The GSQ Cunnamulla 1 borehole was drilled approximately 110 km SE of Cunnamulla, Queensland. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.

The Milcarpa 1 borehole was drilled approximately 9 km SSE of Hungerford, Queensland, adjacent to the road between Hungerford and Wanaaring, NSW. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.

The Tongo 1 borehole was drilled approximately 83 km NE of White Cliffs, New South Wales. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks and to test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data.

<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;Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government.</div><div><br></div><div>The Proterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored region that contains sparse geological data. Strata of similar age are highly prospective to the east, in the McArthur and South Nicholson basins and the Mount Isa region. To investigate this underexplored and data-poor region, the L214 Northwest Northern Territory Seismic Survey was acquired in August to September 2023 by GA and co-funded by the Northern Territory Government. Prior to this survey the region contained minimal seismic data. To complement the acquisition of the seismic survey, a sampling program of legacy stratigraphic and mineral exploration drill holes was also undertaken.</div><div><br></div><div>The new sampling program and seismic reflection data acquired over the Birrindudu Basin and its flanks, has identified many areas of exploration opportunity. This has almost tripled seismic coverage over the Birrindudu Basin, which has enabled new perspectives to be gained on its geology and relationship to surrounding regions. The new seismic has shown an increase in the extent of the Birrindudu Basin, revealing the presence of extensive concealed Birrindudu Basin sedimentary sequences and major, well preserved depocentres. In the central Birrindudu Basin and Tanami Region, shallow basement and deep-seated faults are encouraging for mineralisation, as these structures have the potential to focus mineralised fluids to the near surface. The clear presence of shallow Tanami Region rocks underlying the southern Birrindudu Basin sequences at the northern end of line 23GA-NT2 extends the mineral resource potential of the Tanami Region further north into the southern Birrindudu Basin. A new minimum age of 1822±7 Ma for the deposition of metasediments in drill hole LBD2 for rocks underlying the central Birrindudu Basin, extends the age-equivalent mineral-rich basement rocks of the Tanami Region north into the central Birrindudu Basin – extending the mineral resource potential into a new region.</div><div><br></div><div>The continuous stratigraphy imaged of the Birrindudu Basin by the new seismic is encouraging for energy prospectivity, as the system elements needed for an effective petroleum system, better defined by the new sampling program results, have been imaged to extend over a wider and deeper area. New organic petrological analysis and reflectance data indicate the sampled sections have reached thermal maturity suitable for hydrocarbon generation. Oil inclusion analyses provide evidence for oil generation and migration, and hence elements of a petroleum system are present in the central and northwestern Birrindudu Basin. With the expanded breadth of these rocks demonstrated on the seismic, this greatly increases the spatial extent of hydrocarbon prospectivity in Birrindudu Basin.</div>

<div>The Proterozoic alkaline and related igneous rocks of Australia is a surface geology compilation of alkaline and related igneous rocks of Proterozoic age in Australia. This dataset is one of five datasets, with compilations for Archean, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic alkaline and related igneous rocks already released.</div><div><br></div><div>Geological units are represented as polygon and point geometries and, are attributed with information that includes, but is not limited to, stratigraphic nomenclature and hierarchy, age, lithology, composition, proportion of alkaline rocks, body morphology, unit expression, emplacement type, presence of mantle xenoliths and diamonds, and primary data source. Source data for the geological unit polygons provided in Data Quality LINEAGE. Geological units are grouped into informal geographic “alkaline provinces”, which are represented as polygon geometries, and attributed with information similar to that provided for the geological units.</div>

The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) provides an internally consistent, state-of-the-art, continental-scale geochemical dataset that can be used to assess areas of Australia more elevated in commodity metals and/or pathfinder elements than others. But do regions elevated in such elements correspond to known mineralized provinces, and what is the best method for detecting and thus potentially predicting those? Here, using base metal associations as an example, I compare a trivariate rank-based index and a multivariate-based Principal Component Analysis method. The analysis suggests that the simpler rank-based index better discriminates catchments endowed with known base metal mineralization from barren ones and could be used as a first-pass prospectivity tool. <b>Citation:</b> Patrice de Caritat, Continental-scale geochemical surveys and mineral prospectivity: Comparison of a trivariate and a multivariate approach, <i>Journal of Geochemical Exploration</i>, Volume 188, 2018, Pages 87-94, ISSN 0375-6742, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2018.01.014

<div>Tin and tungsten have good potentials for increased demand applications particularly in the electrical and energy storage areas. Similar to other critical metals like Li and Co, Sn and W are essential ingredients for many applications and technologies that are important for a sustainable future. </div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Granite related hydrothermal mineral systems are the predominant source for Sn and W deposits.Cassiterite, wolframite and scheelite are primary Sn and W ore minerals in nature. The distribution of Sn rich areas around the world is uneven, which may reflects that geochemical heritage is fundamental to form Sn and W deposits. Besides, magmatic differentiation has been considered as another efficient way to enrich Sn in various geological reservoirs. The tectonic setting of Sn and W mineralisation is well understood, with most Sn and W deposits having formed at active margin settings. A comparison between the Tethyan and Andean Sn-W mineral systems confirmed that Sn and W mineral systems can form under thickened continental crust associated with an oceanic crust subduction. The importance of granitoids for the formation of Sn and W mineral systems is well understood. The genetic affinity of causative intrusions can be either S-type, I-type or A-type, but a common feature is that they are reduced (or ilmenite series) and highly evolved (high SiO2 content and high Rb/Sr ratio). Another prominent feature for Sn and W mineral systems is their high concentration of critical metals, including Li, Ce, Ta and In etc. Therefore, Sn and W mineralisation has a close association with other critical metal mineralisation. Overall, the precipitation mechanisms of W (wolframite and scheelite) and Sn (cassiterite) ore minerals from the hydrothermal fluid include (1) fluids mixing, (2) boiling and, (3) water-rock interaction.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Recent studies have highlighted discrepancies in Sn mineralisation and W mineralisation conditions. Although Sn- and W-associated granites have substantial overlapping characteristics, many of their physico-chemical natures (e.g., aluminum-saturation index (ASI) values, zirconium saturation temperatures and crystal fractionation degrees) are distinctive, suggesting Sn- and W-granites may form under different geological conditions. The difference between Sn mineralisation and W mineralisation is also evident by their contrasting fluid-melt partitioning coefficients. Tungsten strongly partitions into the aqueous fluid and can be transported farther away from the intrusion, but Sn slightly partitions into the silicate melt and can precipitate as magmatic cassiterite or be incorporated into crystallizing micas (which can have >100 ppm Sn). Another area warranting more study is understanding the elemental associations observed in Sn and W mineral systems. It is common to have many other metals in Sn-dominant mineral systems, for example W, Li, Nb, Ta. For W-dominant mineral systems, apart from with Sn, other common associated metals include Mo, Au-Bi and Cu. Nevertheless, the relationship between Sn-W and Cu-Au mineral systems at both the regional/provincial-scale and deposit-scale is an intriguing puzzle, because Sn-W and Cu-Au deposits are generally formed under different geological conditions, though their tectonic setting are similar, i.e., arc-related subduction and continental collision. An emerging field for understanding Sn and W mineral systems is made possible with the development of micro-analytical techniques, e.g., in-situ U-Pb geochronology and O-isotopic analyses on cassiterite and wolframite enable a greater understanding of Sn and W mineralising systems. Since both are the primary ore minerals, U-Pb dating on them can deliver direct age information - an advantage compared with many other commodities types like Cu, Au and Ag. However, unlike those commodities, impactful advances on Sn and W exploration models, techniques, and tools have been deficient in recent years; therefore, more attention and effort is needed to boost Sn and W mineral exploration in the future.</div><div><br></div>This paper was presented to the 2022 Asian Current Research on Fluid Inclusions IX (ACROFI IX) Conference 12-13 December (http://www.csmpg.org.cn/tzgg2017/202210/t20221011_6522628.html)

The GSQ Eulo 4 borehole was drilled approximately 35.5 km SW of Eulo, Queensland. The borehole was designed to test aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, and to test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data.

It is increasingly recognised that, to maintain a sustainable pipeline of mineral resources in Australia, future discoveries will need to be made in areas obscured by more recent cover sequences. A major challenge to mineral exploration in covered frontiers is identifying new prospective fairways, and understanding and mapping important metallogenic processes at a range of scales to enable more effective targeting of exploration. Here, we present evidence for a completely buried corridor of interpreted high prospectivity—the East Tennant region—based on synthesis and integration of a diverse range of geoscientific datasets. Key indicators of the region’s potential include lithospheric-scale architecture, elevated electrical conductivity in the crust and mantle, and modelled and demonstrated hydrothermal alteration in the near surface. Multiscale geophysical surveys show evidence for crustal-scale fluid flow along major structures, connecting the mantle with the surface. Although few geological constraints exist in this region, examination of legacy drillcore and geochronology results demonstrates a similar history to rocks known to host mineralisation across the North Australian Craton. These results provide tantalising indications that the under-explored East Tennant region has significant potential to host major mineral systems. <b>Citation: </b>Schofield, A., Clark, A., Doublier, M.P., Murr, J., Skirrow, R., Goodwin, J., Cross, A. J., Pitt, L., Duan, J., Jiang, W., Wynne, P., O’Rourke, A., Czarnota, K., and I. C. Roach., 2020. Data integration for greenfields exploration: an example from the East Tennant region, Northern Territory. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.

The Laurelvale 1 borehole was drilled approximately 78 km SSW of Wanaaring, New South Wales, adjacent to the through-road between Tongo and Tilpa. The borehole was designed to test the geology of indistinct, linear aeromagnetic anomalies in the basement rocks, test the electrical conductivity properties of cover and basement rocks to validate airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data, and to test pre-drilling geophysical cover thickness estimates.