Uranium exploration expenditure in Australia has increased progressively since 2003 mainly because of the significant increases in spot market uranium prices in recent years. In 2007-08, uranium exploration expenditure increased to a record level of $231.6 million , which is approximately double the 2006-07 expenditure ($111.4 million). The majority of expenditure was in South Australia (51%), followed by the Northern Territory (21%), Queensland (16%) and Western Australia (12%). Uranium exploration expenditure in the 2008 September quarter ($56.7 million) was above the 2007 September quarter ($50 million). However the difference is the expenditure trend from the June quarter to the September quarter, in 2007 expenditure grew by $6.7 million whereas in 2008 expenditure reduced by $6.0 million. This reduction may reflect that the current global economic crisis is affecting the level of uranium exploration spending. Geoscience Australia prepares annual estimates of Australia's uranium resources within categories used for international reporting by the Uranium Group (a joint initiative of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency). The estimates are for resources of recoverable uranium after losses due to mining and milling have been deducted. As of December 2008, Australia's Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) recoverable at costs of <US$80/kg U were estimated to be 1,111,000 t U. This represents an increase of 12% over the estimates for the previous year, mainly due to large increase in both reserves and resource estimates for Olympic Dam deposit (South Australia) and transfer of resources from Inferred in RAR. This means Australia's share of the world's total RAR of uranium recoverable at <US$80/kg U has increased to about 37% . <truncated>

Hot Rocks in Australia - National Outlook Hill, A.J.1, Goldstein, B.A1 and Budd, A.R.2 goldstein.barry@saugov.sa.gov.au hill.tonyj@saugov.sa.gov.au Petroleum & Geothermal Group, PIRSA Level 6, 101 Grenfell St.Adelaide SA 50001 Anthony.Budd@ga.gov.au Onshore Energy & Minerals Division, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378 Canberra ACT 26012 Abstract: Evidence of climate change and knowledge of enormous hot rock resources are factors stimulating growth in geothermal energy research, including exploration, proof-of-concept appraisals, and development of demonstration pilot plant projects in Australia. In the six years since the grant of the first Geothermal Exploration Licence (GEL) in Australia, 16 companies have joined the hunt for renewable and emissions-free geothermal energy resources in 120 licence application areas covering ~ 67,000 km2 in Australia. The associated work programs correspond to an investment of $570 million, and that tally excludes deployment projects assumed in the Energy Supply Association of Australia's scenario for 6.8% (~ 5.5 GWe) of Australia's base-load power coming from geothermal resources by 2030. Australia's geothermal resources fall into two categories: hydrothermal (from relatively hot groundwater) and the hot fractured rock i.e. Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Large-scale base-load electricity generation in Australia is expected to come predominantly from Enhanced Geothermal systems. Geologic factors that determine the extent of EGS plays can be generalised as: - source rock availability, in the form of radiogenic, high heat-flow basement rocks (mostly granites); - low thermal-conductivity insulating rocks overlying the source rocks, to provide thermal traps; - the presence of permeable fabrics within insulating and basement rocks, that can be enhanced to create heat-exchange reservoirs; and - a practical depth-range, limited by drilling and completion technologies (defining a base) and necessary heat exchange efficiency (defining a top). A national EGS resource assessment and a road-map for the commercialisation of Australia's EGSs are expected to be published in 2008. The poster will provide a synopsis of investment frameworks and geothermal energy projects underway and planned in Australia.

The national mineral deposits dataset covers 60 commodities and more than 1050 of Australia's most significant mineral deposits - current and historic mines and undeveloped deposits. Subsets can also be created based on any attribute in the database (e.g. commodity, geological region, state/territory).

Prepared as a contribution to the joint Commonwealth and State Murray Basin Hydrogeological Project.

The IGBA OZCHEM database subset is comprised of 2832 wholerock analyses derived from AGSO field work and the literature. Data are from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand. AGSO's complete OZCHEM database contains approximately 50000 analyses, mainly from Australia but some are also from Papua New Guinea, Antarctica, Solomon Islands and New Zealand. Approximately 32000 analyses of Australian rocks of all ages and some New Zealand Tertiary volcanics are available for sale. The location is stored with each analysis along with geological descriptions, including the host stratigraphic unit and lithology. Most samples have been collected by AGSO field parties.OZCHEM is stored in an ORACLE relational database and is available in Oracle export, comma-delimited relational ASCII, and Microsoft Access formats.

OZCHRON is AGSO's national geochronology database. This documentation explains the database structure and includes definitions of the database tables and columns (attributes). It is provided with all purchases of OZCHRON data, but can also be purchased separately.

OZCHEM is AGSO's national whole-rock geochemical database (previously known as ROCKCHEM). This documentation explains the database structure and includes definitions of the database tables and columns (attributes). It is provided with all purchases of OZCHEM data, but can also be purchased separately. The documentation includes summaries and highlights of all the regional data sets that comprise OZCHEM.

This report documents the findings of the 'Northern Territory Coastal Plain: Mapping Seawater Intrusion (SWI) in Coastal Plain Aquifers Using Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Data' project. The principal objective of this project is to carry out an assessment of the potential for SWI to impact on aquifers within the Darwin Rural Water Control District (DRWCD). The project was funded by the National Water Commission (NWC), with significant in-kind resources and funding provided by Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Northern Territory Department of Resources, Environment, Tourism, Arts and Sports (NRETAS). The project entailed acquisition of regional AEM data over the priority areas within the DRWCD, small sonic and rotary mud drilling programs, borehole geophysical logging, groundwater sampling, laboratory analysis of pore fluids and groundwater samples, and integration, analysis and interpretation of results.

An integrated package comprising geological, structural, geophysical, geochronological and geochemical data. The GIS encompasses the outcropping and covered portions of Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic rocks straddling the NSW-SA border (the Broken Hill, Euriowie, Olary, Mount Painter and Mount Babbage Inliers). The GIS features recent data collected by the Broken Hill Exploration Initiative.

This tile contains all multibeam data held by Geoscience Australia on August 2012 within the specified area. The data has been gridded to 50m resolution. Some deeper data has also been interpolated within the mapped area. The image provided can be viewed on the free software CARIS Easyview, available from the CARIS website: www.caris.com under Free Downloads.