Minerals Alert February 2016

February 2016

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

  1. Australia's potential for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits
  2. New airborne electromagnetic data interpretation record release
  3. New drill hole lithological logs helping to uncover the geology of the Stavely region
  4. Update on geophysical data releases
  5. About Minerals Alert

1. Australia's potential for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits

Geoscience Australia has recently completed an analysis of the continent's potential for intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-platinum-group element (Ni-Cu-PGE) sulfide deposits. Mineral deposits of this type host some of the world's largest resources of Ni and PGE, including the Noril'sk (Russia), Voisey's Bay (Canada) and Jinchuan (China) deposits. The assessment by Geoscience Australia has identified many geological provinces with highly favourable prospectivity, including several not previously known for nickel sulfide mineralisation. It is the first continental-scale assessment of Australia's magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE potential using a mineral systems-based GIS modelling method.
The data package, available for free download, includes:

For more information, please email Client Services; or phone 1800 800 173.

2. New airborne electromagnetic data interpretation record release

The Southern Thomson Orogen VTEMplus® AEM Survey: Using airborne electromagnetics as an UNCOVER application, Geoscience Australia Record 2015/29 discusses the acquisition, processing and interpretation of data from the Southern Thomson Orogen VTEMplus® AEM Survey and highlights the use of regional AEM surveying for geological and depth to basement mapping in this greenfields area. Data acquisition, processing and interpretation methods are presented, followed by a series of case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the technique for identifying and mapping depth to resistive basement, for characterising cover sequences, for mapping weathering products and for mapping post-depositional structures.

The Geoscience Australia Record is available for free download from the Geoscience Australia website.

For more information, please email Client Services; or phone 1800 800 173.

3. New drill hole lithological logs helping to uncover the geology of the Stavely region

Lithological logs have been released for all 14 stratigraphic drill holes (2708m) completed as part of the Geoscience Australia-Geological Survey of Victoria Stavely Project in the prospective Stavely region of western Victoria. The report and associated data include detailed and summary lithological logs for both sonic and diamond drill core, graphic logs, as well as consultant reports prepared for Geoscience Australia outlining biostratigraphic, palynological and volcanological studies undertaken on the drill core. The lithological logs provide geological information on buried Cambrian rocks of the Stavely Arc, which are potentially prospective for porphyry, epithermal and volcanic-hosted massive sulfide mineral systems. The logs also provide new information on the depth and character of cover in the Stavely region, including unconsolidated sediments of the Murray Basin. This information is a key component in helping to better understand the geological framework of the Stavely region. The drill hole logs complement previous releases of down-hole information, including geophysical logs and HyLogger¿ hyperspectral data.

The Geoscience Australia Record and digital data are available for free download from the Geoscience Australia website.

For more information, please email Client Services; or phone 1800 800 173.

4. Update on geophysical data releases

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.

To obtain further details on the survey acquisition, please email Client Services; or phone 1800 800 173.

5. About Minerals Alert

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