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The value of historical samples for regional and national geochemical and mineralogical characterisation

<div>Geochemical and mineralogical analysis of surficial materials (streams, soils, catchment samples, etc) can provide valuable information about the potential for mineral systems, and the background mineralogical and geochemical variation for a region. However, collecting new samples can be time consuming and expensive, particularly for regional-scale studies. Fortunately, Geoscience Australia has a large holding of archived samples from regional- to continental-scale geochemical studies conducted over the last 50 years, the majority collected at high sampling densities that would be cost-prohibitive today. Although all these samples have already been analysed, their vintage can mean that analyses were obtained by a variety of analytical methods, are of variable quality, and often only available for a small number of elements. As part of the Australian government’s Exploring for the Future program, funding was dedicated to re-analyse ~9,000 samples from these legacy surveys. They were re-analysed for 63 elements (total content) at a single laboratory producing a seamless, internally consistent, high-quality dataset, providing valuable new insights.</div><div><br></div><div>A large number (7,700) of these legacy samples were collected from north Queensland, predominantly in the Cape York – Georgetown area (5,472) — an area with both a wide-range of existing deposit types and known potential for many critical minerals. The sample densities of these studies, up to 1 sample per ~2.5 km2 for Georgetown, makes them directly applicable for determining local- and regional-scale areas of interest for mineral potential. Early interpretation of the Cape York – Georgetown data has identified several locations with stream sediments enriched in both heavy and light rare earth elements (maximum 4000 and 31,800 ppm, respectively), demonstrating the potential of this dataset, particularly for critical minerals. The greater sampling density means that these samples can also provide much more granular geochemical background information and contribute to our understanding of the lower density data commonly used in regional- and national-scale geochemical background studies.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to the geochemical re-analysis of legacy surface samples, Geoscience Australia has also been undertaking mineral analysis of legacy continental-scale geochemical samples. The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) sample archive has been utilised to provide a valuable new dataset. By separating and identifying heavy minerals (i.e., those with a specific gravity >2.9 g/cm3) new information about the mineral potential and provenance of samples can be gained. The Heavy Mineral Map of Australia (HMMA) project, undertaken in collaboration with Curtin University, has analysed the NGSA sample archive, with~81% coverage of the continent. The project has identified over 145 million individual mineral grains belonging to 163 unique mineral species. Preliminary analysis of the data has indicated that zinc minerals and native elements may be useful for mineral prospectivity. Due to the large amount of data generated as part of this HMMA project, a mineral network analysis tool has been developed to help visualise the relationship between minerals and aid in the interpretation of the data.


Abstract presented to the Australian Institute of Geoscientists – ALS Friday Seminar Series: Geophysical and Geochemical Signatures of Queensland Mineral Deposits October 2023 ( https://www.aig.org.au/events/aig-als-friday-seminar-series-geophysical-and-geochemical-signatures-of-qld-mineral-deposits/)

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Identification info

Date (Creation)
2023-09-29T12:00:00
Date (Publication)
2024-08-05T02:43:41
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148940

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Author

Main, P.

Internal Contact
Author

Champion, D.

External Contact
Author

de Caritat, P.

Internal Contact
Author

Bastrakov, E.

Internal Contact
Name

Australian Institute of Geoscientists – ALS Friday Seminar Series: Geophysical and Geochemical Signatures of Queensland Mineral Deposits October 10 October 2023, Brisbane Qld

Purpose

Conference abstract for AIG-ALS Friday Seminar Series: Geophysical and Geochemical Signatures of Queensland Mineral Deposits

Status
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Resource provider

Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

External Contact
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Main, P.

Internal Contact
Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Project
  • Legacy Geochemistry

Project
  • Heavy Mineral Map of Australia

Keywords
  • Geochemistry

Keywords
  • EFTF – Exploring For The Future

Keywords
  • ARF - Australia’s Resources Framework

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • Inorganic geochemistry

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

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Any

Use constraints
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Use constraints
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Other constraints

© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2023

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Classification system

Australian Government Security Classification System

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice facsimile
OnLine resource

Link to Conference Page

Link to Conference Page

Distribution format
OnLine resource

Link to download Conference Proceedings (page 3)

Link to download Conference Proceedings (page 3)

Distribution format

Resource lineage

Statement

<div>Short abstract for the AIG-ALS Friday Seminar Series: Geophysical and Geochemical Signatures of Queensland Mineral Deposits (Friday 13 October 2023) in Brisbane.</div><div><br></div>

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/d6bbc065-f3af-4911-884e-0238bbb5bc50

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Main, P.

Internal Contact

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

Conference Abstract

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/148940

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/d6bbc065-f3af-4911-884e-0238bbb5bc50

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/ofmj3/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/d6bbc065-f3af-4911-884e-0238bbb5bc50

Date info (Creation)
2024-02-02T03:41:15
Date info (Revision)
2024-02-02T03:41:15

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Heavy Mineral Map of Australia Legacy Geochemistry
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
Inorganic geochemistry

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