Minerals Alert March 2018

March 2018

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

  1. Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2017
  2. Australian Mineral Exploration Review 2016-17
  3. Australian Operating Mines Map 2017
  4. New report on the geology and mineral systems of  the Stavely Arc, western Victoria
  5. Exploring for the Future Data Release at AGES
  6. Update on geophysical data release
  7. About Minerals Alert

1. Australia's Identified Mineral Resources 2017

The Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator the Hon Matt Canavan, launched the latest edition of Australia's Identified Mineral Resources (AIMR) at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, 4-7 March 2018.

AIMR is an annual compilation of Australia¿s minerals inventory that has been prepared by Geoscience Australia and its predecessors since 1975 using statistics collected from the mining industry. It includes assessments of reserves, resources, annual production and cumulative production for all major, and some minor, commodities. It provides useful comparisons of reserves and resources at operating mines as proportions of the national inventory and insights into the distribution of Australia¿s mineral wealth. It also includes evaluations of long-term trends for major commodities and world rankings for Australia's mineral resources. AIMR shows the importance of the mining industry to the Australian economy and the potential resource life and supply capability of Australian mineral deposits.

The report is available as a free download.

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

2. Australian Mineral Exploration Review 2016-17

The Australian Mineral Exploration Review 2016-17 provides an overview of results from Australia's mineral exploration during the 2016-17 financial year. The map highlights results from selected drill intersections and maiden resources announced by exploration and mining companies. It also contains graphs of exploration expenditure trends for exploration drilling, specific commodities and state and territory jurisdictions.

The map is available as a free download.

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

3. Australian Operating Mines Map 2017

The Australian Operating Mines Map shows operating mines, developing mines and selected mineral deposits in Australia. This map broadly illustrates the geographic distribution of the mines and deposits and the range of selected, largely grouped, commodities. This information is superimposed on a generalised surface geology map of Australia and an aeromagnetic image in grey scale.

The map is available as a free download.

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

4. New report on the geology and mineral systems of the Stavely Arc, western Victoria

The final Geoscience Australia report for the collaborative Geoscience Australia-Geological Survey of Victoria Stavely Project has been released. The report, titled `Regional geology and mineral systems of the Stavely Arc', is now available from the Geoscience Australia website. The results of the Stavely Project address a number of geoscience priorities identified in the UNCOVER Roadmap and the National Mineral Exploration Strategy.

The report outlines the key findings of the Stavely Project and details the new stratigraphic, geochronological, structural, geochemical and mineral systems understanding of the Stavely Arc in western Victoria, and draws together these lines of evidence to present new concepts for the geological framework and geodynamic setting of the region. Implications for the potential for mineral systems under cover and new opportunities for mineral explorers are also highlighted.

The results presented in the report show that geophysically-imaged belts of rocks under cover are equivalent to known exposed prospective rocks in the region, and are all considered to be part of the Cambrian Stavely Arc. The geological and geochemical characteristics of the Stavely Arc are similar to metallogenically well-endowed volcanic arc terranes worldwide. The results presented in the report enlarge the search space for arc-related mineral systems, including porphyry, epithermal, and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide systems, in western Victoria substantially. This report marks the final publication for the Stavely Project to be led by Geoscience Australia. Other Stavely Project reports will be delivered in the future by the Geological Survey of Victoria.

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

5. Exploring for the Future Data Release at AGES

Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Northern Territory and Queensland Geological Surveys, is releasing three new datasets arising out of the Federal Government¿s Exploring for the Future program at the upcoming Annual  Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) in Alice Springs,  20-21 March 2018. Datasets to be released:

South Nicholson Basin Reflection Seismic Survey comprised consisting of five reflection seismic profiles totaling 1100 line km across the South Nicholson Basin, Murphy Inlier and McArthur Basin.

Time-slice Solid Geology Maps at 1:1M scale for the region between Tennent Tennant Creek, the Batten Fault Zone and Mount Isa. This data package is an interpretation of geological units beneath Cenozoic, Mesozoic and Paleozoic unconformities based on potential field datasets and limited drilling information. This is the first release from an ongoing program to systematically interpret the subsurface geology across northern Australia.

Australian Geological Provinces version 2.0 includes revision of Australian  basin outlines such as the South Nicholson Basin.

All datasets will be available through the Exploring  for the Future 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, 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.

7. About Minerals Alert

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