Legacy product - no abstract available

Legacy product - no abstract available

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

These documents have been scanned by the GA Library. Please refer to the document for contents.

The Frazer Uranium Prospect was located by the Bureau of Mineral Resources airborne scintillometer survey in 1952. Subsequent geological and geophysical investigation has shown that radioactivity is apparently confined to the ferruginous zone of the laterite profile. The maximum activity recorded on the surface was equivalent to 7.5 times background. A costean was bulldozed and a supplementary hole in the deepest part of the costean showed that activity dropped appreciably with depth, at one point it dropped to 2 x background in ten feet.

Madigan's uranium prospect is situated in a Lower Proterozoic sequence of interbedded sandy shales, sandstone and grits. It is located near the headwaters of the Charlotte River, near the crest and on the eastern side of a northerly trending ridge. Detailed geological and radiometric surveys were carried out and significant radioactivity was outlined over an area of approximately 300 feet by 400 feet. Some channel sampling was done over 50 feet in the zone of highest radioactivity. The greatest radioactivity appears to be associated with hematitic material occurring sporadically in a system of flat joints in a grit bed. Some fluorescent minerals were observed in this material.

The four field parties and the Airborne Geophysical Section continued operations in the area during the quarter ending 30th September, 1953. This report provides a summary of the geological and geophysical operations carried out during this period, and an overview of the staff and housing situation.

This statement supplements Record 1952/3 by H.B. Owen, which recorded the preliminary results of drilling for open-cut coal in the northern part of Portion 11, Ph. Stockrington near Newcastle, N.S.W. A further 33 holes, entailing 3,220 feet of drilling, were sunk in an area of about 430 acres immediately south of the area reported on by Owen. The majority of the holes were drilled into the Borehole Seam: two encountered only the beds below the Borehole Seam, and a number of holes encountered seams which may be the Australasian, Dudley, Yard, and Sandgate Seams. The results of the drilling indicate that the Borehole Seam is not suitable in this area for open-cut mining because of present high quality coal standards; however the lower plies of the seam, averaging 3 feet 6 inches in total thickness may be suitable for underground mining over a limited area of at least 25 acres. Total indicated reserves in this area are only 130,000 long tons (calculated on the basis of 1,500 tons per acre foot); the quality of the coal would be only fair: calorific value of about 11,500 B.Th.U/lb., ash content about 20%, and the coal would have some coking properties. Further drilling may increase this as workable area. It is considered that the preliminary results did not justify extensive prospecting of the Australasian(?), Dudley(?), Yard(?), or Sandgate Seams.

Morstone Station is situated approximately 50 miles north-east of Camooweal, on the Camooweal 4-mile sheet, North-west Queensland. The owners of the property, Western Grazing Co. Pty. Ltd., have experienced difficulties in obtaining underground water on part of their property for many years, and have asked for this report because the Bureau's 'Camooweal Party' has spent a considerable time during the present field season (1953) completing the mapping of the Camooweal sheet. A number of geologists have contributed to the mapping of the area, notably Dr. F.W. Whitehouse, but the more detailed mapping and investigation are largely the work of Dr. A.A. Opik, Senior Palaeontologist, Bureau of Mineral Resources, who is at present expending the work of previous field seasons. A number of bores were sited for the Company by K.A. Townley, Bureau of Mineral Resources during a short visit in 1951. Three of his proposed sites correspond reasonably closely to our sites A, B and C. Recent investigations, in which the writers have shared, throw some new light on problems of underground water supply on Morstone property, but as the work is still in progress the present report deals only with the specific problems on which the Company's representatives have requested urgent advice.