Review of activity in the Australian minerals industry in 2009-10

In the present report it is sought to explain a number of points, including, in particular, to give an explanation as to why the Company now estimates that its annual loss would be £169,000 per annum as against an estimate of £100,000 per annum, given in the statement issued by the Chamber of Mines. Information is also given in this report concerning the present ore reserve position which is closely bound up with the proposed development program.

In view of the shortage of tungsten supplies in allied countries, efforts are being made in Australia to increase production with a view to not only satisfying domestic requirements, but also exporting to Great Britain and the United States of America. The King Island scheelite mine is at present the largest producer of tungsten ore in Australia, and the possibilities of increased production from it were, therefore, among the first to be considered. Geological and geophysical surveys were made in June and July, 1942. A preliminary report was prepared in September and a drilling campaign drawn up to test the deposits with the object of proving sufficient ore-reserves to justify increased production for war purposes. Up till the present, fifteen drill holes have been completed and under a modified programme four remain to be drilled (two of these are in progress). This second preliminary report is based on the drilling and assaying results to date (details of thirteen holes are available).

This report follows a preliminary report dated 9th September, 1942, and it is not proposed to recapitulate the matter contained therein, although some references to the preliminary report are necessary. The principal purpose of a second visit to the Lakes was to determine accurately the area of useful salt-bearing surface and the nature of the beds. Much evidence confirmatory of the views expressed earlier regarding the structure of the lake beds was noted. However, a plane-table survey revealed that the total extent occupied by recoverable salt is considerably less than a casual inspection would suggest and consists of the following areas, which are shown on the accompanying plan.

A map showing gold resources of Australia

A survey of deposits of radio-active minerals was carried out in an area between Coongan and Yule Rivers, Pilbara Goldfield, W.A., during September and October, 1948. This was a continuation of the survey commenced in the previous year (Record 1947/078). The survey was mainly confined to an inspection of localities from which radio-active minerals had previously been reported. Some other mineral localities were inspected, and the Geiger counter was used extensively on many types of rocks and detrital materials in the areas examined. In this way an occurrence of radio-active columbite was found at Mount Francisco, and columbite and tantalite were therefore included among the minerals to be investigated. Alluvial samples were all concentrated by means of a yandie. Rough estimates of the reserves of radio-active minerals were made. The findings of the survey are outlined in this report. The geology of the area and the occurrence of radio-active minerals are described. Accompanying geological plans are included.

With the increasing exploration interest in onshore unconventional resources, Geoscience Australia's onshore hydrocarbons section, in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Australian States and The Northern Territory Geological Surveys, will undertake a pilot unconventional resource assessment of the entire Georgina Basin. As part of this process to produce a nationally consistent dataset in this space, new geochemistry and petroleum systems modelling will be presented for the basin. The Georgina Basin is a northwest-southeast trending extensional basin, which covers up to 325,000 km2 in both Queensland and the Northern Territory. The basin contains thick successions of Neoproterzoic through to Lower Devonian sedimentary rocks and potential Cambrian hydrocarbon systems, with some parts of the Northern Territory portion of the basin considered to be within the oil window, with prospective Cambrian and Ordovician carbonate and clastic sedimentary rocks (Questa, 1994). The assessment will use the USGS probabilistic framework of assessment, based on predicted productivity (either from actual production data or analogues), which distinguishes it from the commonly used volumetric methods. The geological framework uses inputs for the resource assessments constructed through the integrated interpretation of a variety of geological and geophysical datasets to produce, for the first time, basin wide volumetric assessment of unconventional hydrocarbon plays for the Georgina Basin.

Large areas of prospective North and North-East Queensland have been surveyed by airborne hyperspectral sensor, HyMap, and airborne geophysics as part of the 'Smart' exploration initiative by the Geological Survey of Queensland. In particular, 25000 km2 of hyperspectral mineral and compositional map products, at 4.5 m spatial resolution, have been generated and made available via the internet. In addition, more than 130 ASTER scenes were processed and merged to produce broad scale mapping of mineral groups (Thomas et al, 2008). Province-scale, accurate maps of mineral abundances and minerals chemistries were generated for North Queensland as a result of a 2 year project starting in July 2006 which involved CSIRO Exploration and Mining, the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Geoscience Australia, James Cook University, and Curtin University. Airborne radiometric data acquired over the same North Queensland Mt Isa - Cloncurry areas as the hyperspectral surveys, had been acquired at flight line spacing of 200 metre. Such geophysical radiometric data provides a useful opportunity to compare the mineral mapping potential of both techniques, for a wide range of geological and vegetated environments. In this study, examples are described of soil mapping within the Tick Hill area, and geological / exploration mapping within the Mt Henry and Suicide Ridge prospects of North Queensland.

The area covered by this investigation, totalling approximately 100 square miles, surrounds an occurrence of radio-active minerals which was discovered in 1950. The deposit is 30 feet east of the Stuart Highway, 21 miles south-east of Pine Creek, Northern Territory, and 40 miles north-west of Katherine. It is one third of a mile north-east of the Fergusson railways siding. Mapping of the area was undertaken consequent upon an examination of the Fergusson River Crossing Deposit by H.J. Ward in September 1950 and by Ward and R.S. Matheson in November 1950. Although the prospect itself was not considered to warrant further work, it was thought that further occurrences might exist in the area, particularly along the shear which had localized the known deposit. Mapping and prospecting of the area was therefore recommended. This report records the results of that investigation.

A geological examination of the Renison Bell Tin Field was made in company with Mr. H.G.W. Keid, Field Geologist, Tasmanian department of Mines, during January and February, 1942. Workings, lode outcrops and the principal topographical features were mapped by plane table on a scale of 100 feet to an inch, and all accessible underground workings were plotted on a scale of 40 feet to an inch. Surface exposures were poor, owing to dense growth of bracken and other scrub and were largely confined to the vicinity of present or previous workings, tramlines, tracks, roads and railway lines. The history and production, geology, and economic geology of the field are outlined. The individual lodes are described in some detail. Methods of mineral exploration are discussed.