The presence of alluvial gold in the river gravels of Mastuj and Chitral has been known for many years, and local inhabitants have realised the value of the gold and have worked the deposits. Tipper (1923), Coulson (1937), Ikramuddin Ali (1951) and Tayyab Ali (1951), have reported on the placers but no accurate determinations have been made of their size or grade. In August, 1951, the Australian Geological Party, J.F. Ivanac, D.M. Traves, and D. King, examined the deposits between Mastuj and Drosh, with the objects of reporting on the size and nature of the placers, and if warranted, to suggest suitable sites for testing. This report gives an account of the examination and its results.

A magnetic survey of the Kunimo creek area near Kuta in the Central Highlands of New Guinea was carried out between July 17th and July 28th, 1950. It was hoped that the survey would trace the course of the auriferous wash originally laid down in the bed of a former creek but now concealed by overburden of soil and unconsolidated volcanic ash. This report gives an account of the magnetic survey and its results.

Gold Mining Lease 1075 is situated at the head of Rowlands Creek, a tributary of Barola Creek. The workings are on the hillside just south of the head of Rowlands Creek and approximately five miles west-south-west from Kainantu Sub-District Office and Airstrip in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. The elevation of the workings is approximately 6,200 feet above sea-level. The area was examined by the writer in April, 1953. [The history and development of the lease, transport and resources, general geology, ore geology, the occurrence of the gold, and further prospects, are discussed in this report].

The purpose of the presentation was to show mineral explorers how recent results from the Gawler Mineral Promotion Project may be used in their quest for blind iron-oxide copper gold (IOCG) deposits in the Gawler Craton. The Gawler Project ran from late 2000 to early 2006. The project developed new methods of exploring prospective basement beneath deep cover.

Geoscience Australia has been acquiring deep crustal reflection seismic transects throughout Australia since the 1960s. The results of these surveys have motivated major interpretations of important geological regions, contributed to the development of continental-scale geodynamic models and improved understanding about large-scale controls on mineral systems. Under the Onshore Energy Security Program, Geoscience Australia has acquired, processed and interpreted over 5000 km of new seismic reflection data. These transects are targeted over geological terrains in all mainland states which have potential for hydrocarbons, uranium and geothermal energy systems. The first project was undertaken in the Mt Isa and Georgetown regions of North Queensland. Interpretations of these results have identified several features of interest to mineral and energy explorers: a previously unknown basin with possible hydrocarbon and geothermal potential; a favourable setting for iron oxide uranium-copper-gold deposits; and, a favourable structural setting for orogenic gold deposits under basin cover. Other geophysical data were used to map these features in 3D, particularly into areas under cover. Seismic imaging of the full thickness of the crust provides essential, fundamental data to economic geologists about why major deposits occur where they do and reduces risk for companies considering expensive exploration programs under cover.

Map showing distribution of a selected range of mineral deposits, operating mines and historic mines for selected commodities.

This investigation was undertaken primarily to assess the importance of a discovery of gold in the tributaries of the Porgera River west of Mt. Hagen, Mandated Territory of New Guinea. Two patrols were carried out. The first patrol was from Wabag to Mongureba. The purpose of the patrol was to inspect the main gold find in the vicinity of Mongureba. The occurrence of alluvial gold was also reported from the River Timen area, and consequently a patrol from Wabag to Mt. Hagen Police Post by way of the River Timen was undertaken. This report gives an account of the geological reconnaissance and its findings. The physiography, geology, geomorphology, and economic geology of the area are described. Accompanying maps and photographs are included.

At the Sandpiper gold deposit in the Tanami region of northern Australia sericite is intimately intergrown with arsenopyrite in gold-bearing quartz veins and breccias, suggesting sericite crystallisation synchronous with gold-bearing fluid flow. This ore-stage sericite yields a 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 1785 ± 16 Ma (1?? including all known systematic uncertainties). Recalculation using revised and more precise values for the 40K decay constants and the age of the Fish Canyon Sanidine standard shifts the age to 1792 ± 6 Ma (1???including all known systematic uncertainties). Given the possibility of post-mineralization isotopic resetting this age can be conservatively interpreted as a minimum constraint on the timing of gold deposition although, given local geological relationships and estimates for the argon retentivity of white mica, we consider complete isotopic resetting to be unlikely. The preferred interpretation is, therefore, that the sericite 40Ar/39Ar age indicates the timing of gold mineralization. The sericite age accords with a limited dataset of 207Pb/206Pb xenotime ages of ~1800 Ma from other gold deposits in the Tanami region, interpreted as mineralization ages. The agreement between independently-derived ages from several gold deposits lends support for a widespread gold-mineralizing event at ~1800 Ma in the Tanami region.

Geological regions with abnormally high endowment in metals appear to have resulted from the fortunate juxtaposition in space and time of numerous, possibly exceptional, processes. The gold mineral system of the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane (EGST) is an example. In order to understand why this is so, we have taken an approach that considers the mineral system as a series of integrated components known as the Five Questions: viz 1) geodynamics; 2) architecture; 3) sources & reservoirs; 4) drivers & pathways; and, 5) depositional mechanisms. In order to better understand these components and the geological processes that define them, a range of scales needs to be considered. However at each scale the relative benefits of considering any one of the five components varies. Ultimately the aim is to use this scale-integrated process-based understanding for prediction. Understanding why a region is particularly endowed or a deposit so rich is important but only half the question. The other half is where is the next favourable region and/or camp and deposit? In this regard, we 'Answer' the Five Questions.

Extended abstract describing metallogenic significance of georgina-Arunta seismic line. The abstract discusses mainly the Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic mineral potential, including implications to U, Cu-Co, Au, Cu-U and energy.