During 2008 and 2009, and under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Initiative, Geoscience Australia acquired airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data over the Pine Creek Orogen of the Northern Territory. The survey area was split into three areas for acquisition. VTEM data was acquired in the Kombolgie area east of Kakadu National Park (this data set) between August and November 2008. TEMPEST data was acquired west of Kakadu National Park with the area split in two to facilitate the use of two aircraft: the Woolner Granite area in the north was acquired between October and December 2008; and the Rum Jungle area adjoining to the south, was acquired between October 2008 and May 2009. The main purpose of the surveys was to provide additional geophysical/geological context for unconformity style uranium mineral systems and thereby promote related exploration. The survey data will also provide information on depth to Proterozoic/Archean basement, which is of general interest to explorers, and will be used as an input into ground water studies in the region. This dataset includes the subscriber company data K1 K2 and K3.

Conceptual MAR targets in the Broken Hill region were identified in previous investigations (Lewis et al., 2008; Lawrie et al., 2009a). In the BHMAR Phase 2 study, the project team is required to make recommendations on the presence and suitability of potential MAR sites with an 80% confidence level. While this will be attempted through a combination of AEM, borehole analysis and seismic reflection data acquisition, AEM is the prime dataset required to map the aquifer targets in 3D.

Geoscience Australia contracted an airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey over the Frome Embayment, South Australia, under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program. The Frome AEM survey was acquired using the Fugro Airborne Surveys (FAS) TEMPEST fixed wing time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) AEM system. The acquisition and processing of data were carried out by FAS under contract to Geoscience Australia. The Frome AEM survey consists of 32 300 line km, covering a total area of 95 000 km2 and was flown between 19 May and 2 November 2010. The survey was designed to deliver reliable, pre-competitive AEM data and scientific analysis of the energy resource potential of the Frome region of South Australia, including the flanks of the Northern Flinders Ranges, the Frome Embayment, the Olary Ranges and the northwestern Murray Basin. The survey data may also be used as an input to groundwater studies in the region. This presentation was given at a Frome AEM Workshop in Adelaide - November 2011.

A test site for airborne gravity (AG) systems has been established at Kauring, approximately 100 km east of Perth, Western Australia. The site was chosen using a range of criteria that included being within 200 km of Jandakot Airport in Perth where most of the airborne systems would be based at one time or another when operating in Australia, being free of low level flight restrictions, having minimal human infrastructure in the central 20 by 20 km area, and the presence of gentle to rolling terrain rather than deeply incised topography or an extensive flat plain with very low relief. In anticipation of catering for airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) systems, the site was required to have a gravity gradient feature with clear response in the wavelength range of 100 m to 2 km in a 5 by 5 km core region. In addition to catering for AGG systems, the site may also be used in the future to demonstrate and compare various airborne magnetic systems (TMI, vector, and gradient tensor systems) and digital terrain mapping systems.

Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data are being acquired by Geoscience Australia (GA) under the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP) in areas considered to have potential for uranium or thorium mineralisation. In contrast to deposit-scale investigations carried out by industry these surveys are designed to reveal new geological information at a regional scale. The Frome AEM survey shown in Figure 1 was flown by Fugro Airborne Surveys for GA, using the TEMPESTTM time-domain system. The survey was conducted with the aims of reducing exploration risk, stimulating exploration investment and enhancing prospectivity within the region primarily for uranium, but also for other commodities including copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, iron ore and potable groundwater. The Frome AEM survey was primarily designed to be a regional mapping program for mapping surface and subsurface geological features that may be associated with sandstone-hosted uranium systems. The data are also capable of being interpreted for landscape evolution studies within the flanks of the tectonically active Curnamona Province and Flinders Ranges of South Australia. In this article we present an enhanced set of conductivity estimates which are now available from the GA website free of charge. These conductivity estimates reveal new geological information

The continuing world demand for potash (potassium salts) is driving a new exploration boom in the Australian minerals industry for this valuable resource, listed by Geoscience Australia (GA) as a strategic commodity (Mernagh 2013). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) predicts a rising demand for fertilizers, with potash demand increasing at 3.7% per annum (FAO 2012), and Rabobank predicts that demand will exceed supply by up to 100% by 2020 (Rabobank 2012). This demand is driving the application of airborne electromagnetics (AEM) to map salinity as a proxy for potential potash resources in salt lakes. This short paper describes a few of the applications and is written in response to an industry request to GA for information on how AEM might be used to explore for potash.

A brief summary fo the highlights of the Paterson AEM survey and planned future work of Geoscience Australia's Airborne EM Project.

More recently the O'Farrell government has called for expressions of interest to explore for uranium across NSW. Fugro Airborne Services Pty Ltd also called for expressions of interest in flying a large TEMPEST AEM survey in NSW covering the NSW Curnamona Province and portions of the Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin, abutting the SA border, to complement the Frome AEM Survey. The following is a brief summary of some of the main points discussed and presented during 3 presentations at the NSWGS on 19 September 2012, and in follow-up discussions on 20 September 2012. Approximately 40 people attended the three presentations. A discussion after the talks centred around using AEM in NSW for regional mapping including for uranium, porphyry copper-gold systems and massive sulphide systems. PowerPoint presentations were left with NSWGS. Three abstracts describing these presentations are included at the end of this document.

Short article describing a new method of defining depth of investigation for airborne electromagnetic surveys

At present calcrete-hosted uranium deposits constitute only 1% of Australia's uranium resources. Most known deposits (nine out of eleven) are associated with Cenozoic drainage systems in the Yilgarn Craton, and similar drainage systems in the Gascoyne Province and Ngalia Basin. In the Paterson region calcrete-hosted uranium mineralisation has been reported only in the Lake Waukarlycarly area but no major deposit of this type has yet been found.