Geochemical prospecting in the vicinity of radio-active deposits and prospects in the Northern Territory, Australia  

Authors / CoAuthors

Debnam, A.H. | White, D.A.

Abstract

During the 1953 field season geochemical prospecting techniques were employed as an additional tool in the search for ore deposits in the Northern Territory. Areas of particular interest were those at which radio-active minerals had already been discovered or at which radiometric anomalies were being investigated. The work thus included the already proved Rum Jungle field as well as the new prospects at Brodribb, Waterhouse, Edith River, and Coronation Hill. A direct chemical test for uranium in soils was not used, the discovery of the radio-active areas being left to the sensitive ratemeters now in use. The close association between copper and uranium was used to advantage as it is present at many of the uranium prospects in the Northern Territory. It is a logical step to use the geochemical techniques to locate new copper mineralization, and then to carry investigations further by attempting to locate uranium in the vicinity of the copper, particularly in areas covered by deep soils where ratemeters are of no use. A field test for cobalt, a metal often closely associated with both copper and uranium, was developed, but of the many samples tested for this element only one gave a positive test. It is possible that the cobalt, an element which is extremely mobile in the oxidized zone, has been completely leached and dispersed from the radio-active minerals.

Product Type

document

eCat Id

9166

Contact for the resource

Keywords

• GA PublicationRecord

( Theme )

• geochemistry

( Theme )

• mineral exploration

( Theme )

• prospectivity

( Theme )

• uranium

• AU-NT

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_External

Publication Date

1954-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Record 1954/001

Lineage

Legacy product, lineage not available

Parent Information

Extents

[-14.5, -12.0, 130.8, 132.5]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

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