This report is a summary of information collected between November, 1948 and July, 1949 in the course of visits to the United Kingdom and the United States. The main subjects investigated were the complete gasification of coal, particularly in respect of its application to Victorian brown coal, the production of oil by synthesis and the production and refining of shale oil. Information was sought on a considerable number of other interests in the field of fuel technology as the opportunity offered. The authorities consulted were invariably experts in their respective fields, and great care was taken to record their information accurately. The report is a summary of recent developments and not an exhaustive study of the subjects mentioned. A considerable mass of detail has been excluded but is available on record for further reference.

The features of the single-point resistance log, obtained in A.A.O. No. 2 Bore, Roma, are described. Single-point resistance, self-potential and geological logs of the lower section of the boreholes are shown. The results indicate that electrical logging can be effectively used for correlation problems and that salt water sands in the reservoir rocks can be detected with reasonable certainty.

An inspection of radioactive minerals was conducted in the Marble Bar area. The localities of Wodgina, Mount Francisco, Pilgangoora, Alisa Downs, Trig Hill and Cooglegong were visited. Occurrences of monazite, yttrotantalite, pilbarite and radio-active columbite were investigated and samples collected for further examination. An account of the inspection and subsequent findings is given in this report.

Systematic testing of South Stradbroke Island was started on 5th January, 1948. The boring and concentrating of samples were carried out by Associated Minerals Pty. Ltd., Southport. Sitting, levelling and mapping of boreholes was carried out by the Bureau of Mineral Resources. Between January and June, boring was directed towards the high active dunes adjacent to the east coast, and the areas of fixed, vegetated dunes west of the active dunes. The results of the testing work are recorded in this report. The occurrence of heavy minerals has been tabulated. Eight accompanying locality, section, and contour plans are included.

A major purpose of the study, as it appears to me at this time, is to ascertain the presence of geochemical anomalies in the area of (copper) mineralization. Such anomalies, if established, may be correlated with the dispersion train phenomena and with the dispersion halo of the ore, in an area known as mineralization. A comparable study may be undertaken then, depending on the advice of the team, in an area of suspected but not known, mineralization. Further investigations, beyond the reconnaissance stage, may be projected, in consultation with the team, on completion of the orientation study. This report contains the author's tentative remarks on a proposed reconnaissance in South Australia. Objectives, background to the work, methods, and proposed operations are discussed.

Widespread use of radio-active tracer elements in medicine, and the increased interest in the search for radio-active minerals, have led to the development of a variety of instruments for the detection of ionising radiations, and their general use by scientists who may have had no training in physics or electronics. While these instruments present a great diversity in appearance, the functioning depends on general principles which apply to all such equipment. The aim of these notes is to present these general principles in a simple form. For details of design, which are often highly complex, and require great skill and experience, reference should be made to the works listed in the bibliography.

This report presents the results of a gravity reconnaissance survey which was carried out under the writer's supervision during the last quarter of 1950. The report describes in some detail the methods adopted in carrying out the field work and the errors to which the results are subject. The results are discussed only briefly and the interpretation given must be regarded as a preliminary one subject to modification as further data are accumulated in extending or otherwise adding to the reconnaissance.

The beach sands on which investigations were carried out, were mainly from beaches along the eastern coast of Australia and from islands adjacent to this coast. A high percentage of the mineral grains of the heavy mineral fraction in these sands have grain sizes within the range -100 to +200, referred to British Standard Sieves. The grain size of the minerals, combined with the fact that the grains are quite well rounded, makes the heavy mineral sands an ideal subject for separation using the inclined method with the Isodynamic Separator. The use of this method, and the results obtained, are described in this report.

At the request of the Broken Hill Proprietary a geophysical test survey, employing gravity and magnetic methods, was carried out near Wollongong, N.S.W. by geophysicists of the Bureau. The area over which these tests were made is part of the Southern Coalfield of N.S.W. and plans are being made to develop a colliery in it. The subsurface geology is known in part from five drill holes, namely, Nebo No. 2, 5, and 6 and Wongawilli No. 7 and 8. Basalt sills of considerable thickness were encountered in Nebo No. 6 and Wongawilli No. 8. The proximity of sills to the coal seams has resulted, in parts of the Southern Coalfield, in the cindering of the coal, and for this reason it is a matter of considerable importance in planning a colliery to know the area occupied by the sills. The technical aspects of testing, results, and conclusions are discussed in this report.

This report covers the results of the experimental electrical logging of eight bore holes in the Maitland Coalfields, New South Wales. The theory of the single point resistance and self-potential methods is outlined and the reactions of the coal and other formations are described. The experiments were inconclusive in deciding whether or not electrical logging can be used for correlation. Because there are many vertical and lateral gaps in the stratigraphical sequence of the coal measures it is considered unlikely that electrical logging could be used for correlation in the Maitland Coalfields. However, electrical logging has been recommended for adoption as a routine procedure in the drilling programme to check the recovery of cores in the coal zone. This procedure may results in a saving on drilling costs.