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  • This statement gives the results of a scout drilling campaign conducted by the Bureau at the Kirby's Hill Area of the Western Coalfield of New South Wales. The area investigated comprises approximately 200 acres of the parish of Cullen Bullen in the County of Roxburgh. At Kirby's Hill itself a maximum of about 300 feet of Coal Measure rocks rests on Upper Marine beds, and this is one of the most westerly exposures of the Upper Coal measures. The purpose of scout drilling was to determine the suitability of the Lithgow and Irondale Seams for open cut exploitation.

  • <p>This data package includes raw (Level 0) and reprocessed (Level 1) HyLogging data from 25 wells in the Georgina Basin, onshore Australia. This work was commissioned by Geoscience Australia, and includes an accompanying meta-data report that documents the data processing steps undertaken and a description of the various filters (scalars) used in the processed datasets. <p>Please note: Data can be made available on request to ClientServices@ga.gov.au

  • The Officer Basin spanning South Australia and Western Australia is the focus of a regional stratigraphic study being undertaken as part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, an Australian Government initiative dedicated to increasing investment in resource exploration in Australia. Despite numerous demonstrated oil and gas shows, the Officer Basin remains a frontier basin for energy exploration with significant uncertainties due to data availability. Under the EFTF Officer-Musgrave Project, Geoscience Australia acquired new geomechanical rock property data from forty core samples in five legacy stratigraphic and petroleum exploration wells that intersected Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic aged intervals. These samples were subjected to unconfined compressive rock strength tests, Brazilian tensile strength tests and laboratory ultrasonic measurements. Petrophysical properties were also characterised via X-ray computerised tomography scanning, grain density and porosity-permeability analysis. Accurate characterisation of static geomechanical rock properties through laboratory testing is essential. In the modern exploration environment, these datasets are a precompetitive resource that can simplify investment decisions in prospective frontier regions such as the Officer Basin. Appeared in The APPEA Journal 62 S385-S391, 13 May 2022

  • In January, 1951, samples of radioactive minerals stated to have been collected in the Mt. Kavanagh (Cavenagh) area, Central Australia, were submitted to the Bureau by Mr. Norman Ashmore. Two radioactive minerals were present, one apparently allanite, and the other a strongly radioactive mineral of composition similar to betafite. The opportunity was taken of the presence in Alice Springs of the geophysical party destined for Rum Jungle and the geological party destined for Maranboy to make a brief inspection of the area. Two days were spent in the area. This report gives an account of the investigations and their results.

  • The Geoscience Australia Rock Properties database stores the results measurements of scalar and vector petrophysical properties of rock and regolith specimens. Many are sourced from Geoscience Australia's mapping and research programs, but some are are compiled from published literature, university studies, the resources industry and State/Territory geological surveys. Measured properties include mass density, magnetic susceptibility, magnetic remanence, gamma, electrical conductivity and sonic velocity. The database also records analytical process information such as methods and instrument details wherever possible.

  • 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/)

  • This report records observations made during two brief visits to the area when reconnaissance was limited to the shores of Melville Harbour and to the immediate vicinity of Gove aerodrome. Pisolitic bauxite containing upwards of 50 per cent alumina was observed throughout a traverse of 5.5 miles easterly from the airstrip. This bauxite, which rests on tubular laterite, may exceed 5 feet in thickness. The bauxite and associated laterite near Gove are derived from sedimentary beds which overlie coarse garnetiferous granite. The geology of the area, characteristics and composition of the bauxite, and mineral rights, are discussed in this report.

  • A reconnaissance geological and radiometric survey of the Mt. Cavenagh area was carried out by B.P. Walpole and J. Sleis of the geological section and J. Daly and D. Dyson of the geophysical section of the Bureau of Mineral Resources. The objects of the survey were to examine reported occurrences of radioactive minerals in this area and to determine whether further prospecting of the area for radioactive orebodies was warranted. The general geology of the area, and the economic geology of the six prospects examined, are described in this report.

  • Rock properties provide the vital link between observed geophysical data and interpreted geology. Geoscience Australia has periodically made measurements of rock properties to support various investigations into the composition and structure of the subsurface. The Rock Properties Project consolidates this information into a single database structure and makes it accessible to external clients via a web delivery application. We have chosen to initially concentrate on mass density and magnetic properties, as these are of prime importance to the important gravity and magnetic datasets maintained for the Australian region by Geoscience Australia. Additional property types and more extensive datasets will be added over time.

  • During an inspection of limestone deposits at White Rocks on 2/11/50, samples of weathered granite were collected from a quarry on the eastern side of the Queanbeyan-Cooma road, about 150 yards south of the two-mile peg. This quarry is in the Queanbeyan Clay Deposit described by W.G. Woolnough in departmental reports dated 17/2/28 and 20/6/28. If the rock can be economically crushed and worked, it may be suitable for the production of sewer-pipes and other impervious ware. The samples, reserves, and suitable uses for the granite are described in this report.