Minerals Alert August 2019

August 2019

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

  1. Airborne geophysical data updates
  2. GA representation at AEGC
  3. New publications
  4. Update on geophysical data release
  5. About Minerals Alert

1. Airborne geophysical data updates

1.1 AusAEM2 – EFTF

As of July 27, the 2nd phase of the Australian Airborne EM coverage program in northern Australia had reached 36% acquisition coverage, or just under 30, 000 line km of the 80,000 line km program at 20 km line spacing.  The survey is on schedule to complete flying by the end of the year.

Conductivity depth sections and integrated products will be delivered by end of FY20.  See ga.gov.au/eftf  for further information and data releases

1.2 Cobar AEM

In collaboration with the Geological Survey of NSW, GA announces the commencement of the Cobar airborne EM survey towards the end of the third quarter of 2019.  The 11,583 line km helicopter survey will be flown near the NSW town of Cobar with the key objectives of mapping:

  1. trends in regolith thickness, character, and variability;
  2. variations in bedrock conductivity;
  3. the continuity of key conductive bedrock (lithology-related) units under cover;
  4. the groundwater resource potential of the region;

The survey has been made available for 3rd parties to add in-fill areas for resource exploration

Acquisition is expected to be completed by December 2019, with final products made available in the following quarter.    Further information can be found at:  https://resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/miners-and-explorers/geoscience-information/minexcrc/cobar

2. GA representation at AEGC

As reported in Preview, the Bi-monthly Magazine of Australian Society of Exploration Geophysics, GA will be represented at the AEGC, Perth in September through papers, workshops and a booth.  GA presenters will be covering a diverse range of salient topics, including innovative AEM inversion techniques for water and mineral resources, IOCG mapping using potential field data through to the structural architecture of the central NW shelf.

Along with demonstrating the Exploring for the Future portal, GA will present the new national radiometric and magnetic data compilations covering the continent.  Since the last update of 2015, newer higher resolution surveys in some parts of the country have made a significant impact to detail and district targeting.

GA will be offering a workshop on cover thickness estimation using geophysical inversion at the AEGC Conference, 1-2 Sep, 2019.

This workshop will provide an overview of three geophysical techniques: AEM, magnetotellurics (MT) and passive seismic in their application to estimating cover thickness via robust inversion tools. The examples and process flows presented during the workshop can be used by the participants as a basis to invert their own datasets.

The workshop will include presentations by experts in the respective fields, including Dr Ross Brodie (AEM), Dr Yusen LeyCooper (AEM), Dr Alexei Gorbatov (Passive Seismic) and Dr Wenping Jiang (MT).  Numbers are limited with  applications via the AEGC website: https://2019.aegc.com.au/

3. New publications

A GA Record 2019-009 by Kositcin and Carson presents new detrital zircon U-Pb age results from 26 samples from sedimentary rocks of the south Nicholson region of eastern Northern Territory. The results provide the first geochronology data from various parts of the stratigraphy of the south Nicholson basin, allowing for improved intra- and inter-basin correlation of Mesoproterozoic rocks across northern Australia. This work presents outputs from the Exploring for the Future program.

Geological Survey of South Australia Report Book 2018/00028 by Jagodzinski, Bodorkos, Crowley, Pawley and Wise presents new U-Pb ages from 16 samples of basement and cover rocks of the Coompana Province, western South Australia. Samples in this study come from new drilling co-funded by the South Australian government’s PACE Copper initiative and the Commonwealth-funded Exploring for the Future program.

A paper published in Ore Geology Reviews by Skirrow et al. reviews the mapping of iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineral potential in Australia. The paper describes the methodology developed over the past decade at Geoscience Australia and includes new results for the IOCG mineral potential of a region between Tennant Creek (NT) and Mt Isa (Qld) using examples of IOCG prospectivity in five regions.

4. Update on geophysical data release

Geoscience Australia is managing the geophysical data acquisition programs in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania 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.

6. About Minerals Alert

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

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