July 2016

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

1. Australian Geoscience Information Network (AusGIN) and Geoscience Portal: New and Improved
2. New rock property data for the Stavely region of western Victoria released
3. Eucla-Gawler Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey
4. Southern Thomson Region Geochemical Survey, Southwestern Queensland and Northwestern New South Wales
5. Updated GIS dataset of Onshore Seismic Surveys is available now
6. Update on geophysical data release
7. About Minerals Alert

1. Australian Geoscience Information Network (AusGIN) and Geoscience Portal: New and Improved

A new Australian Geoscience Information Network (AusGIN) website has been launched by the Australian State, Territory and Commonwealth geological surveys.

The flagship of AusGIN is a completely revamped Geoscience Portal - it is now a state-of-the-art online mapping application that brings together geoscience spatial data from all Australian government jurisdictions.

All data in the Geoscience Portal are delivered via live web services in standard formats from locations around Australia. Data layers may be viewed, manipulated, analysed, and downloaded. The Portal also provides access to data registries from six state and federal government agencies, allowing users to search across thousands of geoscience datasets and publications. Featured datasets in the new Portal include boreholes, mineral occurrences, and mineral tenements from all States and the Northern Territory, and national geophysical datasets including new onshore seismic and rock properties data.

The AusGIN website provides links to established geoscience information hubs, such as the Geophysical Data Delivery System (GADDS), and links to State, Territory and Commonwealth geoscience organisations. AusGIN also links to a new and improved Australia Minerals website, which now contains all legislative, regulatory, and reporting information relevant to mineral resources investment, exploration and mining in Australia.

For further information, email ausgin.admin@ga.gov.au.

2. New rock property data for the Stavely region of western Victoria released

Rock property data for 13 diamond boreholes from the Stavely region of western Victoria have been released. The boreholes were completed as part of the collaborative Geoscience Australia-Geological Survey of Victoria Stavely Project, which seeks to better understand the mineral potential of the prospective Cambrian Stavely Arc. The report and digital data outline petrophysical data acquired at the AuScope Australian Geophysical Observing System facility at the University of Melbourne. Density, magnetic susceptibility, P-wave velocity, resistivity and natural gamma data have been acquired, which are essential for generating accurate geophysical models of subsurface prospective geology.

The Geoscience Australia Record and digital data are available for free download from the Geoscience Australia website, and also available from the Geoscience Australia rock property database.

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

3. Eucla-Gawler Deep Crustal Seismic Reflection Survey

Final data for the full length of the Eucla-Gawler deep crustal seismic reflection line is now available for download. The 830km long Eucla-Gawler transect 13GA-EG1 was acquired during November 2013 to February 2014 as a part of collaborative project between Geoscience Australia, the Geological Survey of South Australia, the Geological Survey of Western Australia and AuScope. Together with the previously acquired Albany-Fraser lines makes this one of the longest seismic traverses in Australia. Processed data from the eastern half of this line were released in December 2015 and now data from the full line length is available.

The Eucla-Gawler region is a major geological frontier, buried by extensive sedimentary cover associated with the Eucla Basin (Nullarbor Plain). The region lies between two of the most prospective geological regions in the world, Western Australia's Yilgarn Craton to the west, and the Gawler Craton in South Australia to the east.

Interpretations of 13GA-EG1 were presented at a series of talks at the Australian Earth Sciences Convention in Adelaide on Thursday 30 June 2016.

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

4. Southern Thomson Region Geochemical Survey, Southwestern Queensland and Northwestern New South Wales

Geoscience Australia Record 2016/011 has been released

The report documents the results of a surface geochemical survey conducted to help identify areas within the southern Thomson Orogen that could benefit from a stratigraphic drilling program to test geological models, and to provide information about potential regions associated with mineralisation. Geochemical analyses were performed for total, aqua regia, and Mobile Metal Ion® (MMI) inorganic element concentrations in the samples. A novel component of this work has been the treatment of the data using a Principal Components method that more fully deals with complexity of the data in a statistical and spatial way. Some of the associations may inform on potentially buried copper and gold mineralisation in the basement.

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

5. 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 is available as a web service or for free download from the Geoscience Australia website.

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. About Minerals Alert

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