The Pine Creek AEM survey was flown over the Pine Creek Orogen in the Northern Territory during 2008 and 2009 as part of the Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program at Geoscience Australia (GA). The survey covers an area of 74,000 km2 from Darwin to Katherine in the Northern Territory which hosts several world class deposits, including the Ranger Uranium Mine, Nabarlek, Mt Todd, Moline and Cosmo Howley. Aimed at regional mapping, uranium exploration, reducing exploration risk and promoting exploration activity, the program worked closely with industry partners to infill wide regional line spacing (5km) with deposit scale line spacing (less than 1km). The survey results are relevant in exploration for a variety of commodities and resources, including uranium, copper, lead, zinc, gold, nickel and groundwater. Geoscience Australia's interpretation products include sample-by-sample layered earth inversion products comprising located data, geo-located conductivity depth sections, depth slice grids, elevation slice grids, inversion report and an interpretation report. All data and products are available from GA as well as the Northern Territory Geological Survey Geophysical Image Web Server.

The article provides an annula update on Australia's energy scenarion, focussing on offshore oil and gas exploration and production and advertsing the current open acreage release round.

Presented to the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC), Perth, March 2007

Currently it is difficult to assess the quality of Australian geothermal exploration targets, particularly for those with differing amounts of geological data. To rectify this, Geoscience Australia is developing a tool for evaluating geothermal potential across the continent and for identifying areas that warrant additional investigation. An important first step in the development of this tool is synthetic thermal modelling. Synthetic modelling has been used to perform a sensitivity analysis, determine the importance of different geothermal parameters and the values necessary to produce specific temperatures at depth. The results of this work are presented in this abastract.

This animation illustrates the various stages of development of Hot Rock geothermal resources for electricity generation. The animations were produced in GAV by the 3D animator, using 3D Studio Max software. Professional voice-over has been added, as well as sound effects. This version is based on the original version - 08-3385, geocat no.68461.

High voltage transmission towers are key linear assets that supply electricity to communities and key industries and are constantly exposed to wind effects where they traverse steep topoloty or open terrain. Lattice type high voltage transmission towers are highly optimised structures to minimise cost and reserve strength at design wind speeds (Albermani and Kitipornchai, 2003). The structures are tested under static loading conditions for specified load cases at the design stage. However, the interconnected nature of the lattice towers and conductors present a complex response under dynamic wind loading in service (Fujimura, et.al., 2007). The transmission tower's survival under severe wind and additional load transfer due to collapse of its neighbours is difficult to assess through modelling. Furthermore, the lack of data in the industry doesn't allow for a probabilistic analysis based on history (Abdallah, et.al., 2008). Hence, there is a need for developing an alternative methodology for analysing transmission tower collapse and survival of transmission lines subjected to cyclonic winds utilising design information, limited filed data and industry expertise. Methods: This paper presents a noval methodology developed for the Critical Infrastructure Protection Modelling and Analysis (CIPMA) capability for assessing local wind speeds and the likelihood of tower failure for a range of transmission tower and conductor types. CIPMA is a program managed by the Federal Attorney-General's Department and Geoscience Australia is leading the technical development. The methodology explicitly addresses the highly direction-sensitive nature of tower/conductor vulnerability which varies greatly. It has involved the development of a vulnnerability methodology and heuristically derived vulnerability models that are consistent with Australian industry experience and full-scale static tower testing results. This has been achieved through consultation with industry...

A newsletter to Project Stakeholders to inform of progress and future events

The Exploring for the Future program is an initiative by the Australian Government dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. As part of the Exploring for the Future program, this study aims to improve our understanding of the petroleum resource potential of northern Australia. The physical properties of organic matter in sedimentary rocks changes composition in an irreversible and often sequential manner after burial, diagenesis, catagenesis and metagenesis with increasing thermal maturity. Characterising these changes and identifying the thermal maturity of sedimentary rocks is essential for calculating thermal models needed in a petroleum systems analysis. This study presents organic petrology on 15 Proterozoic aged shales from the Velkerri and Barney Creek formations in the McArthur Basin and the Mullera Formation, Riversleigh Siltstone, Lawn Hill and Termite Range formations in the South Nicholson region. Qualitative maceral analysis of the 15 samples are described in addition to bitumen reflectance measurements. These samples were analysed at the Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria in June 2020. The results of this study can be used to improve our understanding of the thermal maturity and hydrocarbon prospectivity of Proterozoic aged sedimentary basins in northern Australia.

Precompetitive AEM data and associated scientific analysis assists exploration under cover by reducing risk, stimulating investment and promoting exploration for commodities. In recent years, Geoscience Australia has flown three regional Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) surveys covering three percent of Australia. Data and associated interpretations from regional surveys in the Paterson, Pine Creek and Lake Frome regions have led to tenement take up, stimulated exploration for a number of commodities and have given rise to many Eureka moments. This presentation will outline significant results from the use of Geoscience Australia AEM data and interpretations, results that have been announced by industry via the Australian Stock Exchange and other publications.

Poster describing synthetic thermal modelling and its application to geothermal exploration in Australia