The National Drilling Initiative (NDI) will manage and deliver drilling programs in multiple case study areas proposed by MinEx CRC’s partner geological survey organisations. The NDI vision is to drill multiple holes in a region to map the regional geology and architecture and define the potential for mineral systems in 3D. The areas shown in this web service describe the spatial locations of the study areas.

The National Drilling Initiative (NDI) will manage and deliver drilling programs in multiple case study areas proposed by MinEx CRC’s partner geological survey organisations. The NDI vision is to drill multiple holes in a region to map the regional geology and architecture and define the potential for mineral systems in 3D. The areas shown in this web service describe the spatial locations of the study areas.

The National Drilling Initiative (NDI) will manage and deliver drilling programs in multiple case study areas proposed by MinEx CRC’s partner geological survey organisations. The NDI vision is to drill multiple holes in a region to map the regional geology and architecture and define the potential for mineral systems in 3D. The areas shown in this web service describe the spatial locations of the study areas.

NDI Carrara 1 is a deep stratigraphic well completed in 2020 as part of the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative (NDI), in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. It is the first stratigraphic test of the Carrara Sub-Basin, a newly discovered depocentre in the South Nicholson region. The well intersected Proterozoic sediments with numerous hydrocarbon shows, likely to be of particular interest due to affinities with the known Proterozoic plays of the Beetaloo Sub-basin and the Lawn Hill Platform, including two organic-rich black shales and a thick sequence of interbedded black shales and silty-sandstones. Alongside an extensive suite of wireline logs, continuous core was recovered from 283.9 m to total depth at 1750.8 m, providing high-quality data to support comprehensive analysis. Presently, this includes geochronology, geochemistry, geomechanics, and petrophysics. Rock Eval pyrolysis data demonstrates the potential for several thick black shales to be a source of hydrocarbons for conventional and unconventional plays. Integration of these data with geomechanical properties highlights potential brittle zones within the fine-grained intervals where hydraulic stimulation is likely to enhance permeability, identifying prospective Carrara Sub-basin shale gas intervals. Detailed wireline log analysis further supports a high potential for unconventional shale resources. Interpretation of the L210 and L212 seismic surveys suggests that the intersected sequences are laterally extensive and continuous throughout the Carrara Sub-basin, potentially forming a significant new hydrocarbon province and continuing the Proterozoic shale play fairway across the Northern Territory and northwest Queensland. This abstract was submitted and presented at the 2022 Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), Brisbane (https://appea.eventsair.com/appea-2022/)

The National Drilling Initiative (NDI) will manage and deliver drilling programs in multiple case study areas proposed by MinEx CRC’s partner geological survey organisations. The NDI vision is to drill multiple holes in a region to map the regional geology and architecture and define the potential for mineral systems in 3D. The areas shown in this web service describe the spatial locations of the study areas.

<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 petrophysical 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 X-ray Computerised Tomography (XCT) scanning and gas porosity and permeability testing for 32 samples from NDI Carrara 1. Additional low permeability tests were undertaken on select samples that were identified as being ultra-tight (permeability <1 μD). 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>This study was commissioned by Geoscience Australia (GA) to produce a report on methane adsorption and desorption of select samples from the deep stratigraphic drill hole NDI Carrara 1, located in the Proterozoic Carrara Sub-basin in the Northern Territory. Plugs were taken from depths of interest and analysed via adsorption and desorption isotherm testing at the CSIRO laboratories in Clayton, Victoria. </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>The Carrara Sub-basin, discovered in 2017 based on interpretation of 2D deep seismic surveys acquired by Geoscience Australia, is a large sedimentary depocentre in the South Nicholson region straddling the Northern Territory and Queensland. It was interpreted to contain up to 8 km of Paleoproterozoic to Cambrian rocks including stratigraphic equivalents to the Isa Superbasin, South Nicholson Group and Georgina Basin. In order to validate these stratigraphic interpretations and assess the resource prospectivity of the Carrara Sub-basin, the South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative (NDI) Carrara 1 stratigraphic drill hole was completed in late 2020 as a collaboration between the MinEx Cooperative Research Centre, Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. NDI Carrara 1 was drilled on the western flanks of the Carrara Sub-basin and reached a total depth of 1751&nbsp;m, intersecting ca. 630&nbsp;m of Cambrian Georgina Basin overlying ca. 1100&nbsp;m of Proterozoic carbonates, black shales and minor siliciclastics. More than 400 NDI Carrara&nbsp;1 physical samples were analysed as part of an extensive geochemical program, including Rock-Eval pyrolysis and compositional analyses of hydrocarbon shows, whose results and implications for energy prospectivity are summarised here.</div> This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2022 Australian Organic Geochemistry Conference 27-29 November (https://events.csiro.au/Events/2022/October/5/Australian-Organic-Geochemistry-Conference)

<div>The South Nicholson National Drilling Initiative (NDI) Carrara 1 stratigraphic drill hole was completed in late 2020, as a collaboration between Geoscience Australia, the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS), and the MinEx CRC. The drilling aimed to gather new subsurface data on the potential mineral and energy resources in the newly identified Carrara Sub-basin. NDI Carrara 1 is located in the eastern Northern Territory, on the western flanks of the Carrara Sub-basin on the South Nicholson Seismic line, reaching a total depth of 1751 m, intersecting ca. 630 m of Cambrian Georgina Basin overlying ca. 1100 m of Proterozoic carbonates, black shales and minor siliciclastics (https://portal.ga.gov.au/bhcr/minerals/648482).</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Following a public data release of the borehole completion report, CSIRO was contracted by Geoscience Australia (GA) under the Exploring for the Future program to analyse samples from NDI Carrara 1 for quantitative bulk and clay fraction analysis. This report presents results for quantitative bulk and clay (<2 µm) fraction analysis by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) on 32 bulk core samples from the NDI Carrara 1. Samples were prepared and analysed at the CSIRO’s Waite Laboratories in South Australia.</div><div><br></div>