<div>This report presents the results of petrographic and X-ray Diffraction analysis undertaken by Microanalysis Australia under contract to Geoscience Australia, on rock samples collected from selected drill holes across the Proterozoic Birrindudu Basin and underlying metamorphic basement.</div><div><br></div>

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood.&nbsp;Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey is acquiring isotopic, geochronological, geochemical and geomechanical data from drillholes intersecting the Birrindudu Basin as part of phase two of EFTF. </div><div><br></div><div>This report presents results on selected rock samples from the Birrindudu Basin, conducted by the Mawson Analytical Spectrometry Services, University of Adelaide, under contract to Geoscience Australia. These results include:</div><div>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Carbon (δ13C), oxygen (δ18O) and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes on carbonate-bearing samples, and</div><div>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Trace element data on the leachates prepared for 87Sr/86Sr ratio analyses.</div>

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood. Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) stratigraphic reconstructions of bulk volatile chemistry from fluid inclusions from the NTGS stratigraphic drillhole 99VRNTGSDD1, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory. This ecat record releases the final report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy, thin section and microthermometry analyses, raw data files (*.LAS) and rock descriptions by FIT Schlumberger. Company reference number FI230005c.

<div>This report presents seal capacity results of nine samples from the Birrindudu and McArthur basins, Northern Territory. Plugs were taken from depths of interest from drill holes Manbulloo S1, Broughton 1, Lamont Pass 3, 99VRNTGSDD1 and WLMB001B. These plugs were analysed via mercury injection capillary pressure testing. This work was conducted by CSIRO under contract to GA as part of the Exploring for the Future program (Officer–Musgrave–Birrindudu Module).</div>

Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government. The name ‘Birrindudu Basin’ was first introduced by Blake et al. (1975) and Sweet (1977) for a succession of clastic sedimentary rocks and carbonates, originally considered to be Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic in age, and overlain by the Neoproterozoic Victoria Basin (Dunster et al., 2000), formerly known as the Victoria River Basin (see Sweet, 1977).

<div><strong>Output Type: </strong>Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Short Abstract: </strong>As part of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, Geoscience Australia acquired new 2D seismic reflection data across the northwestern Northern Territory (NT). Identified as an area of little knowledge during the Birrindudu Basin Inventory activity the Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey was acquired between August and September 2023 by Geoscience Australia and co-funded by the Northern Territory Government. The survey crosses the Proterozoic rocks of the Birrindudu Basin that are thought to be age equivalent to those within the McArthur Basin and Mount Isa Province to the east, which contain some of the world’s largest sediment-hosted base metals deposits, including McArthur River and Century and Mt Isa Pb-Zn-Cu mines. Further, additional complimentary studies provide evidence for an effective petroleum system in the Birrindudu Basin, demonstrated by the occurrence of live oil bleeds in the drill hole 99VRNTGSDD1 and good source rocks were identified mostly in the Paleoproterozoic Limbunya Group. However, many data gaps exist and much of the prospectivity for hydrocarbons in the Birrindudu Basin is inferred from the presence of equivalent-aged rocks in the highly prospective Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic McArthur Basin. To address data gaps, this new regional 2D seismic data was acquired and combined with a comprehensive sampling and analytical program on newly collected drill core samples, to assess the basin’s resource potential. The Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey has increased the seismic coverage of the Birrindudu Basin by ~900 km, and links to surveys in both the Beetaloo Sub-basin and Tanami. Interpretation of these deep seismic lines in combination with newly acquired data from drill cores and legacy 2D seismic lines will substantially improve the knowledge of mineral and energy systems in the northwestern Northern Territory.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation: </strong>Henson, P., Anderson, J.R., Southby, C., Carson, C., Costelloe, R.D., Jorgensen, D., Grosjean, E. & Carr, L.K., 2024. Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey - resource studies and results. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.26186/149332</div>

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential.</div><div><br></div><div>The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) Fluid Inclusion Petrography and Microthermometry analysis of samples for the drillhole WLMB001B, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory (Company reference number MT#FI230004a).</div><div><br></div><div>This eCat Record accompanies the report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy on this drillhole (eCat record 149178)</div>

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program is a multi-year Australian Government initiative, led by Geoscience Australia in partnership with State and Territory governments. The EFTF program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and information, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to a low emissions economy, strong resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The EFTF program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225 million investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div>This report presents the results of Grains with Oil Inclusions (GOI™) and Frequency of Oil Inclusions (FOI™) on rock samples from three selected drill holes across the Birrindudu Basin. Forty-five samples were obtained from drill holes WLMB001B, ANT003 and 99VRNTGSDD1. GOI™ and FOI™ was conducted on sedimentary and carbonate vein lithologies to investigate the potential presence of oil inclusions. Oil inclusions were recorded in samples taken from drill holes WLMB001B and ANT003, but not 99VRNTGSDD1. Analysis was undertaken by CSIRO under contract to Geoscience Australia.</div>

This study assesses the petroleum potential of the Paleo–Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin in the northwestern Northern Territory, which is one of several Proterozoic basins in northern Australia with the potential to host conventional and unconventional petroleum accumulations. Historical source rock geochemistry, porosity, and permeability data from the Birrindudu Basin are collated and interpreted; in addition, new fluid geochemistry is interpreted within the context of the greater McArthur Basin. The limited data available indicate that at least four formations have good or excellent present-day organic richness (>2 wt% TOC), and several sandstone and carbonate reservoirs have good porosity data. The calculated brittleness index of a number of organic-rich shales suggests that several are likely to be favourable for fracture stimulation and therefore might constitute good unconventional hydrocarbon targets. Four continent-scale petroleum supersystems are identified, two of which are described for the first time. These supersystems are an important tool in understanding the petroleum potential in frontier basins with limited data. Additionally, a number of basin-scale petroleum systems are potentially present within the basin successions; 14 possible conventional systems and 9 possible unconventional systems are documented. Petroleum play concepts are also described to assist with assessing the potential for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources. The ultimate aim is to identify areas that can be targeting for precompetitive geoscience data acquisition, so as to reduce the exploration search space. Presented at Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) April 2021 (p115 - p130)

<div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential.</div><div><br></div><div>The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) stratigraphic reconstructions of bulk volatile chemistry from fluid inclusions from the drillhole WLMB001B, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory.</div><div><br></div><div>This ecat record releases the final report containing the results of fluid inclusion stratigraphy, thin section and microthermometry analyses, raw data files (*.LAS) and rock descriptions by FIT Schlumberger. Company reference number FI230004a.</div>