systems may have been active
  • Identify key elements that demonstrate mineral systems potential
  • Understand the depth and nature of cover and
  • Deliver new precompetitive data and concepts for industry, presenting the evidence for mineral systems potential in undercover, greenfield areas.

For further details see Southern Thomson Project web page.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

5. Mining 2016 Resources Convention

Geoscience Australia will be attending the Mining 2016 Resources Convention in Brisbane, which is being held 24 & 25 August 2016. Geoscience Australia will have a booth with information on Australia Minerals and Geoscience Australia's mineral-related projects. Dr Richard Blewett, Branch Head of Mineral Systems will be presenting "Exploring for the Future - Building a Mineral Exploration Prospectus."

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

6. Update on geophysical data release

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.

For further information, email clientservices@ga.gov.au or phone 1800 800 173.

7. Updated GIS dataset of Onshore Seismic Surveys is available now

A GIS dataset of onshore seismic surveys undertaken by Geoscience Australia and its predecessors from 1976 to present has been released. This dataset enables users to display seismic lines on a map and contains links to data packages available for free download. The data are available as a web service or for download.

8. About Minerals Alert

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