For a time during the war it appeared that there would be an acute shortage of piezo-electric quartz in Australia. Accordingly it was necessary to investigate all known deposits and reported occurrences of quartz, with a view to seeing whether further or new development was possible. This work was the responsibility of the Controller of Minerals Production, Mr. J. Malcolm Newman, who placed the investigation in the hands of North Broken Hill Limited. A considerable part of the bulletin deals with the Kingsgate area, New South Wales, from which noteworthy quantities of quartz crystals have been obtained and which is still considered to be the most promising area for crystal in Australia. Mr. Garretty's conclusions about this field should prove of general interest and the presentation of his results will provide a basis for future prospecting.

The principal deposits of bauxite occur on Bintan and adjacent islands which lie about 50 to 100 miles south-east from Singapore. This report is comprised of three extracts which have been drawn from papers made available to the writer by the Australian Government Commissioner for Malaya. The production figures, composition, and nature of the bauxite deposits are described in these extracts.

Until recent years the consumption of copper in Australia had not been greatly different from the domestic mine output. Production attained a high peak during the war, but there has since been a serious drop. Although this drop is temporary, it has unfortunately coincided with a period of severe dollar shortage and of rapidly expanding demand for the metal. As a consequence it has been apparent for some time that two important problems face the metal industry in this country, now and for an indefinite number of years in the future: to what extent Australian production of copper can be expected to meet local consumption, and in what manner imports of copper can be made available from soft currency areas rather than from hard currency sources. It is with the idea of clarifying the position that this note has been prepared. To place the Australian picture in proper perspective it must be viewed against the background of the world's copper position and accordingly this note has been divided into two parts: the World position, and the Australian position.

As a results of representations made to the Bureau of Mineral Resources by the Australian Aluminium Production Commission during 1948 a brief examination was made in July, 1949, of the area known as Sogeri Plateau which is situated some 24 miles east-north-east of Port Moresby. The object of the inspection was to determine whether any bauxitic laterite was present on the plateau and if so to obtain samples for chemical determination of alumina soluble in caustic soda solution, that is, alumina extractable by the Bayer process. Three car traverses of the area were made - one along the Sogeri-Uberi road, one along the Sogeri-Subitana road and one along the Sogeri-Eilogo road. Two grab samples were collected and sent for analysis. The findings of the examination of the area and the results of the chemical analyses are described in this report.

This report is supplementary to Records 1948/033 and 1948/016. The information given in this report was obtained during a visit to the Western Australian Goldfields. The period April 26th to May 2nd was spent at Kalgoorlie, May 3rd and May 4th at Sons of Gwalia Mine, May 5th at Kalgoorlie, and May 6th in discussions at Perth with the Under Secretary for Mines and others. This report provides an overview of the respective positions of the Paringa Mining and Exploration Company, South Kalgurli, Kalgoorlie Enterprises, and Sons of Gwalia mines.

The report describes the results of a micropalaeontological examination of samples taken from the depth of 450 to 1032 feet down.

Dr. Woolnough, in 1928, reported on a deposit of clay on the western side of the railway lines, between the railway station and the stock loading yards at Bungendore, New South Wales. I recently examined the area and found that the deposit has not been developed since 1928, and, as may be expected, most of the exposures of clay mentioned by Woolnough in that year have been filled in. Three small irregular pits were found near the site of Lundy's shaft, 600 feet north-west of the stock-loading yards, on land now owned by Donnelly, Auctioneer of Bungendore. No satisfactory sample of clay could be collected from these pits but one sample of clay was obtained from old spoil dumps nearby. This material is weathered schist or slate. Original cleavage and schistosity can be easily detected and the material can be powdered into clay. In the absence of samples and exposure little can be added to the reports of Dr. Woolnough in 1928. However, the following points are of importance.

<p>The Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (ASUD) is the national authority on stratigraphic names in Australia. It originated as the National Register of Stratigraphic Names in 1949. The register was originally set up to help geoscientists adhere to the then newly created Australian Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature (Lenz, et al, 1996). All information was held in a card file system until 1979 when the database was first developed electronically. The database now records information on all Australian stratigraphic units and their usage in published literature. <p>The database contains about 17500 currently approved stratigraphic names and over 36000 variations, most of which are superseded, obsolete, or misspelt versions of the current names. This information is based on over 16000 published references. <p>The database is maintained by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the Australian Stratigraphy Commission, a standing committee of the Geological Society of Australia. <p>Procedures can be queried at: http://www.ga.gov.au/data-pubs/datastandards/stratigraphic-units? <p>Data can be queried and downloaded at the ASUD website at: https://asud.ga.gov.au/ <p>Email contact: stratnames@ga.gov.au

This report describes the results of a micropalaeontological examination of samples taken from the depth of 26 to 193 feet down.

On March 11th, 1949, severe earth tremors were felt in the Dalton area, and, less severely, over a considerable portion of New South Wales. These were succeeded in the epicentral area by numerous aftershocks during the following fortnight. G.M. Burton and the writer were detailed to investigate the tremors and left Canberra on the first day of their occurrence. The greater part of the week devoted to the investigation, was spent in the Dalton area. A reconnaissance embracing an area within a radius of some 40 miles of Dalton was also carried out with a view to determining the regional distribution of intensities, and the Chief Geologist circularised Post Masters and Police Officers stationed at fourteen N.S.W. towns from which some information about the tremors was to be expected. This report provides a general description of the earth tremors and their effects. Instrumental data readings are recorded. The geology and physiography of the area, and their relation to the position of the epicentral area, as well as the causes of the tremors, are discussed. Plans showing the distribution, on a modified Mercalli scale, of seismic intensities during the earth tremors are included.