The Frome airborne electromagnetic survey, South Australia: implications for energy, minerals and regional geology  

Authors / CoAuthors

Roach, I.C. | Brodie, R.C. | Costelloe, M.T. | Cross, A.J. | Dhu, T. | Fabris, A.J. | Hore, S.B. | Jagodzinski, E.A. | Jaireth, S. | Katona, L.F. | Keeling, J.L. | Magarey, P.D. | Marsland-Smith, A.B. | Michaelsen, B.H. | Wade, C.E. | Wilson, T.

Abstract

The Frome Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Survey was designed to deliver reliable precompetitive AEM data and scientific analysis to aid research into the potential of energy and mineral resources in the Lake Frome region of South Australia. The Survey was the third regional AEM survey conducted within the Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP) at Geoscience Australia (GA), following the Paterson and Pine Creek AEM surveys. The Survey was flown by Fugro Airborne Surveys (FAS) for Geoscience Australia between 22 May and 2 November 2010, using the TEMPEST^TM time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) system. Survey lines were flown east-west at a nominal 100m above ground level, and spaced 2.5km or 5km apart. A total of 32 317 line km of new data were collected over an area of 95 450km2, approximately one tenth of the area of South Australia. The survey area extends from the South Australia-New South Wales border at Cameron Corner across to the Marree and Leigh Creek areas, skirts the highland of the northern Flinders Ranges, and includes the entire Lake Frome area, the Olary Spur between the towns of Yunta and Cockburn and the northwestern Murray-Darling Basin. The Lake Frome region contains a large number of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits with known resources of ~60 000 tonnes of U3O8, constituting ~45% of uranium resources of this type in Australia. The Survey was conducted with the aims of reducing exploration risk, stimulating exploration investment and enhancing prospectivity within the region primarily for uranium, but also for other commodities including copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, iron ore, coal and groundwater. The Frome AEM Survey was designed to be a regional mapping program for imaging surface and subsurface geological features that may be associated with sandstone-hosted uranium systems. Interpretations of the Frome AEM Survey data provide a regional overview of the under-cover geology of the entire survey area, as well as providing detailed along-line information to give users a greater understanding of previous detailed investigations within small areas. The data have mapped features of fertile sandstone-uranium systems and have highlighted many new areas of prospectivity for uranium and other commodities.

Product Type

document

eCat Id

73713

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Keywords

• GA PublicationRecord

( Theme )

• AEM

• AU-SA

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_External

Publication Date

2012-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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Use - license

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Purpose

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unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Record 2012/040

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Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-33.0, -29.0, 138.0, 141.0]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

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