Predictive mineral discovery is concerned with the application of a whole of system process understanding to mineral exploration as opposed to an empirical deposit type approach. A mineral system process understanding can be derived from a consideration of five key questions, namely what is/are the: 1) geodynamic setting; 2) architecture; 3) sources and reservoirs; 4) drivers and pathways, and; 5) depositional mechanisms. The answers to these questions result in the identification of critical processes necessary for the function of a mineral system within a particular terrane, and permit the development of a targeting model. In this contribution we identify district scale critical orogenic gold mineral system processes for the late Archaean eastern Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. During the geodynamic history of a terrane the critical processes which result in mineralisation change with time resulting in variations in mineralisation style. Proxies for critical processes have been mapped in an integrated GIS and are termed mappable mineral system process proxies (or MMSPP). In recognition of this, three separate time slices and a geochemical theme were analysed. Each MMSPP is given a weighting factor (WF) which reflects the spatial accuracy/coverage of the data and process criticality. For each theme/time-slice, a separate prospectivity map was created by summing the overlay or union of the spatial extent of each MMSPP, and adding the WF. A final target or prospectivity map was generated by a union of the four theme/time-slice prospectivity maps, and is tested against the known major deposits. The map 'discovered' the main gold camps and accounts for over 75% of the known gold in 5% of the area. This test verifies the process-based understanding and the appropriate mapping of the critical proxies. A further outcome from the map was the identification of a number of new target areas not known for significant gold mineralisation in what otherwise is thought to represent a mature terrane for gold exploration. The approach taken here has been to consider the Late Archaean gold deposits as a holistic system. Despite the recurring areas of uncertainty, this systems view has resulted in new findings that have generic applications to other mineral systems.

This record contains the abstracts of papers presented at the pmd*CRC's 'Science at the Sharp End' conference held in Perth on 19-20 April 2006.

This is a public domain release of the Module 3 structural study from the Predictive Mineral Discovery Co-Operative Research Centre (pmd*CRC) and AMIRA (Australian Mineral Industry Research Association) Y1-P763 project which concluded in November 2005. An 18 month confidentiality period applied to this work but the resulting report is now able to be released. Research into the structural evolution of the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane (EGST) continued in allied projects (Y2 and Y4) as part of the pmd*CRC program. The Y2 project Final Report was released to the public as Geoscience Australia Record 2006/05. As of July 2007, the active Y4 pmd*CRC project has been continuing the work from the Y1-P763 and Y2 projects. Therefore, some interpretations of the structure of the EGST presented in Geoscience Australia Record 2007/15 have changed. One of the enduring assets of the original Y1-P763 Final Report is the very extensive data preserved in the appendices, which, due to their size, are available only on DVD. The philosophy behind the Y1-P763 report was to clearly separate data from interpretation, a move which has aided continuous improvement in the understanding of the structural evolution of the EGST. No structural difference between terranes. The only possible terrane accretion structures are the Ida and the Hootanui since the Ockerburry is extensional. No D1 N-S compression, early isoclinal shallowly dipping structures are interpreted to be extensional in origin. Long-lived ENE-directed extension marked during D1 which formed the major basin architecture for the greenstone sequences. There is a strong extensional event (D3) which postdates D2 compression and forms and deforms the late basins. The crustal architecture (observed in seismic) is controlled by D1 and D3 extension. It is not a thin-skinned fold and thrust belt. The NNW-trending tectonic grain in the Eastern Yilgarn was set up as a result of ENE-directed D1 and D3 extension with local extension vectors controlled by the exhumation of granite domes in the footwall to NNW striking extensional shear zones. The folding which the late basins unconformably overlay may have formed during extension. Further work is required to examine is this hypothesis holds true for every case not just around the Lawlers Anticline. The N-S tectonic grain in the Eastern Yilgarn is a function of D2 and D5 dextral transpression which has dissected the NNW-trending extensional architecture. D2 and D3 are spatially inversely related, i.e. where D2 is present D3 is absent and where D3 is present D2 is absent. This poses the question as to the significance or pervasiveness of the D2 contractional deformation. P-T dihedra work has resolved D2 and D5, B1B palaeostress to be predominantly ENE- to NE-striking. Contractional deformation is predominantly associated with strike-slip movement on N- to NNW-striking faults as opposed to thrusts. This study has recognised a N-S to NW-SE oriented low-strain contractional D4 deformation event. This deformation is typically expresses as either sinistral N- to NNW striking faults or E-W striking N- and S-directed thrusts. Few events have the structural style and intensity necessary for significant crustal thickening. This study recognised that gold is present in extensional structures although the majority of Au deposits lay in contractional structures. Gold deposits located in ductile shear zones are typically localised in the highest strain regions of the shear zone typically located at its centre. These high strain areas are typically marked by the presence of shear related foliation boudinage.

This web-enabled system allows researchers to retrieve fluid inclusion data from anywhere in the world. The concept is to build a free and widely available web-based library of fluid properties for a range of geological fluids. The database is being developed as an "open" project, which intends to bring together researchers interested in the properties of geological fluids or fluid inclusions.

Controls on mineral endowment of major faults and shear zones in the Yilgarn Craton, Westsern Australia. PhD thesis, Monash university.

Vos, I. Multi-disciplinary investigations of the tectono-metallogenic evolution of the Tasman Fold belt System in north eastern Queensland, Australia.

Petrographic report on 24 basement (pre-Barramundi Orogeny) rock samples from the western succession, Mt Isa Inlier.

New Pb isotope analyses from the Curamona Terrain

Nature and origin of the lithogeochemical halo across section 110 of the Broken Hill Zn-Pb-Ag deposit - Darin Evans, BSc (Hons) thesis, La Trobe University

pmd*CRC Project T1 Final Report - Targeting new mineral deposits in western Victoria