Minerals Alert April 2015
April 2015
A monthly online newsletter with product news, data releases and project highlights relating to the minerals and energy exploration industries.
- New Large Igneous Provinces Digital Dataset
- Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC
- Highlights and Insights Articles
- Update on geophysical data releases
- About Minerals Alert
1. New Large Igneous Provinces Digital Dataset
Polygons of the extent of Australia¿s Proterozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are now available as a GIS dataset. This dataset, previously released as a pdf map and accompanying Geoscience Australia Record (2009/44), shows the inferred time-space distribution of five LIPs across Australia. Large igneous provinces are relatively rare magmatic events characterised by exceptionally large volumes of typically mafic-dominated magma emplaced over a few millions years or less. LIPs are very prospective for magmatic nickel sulphide deposits as they are a consequence of high degrees of partial melting of the mantle which liberates Ni from olivine. For additional geological detail this dataset should be used in conjunction with their associated magmatic event available in the Australian Mafic Ultramafic Magmatic Events GIS Dataset released by Geoscience Australia in 2014. This dataset is available as a free download.
2. Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC
The Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC (pmd*CRC) Y4 project undertook a scale-integrated mineral systems-based targeting analysis for orogenic gold in the Eastern Goldfields Super terrane. This analysis successfully accounted for most of the known gold in the region plus it identified potential areas. The reports were published in the public domain in 2009 and 2010 but now the digital data have been released.
This new data release is a 336Mb zip file that contains the various coverages as ESRI shapefiles.
3. Highlights and Insights Articles
Researchers have identified a roughly circular structure west of Winton in western Queensland that may have been created by an asteroid impact around 300 million years ago. Large impact structures are scientifically important as they provide potential clues to the evolution of the Earth's crust. They can also have economic significance due to their potential for hosting mineral and petroleum resources
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.
The current status of Geoscience Australia's geophysical survey data acquisition is available in a comprehensive table.
5. About Minerals Alert
For more information, please email clientservices@ga.gov.au; or phone 1800 800 173.