An archive of data held in the original Corporate Data Store managed by a combination of GeoCat and GeoMet. It is envisaged that the data should be examined and either properly managed and catalogued or discarded. It was archive in 2010

<div>This study is part of the Mineral Potential Assessment (MPA) module of Geoscience Australia's Darling-Curnamona-Delamerian (DCD) project, a deep-dive project within the Exploring for the Future Program (EFTF) 2020-2024. An objective of the DCD project is to further the understanding of the geological architecture of the Delamerian Orogen into a cohesive framework enable a regional mineral potential assessment of this under-explored and mostly under cover Orogen. The MPA module is one of eight modules under the umbrella of the DCD project. To facilitate assessment of the mineral potential of the project area, the mineral potential assessment study has 3 key scientific objectives: (1) Defining the characteristics of the mineral systems / prospects. (2)&nbsp;&nbsp;Evaluating the temporal framework of the formation of mineral systems / prospects; and (3) Understanding the regional magma fertility. This study delivers Objective 1, i.e., outlining the principle geological and metallogenic characteristics of reported mineral prospects in the project area.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Legacy drill cores best demonstrating metallogenic features of different mineral system types at key prospects across the project area were selected for viewing and sampling following review of historical exploration reports and assay results. Four sets of data are included in the appendices of this report: (1)&nbsp;&nbsp;HyLogger spectral images of 20 drill holes of 8 prospects in New South Wales. (2)&nbsp;&nbsp;143 high-resolution scan files of legacy drill core samples across the project area. (3)&nbsp;&nbsp;16 microscopic images of thin sections for 4 prospects of the Loch Lilly-Kars Belt, New South Wales. (4)&nbsp;&nbsp;53 Backscattered Electron (BSE) images and 53 Advanced Mineral Identification and Characterization System (AMICS) high-resolution mineral maps of 53 samples from 18 prospects across the whole Delamerian Margin.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Metallogenic characteristics of samples from four different mineral deposit types were studied, along deposits of uncertain affiliation (referred here as undefined systems), including (1) Porphyry-epithermal mineral systems. (2)&nbsp;&nbsp;Volcanic hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) mineral systems. (3)&nbsp;&nbsp;Orogenic gold mineral systems. (4)&nbsp;&nbsp;Mafic-ultramafic Cu-Ni-PGE mineral systems. (5)&nbsp;&nbsp;Metallogenetically undefined systems. Detailed metallogenic characteristics of the samples from 22 key prospects in Delamerian Orogen are documented in this report.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>This is the first systemic study on the essential metallogenic characteristics of the mineral systems in Delamerian. The characterisations outlined in this report are foundational for understanding the regional metallogenesis and assessing the potential of multiple types of mineral systems in the Delamerian Belt, which should be useful in both academic and the mineral exploration sector.</div><div><br></div><div>The high-resolution BSE and AMICS mineral maps are available at Geoscience Australia. Please reach out to the senior author of this GA Record, Dr. Yanbo Cheng (Yanbo.cheng@ga.gov.au). </div>

<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/)

<div>Geoscience Australia has a large holding of surface sediment samples, such as stream and overbank sediments, from geochemical surveys conducted over more than 50 years across the Australian continent. Geochemical data from these surface materials are of national importance as they can contribute significantly to establishing geochemical environmental baselines and their use in land management, as well as aiding in the discovery of new mineral deposits. Samples from these legacy surveys provide valuable insights into areas of Australia that are remote, difficult to access, or have since been developed. The age of a large number of these surveys, however, means that the original results included data for a&nbsp;smaller range of chemical elements, typically with poorer analytical precision and accuracy than those of modern surveys. This small range of chemical elements also typically doesn’t include important elements for modern use, such as critical minerals (i.e. Co, Bi, REEs), which are increasing in their importance. As part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program, a collection of over 9000 samples from these surveys was reanalysed using modern analytical techniques for a&nbsp;suite of 60 chemical elements. These samples cover several regions within Australia, including Kakadu, Cape York, the Mount Isa region, and near the Canberra region. The new analytical data maximise the value of the historical geochemical surveys and will provide new insights into the mineral potential of these regions and improve the quality of geochemical environmental baselines.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>This data release includes: 1) information on the surveys and their samples; 2) quality assurance results; 3) a discussion of sample preparation and analytical methods used; 4) results for total content geochemistry (XRF and LA-ICP-MS); and 5) individual element maps for each of the regions for preliminary interpretation of the data.</div><div><br></div><div>Acquisition and release of this dataset forms part of a larger program aimed at creating a levelled geochemical baseline for the whole Australia (Main and Champion, 2020).</div>

These datasets contain legacy data from the decommissioned MapConnect/AMSIS2 application. It contains legacy data for Fisheries, Regulatory, Offshore Minerals and Environment. It is not authoritative and has not been updated since 2006. These datasets contain legacy data found in the Australian Marine Spatial Information System (AMSIS) between 2006 and 2015, with a currency date of 2006. . Users will need to contact the agency responsible for the data to check current validity and spatial precision.