Geoscience Australia developed the guide with the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and state and territory governments. There were several rounds of public consultation including international consideration by the International Atomic Energy Agency and United States regulators. The guide outlines the best practice principles and approaches that apply generally to mining in Australia, before giving more detailed consideration to best practice environmental protection and regulation for in situ recovery (ISR) mining. It draws on guidelines and regulatory practices applying to uranium mining in South Australia - the only jurisdiction currently with experience of approval and regulation of ISR projects. This guide is not a regulatory document and it should be considered within existing Australian legal and governance frameworks relevant to the mining sector. Its purpose is to set out expectations for approval and regulation of in situ recovery uranium mining (ISR), in line with the Australian Government's policy to ensure that uranium mining, milling and rehabilitation is based on world best practice standards.

Benthic chamber measurements of the reactants and products involved with biogenic matter remineralization (oxygen, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate, TCO2 and alkalinity) were used to define solute exchange rates between the sediment and overlying water column of Port Phillip Bay, Australia. Measurements at various sites throughout the bay, conducted during the summers of 1994 and 1995, indicate that the variability in flux values within a site is comparable to year-to-year variability (±50%). Four regions of the bay were distinguished by sediment properties and the northern region was identified as having 3-30 times greater nutrient regeneration rates than the other regions. Benthic recycling accounted for 63 and 72% of the annualized N and P input, respectively, to the entire bay as determined by summing benthic, dissolved riverine, atmospheric and dissolved effluent sources. However, bay-wide sedimentary denitrification accounted for a loss of 63% of the potentially recyclable N. This fraction is higher than many other coastal regions with comparable carbon loading. Denitrification efficiency is apparently not enhanced by benthic productivity nor by bio-irrigation. The rate of bio-irrigation is negatively correlated with denitrification efficiency. Bio-irrigation was studied using radon-222 and CsCl spike injection chamber measurements. Radon fluxes from sediments in Port Phillip Bay were enhanced over the diffusive flux by 3-16 times. The modelled rate of loss of Cs from chamber water was positively correlated with radon flux enhancement results. Both methods identify regions within Port Phillip Bay that have particularly high rates of non-diffusive pore-water overlying water solute exchange.

This report contains the preliminary results of Geoscience Australia survey 266 to central Torres Strait. The survey was undertaken to investigate the seabed geomorphology and sedimentary processes in the vicinity of Turnagain Island and to infer the possible effects (if any) on the distribution, abundance and survival of seagrasses. The Turnagain Island region was chosen because it is a known site of recent widespread seagrass dieback. The present survey is the first of two by Geoscience Australia to be carried out in 2004 and is part of a larger field-based program managed by the Reef CRC aimed at identifying and quantifying the principal physical and biological processes operating in Torres Strait. The impetus for the program is the threat of widespread seagrass dieback and its effects on local dugong and turtle populations and the implications for indigenous islander communities.

From 1995 to 2000 information from the federal and state governments was compiled for Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRA), which formed the basis for Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) that identified areas for conservation to meet targets agreed by the Commonwealth Government with the United Nations. These 3 CDs were created as part of GA's contribution to the Tasmania CRA. CD1 contains final versions of all data coverages and shapefiles used in the project, and final versions of documents provided for publishing. CD2 contains Published Graphics files in ArcInfo (.gra), postscript (.ps) and Web ready (.gif) formats. CD3 contains all Geophysical Images and Landsat data.

The introduction of a deuterium-enriched tracer to benthic incubation chambers emplaced on the sea floor of Port Phillip Bay provides a method of modelling bio-irrigation within the sediments. Plots of deuterium v. incubation time reveal that all seven chambers, emplaced at four sites, indicate nondiffusive transport of pore-water solutes across the sediment-water interface. Modelling indicates that advection of overlying chamber water must occur to depths of 20-50 cm below the interface and at rates between 150 and 700 mL h-1. Multiple chambers deployed in the same region within the bay are consistent with respect to bio-irrigation depth and rate. This indicates that the distribution of infauna responsible for irrigation is quite consistent within regions defined by sediment type and depth. However, various regions in the bay show distinctly different irrigation rates; thus the distribution and/or activity of infauna is not constant throughout the bay. At the lower rate of pore-water advection, the entire water column in Port Phillip Bay passes through the sediments within 200 days. Dissolved caesium, injected into the chamber, is also an effective tracer of bio-irrigation although adsorption onto sediment particles increases the uncertainty of model results.

The oil and gas exploration and development industry is a significant Australian industry. In 2000 the value of oil and gas produced was $10.5 billion. This meant that Australia remained more than self sufficient in petroleum, contributing to economic activity and avoiding the balance of payment pressure that importing that amount of petroleum would represent. There is thus an incentive to maintain a healthy petroleum exploration and production industry. R&D for the upstream petroleum industry however, needs to be targeted to the requirements of the differing facets of the industry under the diverse conditions in which the industry operates or could operate. These conditions include changes in oil prices and perceptions of prospectivity, uncertain access to gas markets and the effects of international agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Different petroleum companies also have differing exploration and production portfolios and different needs. Petroleum service industry companies try to meet industry?s needs. Governments have their own goals in promoting and regulating the industry and derive considerable revenues for economic rent applied to reserves held by the Crown. In the above context, a range of scenarios was considered in a planning process prioritising future needs for petroleum R&D in Australia. In this context two groups of senior petroleum industry, research and government representatives carried out scenario planning workshops in 1998 and 1999 to define scenarios and associated R&D priorities to assist in planning and identifying opportunities for petroleum R&D. The results of this study highlight core areas of R&D that are required under most of the scenarios. These are considered highest priority and high priority areas. Given the long time frame (in the order of 10 years) needed to develop and maintain R&D capability, this highlights for government, academia and industry the sustained effort needed for development and maintenance of capability particularly in these core areas of R&D. In 1998 and 1999 when the workshops that formed the basis of this study were undertaken, Australia was arguably in the `low oil and gas price scenario?. This scenario puts an onus on government to support regional studies to promote exploration and most priority petroleum R&D. Under this scenario support from industry is substantially aimed at reducing cost. Although oil prices have increased, coincident increases in stock market pressures for competitive profits from the industry has arguably left the industry in 2001 still in the low oil and gas price scenario. Thus there remains a strong need to maintain a local petroleum R&D capability to meet Australia?s needs.

Australia's Identified Mineral Resources is an annual nation-wide assessment of Australia's ore reserves and mineral resources.

In 2000, Australia's economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of bauxite, brown coal, copper, diamond, magnesite, mineral sands (ilmenite, rutile, and zircon), nickel, phosphate, tantalum, uranium and vanadium increased, while those of black coal, gold, iron ore, manganese ore and lithium decreased. EDR of zinc, lead and silver were maintained at levels similar to those reported in 1999. The reductions in EDR were due mainly to ongoing high levels of production; commodity prices were a subsidiary factor. EDR of bauxite, diamond, magnesite, nickel and tantalum increased by over 15% following reviews of resources information that became available during the year. EDR of nickel again reached record levels and at 20 Mt is now 45% of total identified resources for this commodity. Gold EDR decreased by just over 1% to 4959 t. This along with the continued declining trend in net growth in non-EDR for gold and other factors, lead AGSO - Geoscience Australia to suggest that increased exploration expenditure is required to ensure a sustainable sector in Australia. Australia, however, continues to rank as one of the world's leading mineral resource nations. It has the world's largest EDR of lead, mineral sands, nickel, tantalum, uranium and zinc. In addition, its EDR is in the top six worldwide for bauxite, black coal, brown coal, copper, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, lithium, manganese ore, rare earth oxides and gem/near gem diamond. Mineral exploration expenditure fell by 19% to $676.3 million in 1999-2000, which was marginally higher than the low point registered in the last cyclical downturn in 1992-93. Spending for calendar year 2000, based on the sum of ABS four-quarter figures, was down by $42.9 million to $676.4 million - essentially the same as for 1999-2000. Production of many mineral commodities reached record levels in 1999-2000, and overall mine production is projected by ABARE to rise by around 8% in the five years to 2005-06. Growth in mine output over this period is expected for nickel (55%), copper (7%), zinc (9%), bauxite and alumina (6% and 9%) and iron ore (15%). The high level of investment activity in the minerals industry since the early 1990s, is expected to continue to fall in coming years, according to ABARE and ABS.

Attention was directed to the inadequacy of supplies of acid grade fluorspar in Australia when the Bureau of Mineral Resources was asked to sponsor an application to import a quantity from England in 1948. The British Ministry of Supply released a proportion of the amount required but advised that the supply position in England was not secure and only limited quantities could be released for export in the future. The Ministry suggested that if known Australian requirements were likely to be heavy, some material might be supplied as a matter of urgency. An investigation of the fluorspar industry in Australia was then undertaken to estimate future requirements and the extent to which these could be met from domestic sources; the results of this investigation are the subject of this report. The uses, grading, consumption, supply, prices, and projected future supplies of fluorspar are discussed.

Recently, it was desired for engineering and other purposes to test the micaceous marls and the glauconitic sandstone below the bottom of the shaft. It was decided to put down a diamond drill hole and to use the cores for necessary testing. This report deals mainly with the examination of the cores of glauconitic sandstone obtained from the drill hole. An attempt has been made to correlate much of the available data on the Lakes Entrance field which has a bearing on the Lakes Entrance oil project, and to provide a summary of the occurrence and distribution of oil in the glauconitic sandstone. Finally the report includes a critical examination of the factors influencing the recovery of oil from the glauconitic sandstone by horizontal oil wells, and an estimate of the percentage of oil which might be recoverable from a given area at Lakes Entrance.