Australia's Identified Mineral Resources is an annual national assessment that takes a long-term view of Australian mineral resources likely to be available for mining. The assessment also includes evaluations of long-term trends in mineral resources, world rankings, summaries of significant exploration results and brief reviews of mining industry developments.

A large proportion of Australia’s onshore sedimentary basins remain exploration frontiers. Industry interest in these basins has recently increased due to the global and domestic energy demand, and the growth in unconventional hydrocarbon exploration. In 2016 and 2018, Geoscience Australia released an assessment of several central Australian basins that summarised the current status of geoscientific knowledge and petroleum exploration, and the key questions, for each basin. This publication provides a comprehensive assessment of the geology, petroleum systems, exploration status and data coverage for the Adavale Basin.

This Record presents new Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP) U–Pb geochronological results for six drill core samples from the Rover mineral field, an area of prospective Palaeoproterozoic rocks southwest of Tennant Creek that is entirely concealed below younger sedimentary cover rocks. The work is part of an ongoing collaborative effort between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) that aims to better understand the geological evolution and mineral potential of this region. SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon results from two samples, a meta-siltstone/mudstone from the Au–Cu–Bi Rover 1 deposit (drillhole WGR1D011; sample BW20PGF090) and a volcaniclastic sandstone from the Explorer 142 prospect (drillhole NR142D001; sample BW20PGF156) gave near identical maximum depositional ages of 1849.1 ± 3.1 Ma and 1848.9 ± 3.0 Ma respectively. The euhedral nature of the zircons in both samples and their unimodal age distributions, support the interpretation that the maximum depositional ages of these samples are good approximations for their true age of deposition. These results are a very close match with U–Pb zircon geochronology of some other drill core samples from the Rover mineral field. Two magmatic rocks from drillhole RVDD0002 (located in the East of the Rover field), gave ages of ca 1851–1850 Ma, while a volcaniclastic sandstone from RVDD0002 gave a maximum depositional age of 1854.0 ± 2.9 Ma (Cross et al 2021). Our new results from drillholes WGR1D011 and NR142D001 confirm the widespread presence of detrital zircons at ca 1854–1849 Ma across much of the Rover mineral field. SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon analysis was undertaken on four samples from the base metal Curiosity prospect drillhole, MXCURD002. The first sample analysed GS20PGF058 [520.0–525.7 m], has a maxima at ca 1842 Ma but youngest statistical grouping at 1729 ± 17 Ma (n = 6). This is in stark contrast with a previous sample from this drillhole (GS19DLH0056 [437.63–438.18 m]) that is 82 metres above GS20PGF058, and gave a MDA of 1854.0 ± 2.9 Ma (Cross et al 2021). In an effort to further investigate the ca 1729 Ma date given by GS20PGF058, three further samples were collected from drillhole MXCURD002, one sample below, GS20PGF190 [525.7–531.5 m] and two samples above, GS20PGF085 [515.0–520.0 m] and GS20PGF084 [468.1–473.45 m]. Additionally, samples GS20PGF190 and GS20PGF085 are continuations of the same meta-siltstone/mudstone unit sampled by GS20PGF058. These three samples returned maximum depositional ages of 1851.7 ± 3.9 Ma (GS20PGF085), 1846.6 ± 3.2 Ma (GS20PGF190) and 1841 ± 12 Ma (GS20PGF084). They are also indistinguishable within their uncertainties (MSWD = 0.71, POF = 0.49) and have an average date of ca 1848 Ma. Therefore, the evidence from SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon studies of four rocks from drillhole MXCURD002 (this study and that of Cross et al 2021), indicates that the metasedimentary rocks in MXCURD002 were probably deposited at ca 1850 Ma, similar to other metasedimentary units within the Rover mineral field. We suggest that the relatively younger statistical grouping in sample GS20PGF058 at ca 1730 Ma is possibly the result of isotopic re-setting due to a thermal and/or fluid event associated with lead–zinc–copper mineralisation at a similar time which has been recently reported by Farias et al (2022). Although other explanations to explain the ca 1730 Ma grains in this sample such as laboratory contamination or that the zircons have in fact preserved their original crystallisation age, cannot be ruled out. <b>Bibliographic Reference:</b> Cross AJ, Farias PG and Huston DL, 2022. Summary of results. Joint NTGS–GA geochronology project: Rover mineral field, Warramunga Province, July–December 2020. <i>Northern Territory Geological Survey</i>, <b>Record 2022-005</b>.

Geoscience Australia commissioned ACIL Allen Consulting (ACIL Allen) to independently quantify the return on investment from six pre-competitive geoscience projects. These projects include three from the first phase of the $225 million Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program (2016-2024) and three pre-EFTF projects that were undertaken within the last two decades: the Mineral Potential Mapper Project (2012-2016), the Salt Lakes Study (2012-2014), and the Northeast Yilgarn Project (2001-2004). ACIL Allen has shown that the net benefits that have been estimated to flow as a result of Geoscience Australia’s spending on each of the projects are all positive, and in many cases, quite large. The return on investment analysis for the three EFTF case studies is published separately (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/132897) and the analysis of the three pre-EFTF case studies is available here in three standalone reports. An additional overview report synthesises the findings from all six case studies to assess the broader impact and value of pre-competitive geoscience projects. This synthesis includes projects undertaken by Geoscience Australia alone or in collaboration with state/territory geological surveys and other research organisations. ACIL Allen estimated that the net present value of benefits to Australia attributed to Geoscience Australia’s contribution to the three pre-EFTF projects are between $962 million and $2.4 billion, depending on the scenario considered. ACIL Allen also estimated that for every dollar invested by Geoscience Australia in these pre-EFTF projects, the Australian Government could gain a net benefit of at least $15 and potentially as much as $157. The analysis also shows that direct jobs associated with mining operations potentially arising from GA’s work on the six projects could number in the thousands. The ACIL Allen analysis also demonstrates that considerable time may elapse between the completion of a Geoscience Australia project and commencement of the mining of any resources that are identified. The three pre-EFTF projects examined suggest that it is around 10 years between the publication of Geoscience Australia’s results and the development of a mine. Therefore, If the development of any resources based on the findings of the EFTF projects follow similar timelines, then we could potentially expect to see new mines in operation sometime between 2026 and 2030.

Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is an ongoing multiyear (2016–2024) initiative of the Australian Government, conducted by Geoscience Australia. This program aims to improve Australia’s desirability for industry investment in resource exploration of frontier regions across Australia. This paper will focus on the science impacts delivered in central northern Australia, by the acquisition and interpretation of seismic surveys, petroleum geochemistry and the drilling of the NDI Carrara 1. This work has been undertaken in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey, the Queensland Geological Survey, AuScope and the MinEx CRC. The new data acquired across central northern Australia as part of the Exploring for the Future program are foundational datasets and includes seismic surveys, geochronology and geochemistry. These data link the highly prospective resource rich areas of the McArthur Basin and Mt Isa Province via a continuous seismic traverse across central northern Australia. The Exploring for the Future program aims to further de-risk exploration within greenfield regions and position northern Australia for future exploration investment. This presentation was given at the 2023 Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference (AEGC) 13-18 March, Brisbane (https://2023.aegc.com.au/)

<p>This is a raster representing the base surface of the Nulla Basalt Province, inferred from sparse data available, dominated by private water bore records. This interpretation was conducted by a hydrogeologist from Geoscience Australia. <p>Caveats <p>• This is just one model, based on sparse data and considerable palaeotopographic interpretation <p>• This model relies on the input datasets being accurate. However it is noted that substantial uncertainty exists both in the location of private bores and the use of drillers’ logs for identifying stratigraphic contacts. <p>• The location of palaeothalwegs is imprecise, and often it is only indicative of the presence of a palaeovalley. <p>• The purpose of this model is for visualisation purposes, so should not be considered a definitive depth prediction dataset.

Under the Federal Governments’ Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, Geoscience Australia (GA) recently acquired the Barkly and South Nicholson deep-crustal seismic reflection surveys (L212 and L210, respectively) in partnership with the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) and Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ). The Barkly survey was completed in late 2019 as a collaboration between GA’s EFTF program and NTGS’s Resourcing the Territory initiative. Acquisition started at the Queensland-Northern Territory border near the town of Camooweal. It is comprised of five lines; 19GA-B1 (434.6 km), 19GA-B2 (45.9 km), 19GA-B3 (66.9 km), 19GA-B4 (225.8 km), and 19GA-B5 (39.4 km) (Southby et al., 2021), and was acquired via vibroseis using a nodal geophone system (Fomin et al., 2020), and links into the South Nicholson survey acquired in 2017. In 2019, the Camooweal deep-crustal seismic reflection survey (GSQ Open Data Portal 95590) was acquired by the GSQ as part of the Queensland Government's Strategic Resources Exploration Program (SREP), and was centred on the northwest Queensland town of Camooweal with the total length of acquisition spread over three lines; 19Q-C1 (65.8 km), 19Q-C2 (173.6 km) and 19Q-C3 (60.9 km). The Camooweal survey was acquired via vibroseis using a nodal geophone system and links to the South Nicholson and Barkly surveys (Edwards, 2020). These seismic surveys have improved our understanding of the basins, basement structures and structural evolution of the region. They tie the underexplored region with the more explored and highly prospective McArthur and Mount Isa Province, in which there are now new areas identified for future exploration. The known, mappable extent of the South Nicholson Basin has been increased significantly and a new, potentially Proterozoic age, depocentre, the Carrara Sub-basin, located in the south east of South Nicholson region, has been discovered (Henson et al., 2018; Carr et al., 2019; Carson et al., 2020; MacFarlane et al., 2020). The Carrara Sub-basin is interpreted to include strata equivalent in age to the Isa Superbasin, South Nicholson Group, and the Georgina Basin (Carr et al., 2020) and current work on the NDI Carrara 1 drill hole will further constrain the stratigraphy and geology of the South Nicholson region; providing well control to the extensive network of new deep-crustal seismic acquired in this highly prospective frontier province. The aim of this study is to show the extent of the Carrara Sub-basin sedimentary packages by mapping the lateral extent of sedimentary sequences using seismic data interpretation. This Abstract was submitted/presented to the 2022 Central Australian Basins Symposium IV (CABS) 29-30 August (https://agentur.eventsair.com/cabsiv/)

As part of the Onshore Energy Systems Group’s program, late gas (methane) and compositional kinetics (1-, 2-, 4- and 14-component (phase) kinetics) were undertaken by GeoS4, Germany. The phase kinetics approach is outlined in Appendix 1. This report provides the data required to access the shale gas potential of source rocks from the Georgina Basin, Australia.

This South Nicholson Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. This South Nicholson Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus. The South Nicholson Basin is a Mesoproterozoic sedimentary basin spanning Queensland and the Northern Territory and is bordered by neighbouring provinces and basins. The basin unconformably overlies the Lawn Hill Platform of the Mount Isa Province to the east, is bound by the Warramunga and Davenport provinces to the south-west, the Murphy Province to the north and the McArthur Basin to the north-west. It extends southwards under younger cover sequences. Rock units in the basin are correlated with the Roper Group in the McArthur Basin, forming the 'Roper Superbasin.' The underlying Mount Isa Province contains potential shale gas resources. The basin mainly consists of sandstone- and siltstone-bearing units, including the South Nicholson Group, with a prevailing east to east-northeast structural grain. Mild deformation includes shallowly plunging fold axes and numerous faults along a north-west to south-east shortening direction. Major geological events affecting the South Nicholson Basin region include the formation of the Murphy Province's metamorphic and igneous rocks around 1850 million years ago (Ma). The Mount Isa Province experienced deposition in the Leichhardt Superbasin (1800 to 1750 Ma) and Calvert Superbasin (1725 to 1690 Ma). The Isa Superbasin, with extensional growth faulting in the Carrara Sub-basin (~1640 Ma), deposited sediments from approximately 1670 to 1590 Ma. Subsequently, the South Nicholson Group was deposited around 1500 to 1430 Ma, followed by the Georgina Basin's sedimentation. The basin shows potential for sandstone-type uranium, base metals, iron ore, and petroleum resources, while unconventional shale and tight gas resources remain largely unexplored. The Constance Sandstone holds promise as a petroleum reservoir, and the Mullera Formation and Crow Formation serve as potential seals.

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. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. The Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Birrindudu Basin is an underexplored frontier basin located in northwestern Northern Territory and northeastern Western Australia. The Birrindudu Basin is a region of focus for the second phase of the EFTF program (2020–2024) as it contains strata of similar age to the prospective McArthur Basin, South Nicholson region and Mount Isa Province, but remains comparatively poorly understood. Geoscience Australia have undertaken (via the service provider, FIT, Schlumberger) stratigraphic reconstructions of bulk volatile chemistry from fluid inclusions from an mineral exploration drillhole LBD2, Birrindudu Basin, located in the northwest Northern Territory This ecat record releases the final report and raw data files (*.LAS) by FIT Schlumberger. Company reference number FI230005a.