CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) is a proven technology that can extend the life of oil fields, permanently store CO₂, and improve the recovery of oil and condensate over time. Although CO₂-EOR has been used successfully for decades, particularly in the United States, it has not gained traction in Australia to date. In this study, we assemble and evaluate data relevant to CO₂-EOR for Australia’s key oil and condensate producing basins, and develop a national-scale, integrated basin ranking that shows which regions have the best overall conditions for CO₂-EOR. The primary goals of our study are to determine whether Australia’s major hydrocarbon provinces exhibit suitable geological and oil characteristics for successful CO₂-EOR activities and to rank the potential of these basins for CO₂-EOR. Each basin is assessed based on the key parameters that contribute to a successful CO₂-EOR prospect: oil properties (API gravity), pressure, temperature, reservoir properties (porosity, permeability, heterogeneity), availability of CO₂ for EOR operations, and infrastructure to support EOR operations. The top three ranked basins are the onshore Bowen-Surat, Cooper-Eromanga and offshore Gippsland Basins, which are all in relatively close proximity to the large east coast energy/oil markets. A significant factor that differentiates these three basins from the others considered in this study is their relatively good access to CO₂ and well-developed infrastructure. The next three most suitable basins are located offshore on the Northwest Shelf (Browse, Carnarvon, and Bonaparte Basins). While these three basins have mostly favourable oil properties and reservoir conditions, the sparse CO₂ sources and large distances involved lead to lower scores overall. The Canning and Amadeus Basins rank the lowest among the basins assessed, being relatively immature and remote hydrocarbon provinces, and lacking the required volumes of CO₂ or infrastructure to economically implement CO₂-EOR. In addition to ranking the basins for successful implementation of CO₂-EOR, we also provide some quantification of the potential recoverable oil in the various basins. These estimates used the oil and condensate reserve numbers that are available from national databases combined with application of internationally observed tertiary recovery factors. Additionally, we estimate the potential mass of CO₂ that would be required to produce these potential recoverable oil and condensate resources. In the large oil- and condensate-bearing basins, such as the Carnarvon and Gippsland Basins, some scenarios require over a billion tonnes of CO₂ to unlock the full residual resource, which points to CO₂ being the limiting factor for full-scale CO₂-EOR development. Even taking a conservative view of the available resources and potential extent of CO₂-EOR implementation, sourcing sufficient amounts of CO₂ for large-scale deployment of the technology presents a significant challenge. <b>Citation:</b> Tenthorey, E., Kalinowski, A., Wintle, E., Bagheri, M., Easton, L., Mathews, E., McKenna, J., Taggart, I. 2022. Screening Australia’s Basins for CO2-Enhanced Oil Recovery (December 6, 2022). <i>Proceedings of the 16th Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies Conference (GHGT-16) 23-24 Oct 2022</i>, Available at SSRN: <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4294743">https://ssrn.com/abstract=4294743</a> or <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4294743">http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4294743</a>

The first iteration of a continental-scale Isotopic Atlas of Australia was introduced by Geoscience Australia at the 2019 SGGMP conference in Devonport, Tasmania, through a talk and poster display. In the three years since, progress on this Isotopic Atlas has continued and expanded datasets are now publicly available and downloadable via Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) <a href="https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/geochronology">Geochronology and Isotopes Data Portal</a>. This poster provides example maps produced from the compiled data of multiple geochronology and isotopic tracer datasets, now available in the <a href="https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/eftf">EFTF Portal</a>. Available data include Sm–Nd model ages of magmatic rocks; Lu–Hf isotopes from zircon and associated O-isotope data; Pb–Pb isotopes from ore-related minerals such as galena and pyrite; Rb–Sr isotopes from soils; U–Pb ages of magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks; and K–Ar, Ar–Ar, Re–Os, Rb–Sr and fission-track ages from minerals and whole rocks. Compiled geochronology, which commenced with coverage of northern Australia, is now much more comprehensive across Victoria and Tasmania, with New South Wales and South Australia updates well underway. This Isotopic Atlas of Australia provides a convenient visual overview of age and isotopic patterns reflecting geological processes that have led to the current configuration of the Australian continent, including progressive development of continental crust from the mantle. These datasets and maps unlock the collective value of several decades of geochronological and isotopic studies conducted across Australia, and provide an important complement to other geological maps and geophysical images—in particular, by adding a time dimension to 2D and 3D maps and models. To view the associated poster see <a href="https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/147377">eCat 147377</a>. This Abstract & Poster were presented to the 2022 Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology (SGGMP) Conference 7-11 November (https://gsasggmp.wixsite.com/home/biennial-conference-2021)

<div>Although heavy mineral exploration techniques have been successfully used as exploration vectors to ore deposits around the world, exploration case studies and pre-competitive datasets relevant to Australian conditions are relatively limited. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia (HMMA) project is a novel analytical campaign to determine the abundance and distribution of heavy minerals (SG>2.9 g/cc) in 1315 floodplain sediment samples collected from catchments across Australia during Geoscience Australia’s National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) project. Archived NGSA samples, which originated from, on average, 60 to 80 cm depth in floodplain landforms, were sub-sampled and subjected to dense media separation and automated SEM-EDS analysis in the John de Laeter Centre at Curtin University. Mineral assay data from all 1315 drainage samples will be publicly released by the end of 2023. </div><div><br></div><div>An initial data package released in August 2022 contains mineralogical assay data for 223 samples from the Darling–Curnamona–Delamerian (DCD) region of south-eastern Australia. That package identified over 140 heavy minerals from 29 million individual mineral observations. The number of mineral observations generated during the project required development of a novel Mineral Network Analysis (MNA) tool to allow end users to discover, visualise and interpret mineral co-occurrence relationships, potentially useful in exploration vectoring and targeting. The MNA tool can also be used to rapidly search the heavy mineral database to locate observations of potential economic significance. The co-occurrence of Zn-minerals indicative of high-grade metamorphism of base metal mineralisation (e.g., gahnite (Zn-spinel), ecandrewsite (Zn-ilmenite) and zincostaurolite (Zn-aluminosilicate)) from the region surrounding Broken Hill demonstrated the utility of the method. Zn-mineral co-occurrences not associated with known mineralisation were also noted and may represent targeting opportunities. </div><div><br></div><div>Heavy mineral data from parts of Queensland are scheduled for a separate public release in December 2022 and will be presented at the conference.&nbsp;</div> This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2023 Australian Exploration Geoscience Conference 13-18 Mar (https://2023.aegc.com.au/)

<div>Heavy rare earth elements are essential in renewable energy and high-tech products. Some natural rare earth element (REE) deposits exhibit heavy rare earth element (HREE) enrichment from &lt;&nbsp;10% to ~85% of the REE budget (Williams-Jones et al., 2015). </div><div><br></div><div>Controls on REE fractionation in hydrothermal systems are imposed by (1) changes in the relative stability of REE aqueous complexes with temperature (Migdisov et al., 2016) and (2) incorporation or rejection of REE by crystalline structures. Also, the REEs are invariably found as solid solutions but not as pure minerals. REE and yttrium (Y) sulphate complexes are some of the most stable REE and Y aqueous species in hydrothermal fluids (Migdisov and William-Jones, 2008, 2016; Guan et al., 2022) and may be responsible for REE transport and deposition in sediment-hosted deposits. Within the unconformity-related deposits, REEs are hosted mostly by xenotime ((Y,Dy,Er,Tb,Yb)PO4) and minor florencite ((La,Ce)Al3(PO4)2(OH)6) (Nazari-Dehkordi et al., 2019). Modelling the stability of xenotime in the H-O-Cl-(±F)-S-P aqueous system is critical for understanding HREE enrichment in this mineral system.</div><div><br></div><div>We use a newly derived thermodynamic dataset depos for REESO4+ and REE(SO4)2‑ aqueous complexes to generate stability diagrams illustrating mechanisms of REE transport and deposition in the above deposits. Sulphate REE complexes may dominate even in chloride-rich brines and facilitate REE mobilization in acid oxidizing environments. Previously Nazari-Dehkordi et al. (2019) proposed an ore genesis model involving the mixing of discrete hydrothermal fluids that separately carried REE + yttrium and phosphorus. The speciation model that includes sulphate complexes expands this scenario; a process resulting in fluid neutralization or reduction will also promote precipitation of xenotime enriched in HREEs.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div>This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2022 Specialist Group in Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology (SGGMP) Conference 7-11 November (https://gsasggmp.wixsite.com/home/biennial-conference-2021)

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Onshore Basin Inventories project provides a whole-of-basin inventory of geology, petroleum systems, exploration status and data coverage of hydrocarbon-prone onshore Australian sedimentary basins. Two existing volumes cover many central and north Australian onshore basins, providing a single point of reference and creating a standardised national basin inventory. In addition to summarising the current state of knowledge within each basin, the onshore basin inventory reports identify critical science questions and key exploration uncertainties that may help inform future work program planning and aid in decision making for both government and industry organisations. </div><div><br></div><div>Under Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, several new onshore basin inventory reports are being delivered. The next releases include the Adavale Basin of southern Queensland and a compilation of Australia’s Mesoproterozoic basins. These reports are supported by value-add products that address identified data gaps and evolve regional understanding of basin evolution and prospectivity, including petroleum systems modelling, seismic reprocessing and regional geochemical studies. The Onshore Basin Inventories project continues to provide scientific and strategic direction for pre-competitive data acquisition under the EFTF work program, guiding program planning and shaping post-acquisition analysis programs.<br> <b>Citation: </b>Bailey Adam H. E., Carr Lidena K., Korsch Russell (2023) Australia’s Onshore Basin Inventories – foundational knowledge synthesis for better design of precompetitive data acquisition. <i>The APPEA Journal </i><b>63</b>, S209-S214. https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22045

<div>An Isotopic Atlas of Australia provides a convenient visual overview of age and isotopic patterns reflecting geological processes that have led to the current configuration of the Australian continent, including progressive development of continental crust from the mantle. This poster provides example maps produced from compiled data of multiple geochronology and isotopic tracer datasets from this Isotopic Atlas.&nbsp;It is also a promotion for the release of the Victorian and Tasmanian age compilation datasets (Waltenbeg et al., 2021; Jones et al., 2022).</div>

<div>Historically, isotopic data are collected at the individual sample level on local- to regional-scale features and are dispersed among decades of both published and unpublished individual academic literature, university theses and geological survey reports, in disparate formats and with widely varying levels of detail. Consequently, it has been difficult to visualise or interrogate the collective value of age and isotopic data at continental-scale. Geoscience Australia’s (GA) continental-scale Isotopic Atlas of Australia (Fraser et al., 2020), breaks this cycle of single-use science by compiling and integrating <strong>multiple radiometric age and isotopic tracer datasets</strong> and making them publicly accessible and useable through GA’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Portal.</div><div><br></div><div>The first iteration of a continental-scale Isotopic Atlas of Australia was introduced by Geoscience Australia at the 2019 SGGMP conference in Devonport, Tasmania, through a talk and poster display. In the three years since, progress on this Isotopic Atlas has continued and expanded datasets are now publicly available and downloadable via Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) Geochronology and Isotopes Data Portal.&nbsp;</div>

<div>A document outlining how geoscientific data can be useful for farmers and engagement tool for geoscientists interacting with farmers and pastoralists.</div>

<div>NDI Carrara 1 is a deep stratigraphic borehole that was drilled in 2020 under the MinEx CRC’s National Drilling Initiative (NDI) program in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. NDI Carrara 1 is the first stratigraphic test of the recently described Carrara Sub-basin, a Proterozoic aged depocentre located in the South Nicholson region of northwest Queensland and the Northern Territory. The borehole was drilled to a total depth of 1751 m and penetrated a succession of Cambrian aged Georgina Basin carbonate and siliciclastic rocks that unconformably overly a thick succession of Proterozoic age siliciclastic and carbonate-rich sediments. Although drilled on the western flank of the Carrara Sub-basin, NDI Carrara 1 did not penetrate to basement. Interpretation of the L210 deep-crustal seismic survey suggests that further Proterozoic sedimentary packages known from the northern Lawn Hill Platform in northwest Queensland are likely to be found underlying the succession intersected in NDI Carrara 1. The borehole was continuously cored from 283 m to total depth, and an extensive suite of wireline logs was acquired. Geoscience Australia and partners have undertaken an extensive analytical program to understand the depositional, structural, and diagenetic history of the sediments intersected in NDI Carrara 1. This program includes a targeted geomechanical study that aims to characterise the physical properties of these Proterozoic rocks through laboratory analysis of core samples, the results of which are summarised in this data release.</div><div><br></div><div>This data release provides data from new unconfined compressive strength (UCS), single-stage triaxial testing, and laboratory ultrasonic testing for 36 sample plugs from NDI Carrara 1. These tests were performed at the CSIRO Geomechanics and Geophysics Laboratory in Perth, during January to June 2022. The full results as provided by CSIRO to Geoscience Australia are provided as an attachment to this document.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Templates and User Guide to provide airborne geophysical data to non-technical people. The template includes a description of the project, survey method, how the data can be used, and what the data can show you. The template is internal use only</div><div>1. Airborne Electromagnetic Survey</div>