In 1996, Australia's Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) of cobalt, gold, nickel, phosphate rock and tantalum increased substantially, while EDR of bauxite, lead, lithium, platinum group metals (PGM), silver and zinc rose slightly. There was a significant reduction in EDR of gem and near gem diamond and industrial diamond due to ongoing high levels of production. Magnesite and tin EDR were also significantly reduced as a result of depletion due to production and reassessment of deposits. EDR of all other commodities remained unchanged or had minor reductions. Australia continues to rank highly as one of the world's leading mineral resource nations. It has the world's largest EDR of bauxite, lead, mineral sands (ilmenite, rutile and zircon), silver, tantalum, uranium and zinc. In addition, its EDR is in the top six worldwide for black coal, brown coal, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, lithium, manganese ore, nickel, rare earth oxides, gem and near gem diamond and industrial diamond. Mineral exploration expenditure rose by 7.5% in 1995-96 to $960.2 million from $893.3 million in the previous year. Increases were recorded in all states and the Northern Territory. Gold was again the main target, accounting for 57% of the total expenditure. In 1995-96 mineral resources exports increased to a new record of $34.7 billion (thousand million), a rise of 12.7% over the previous fiscal year. These export earnings comprised 60% of Australia's commodity exports, 45% of merchandise exports and 35% of the country's total exports of goods and services. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) forecast export earnings to set a further record in 1996-97, rising by nearly 4% to over $36 billion.

An area of approximately 32 square miles in the vicinity of Rye Park has been mapped in greater detail than that of previous regional surveys. Three possible tungsten-bearing areas have been delineated as warranting magnetometric and plane-table surveys. An extension of each of these three areas is indicated. Attention is drawn to copper, tin, silver, lead, and zinc mineralisation of the area, and it is considered that there are possibilities of finding payable orebodies containing these metals.

The Tennant Creek Mining Field occupies an area extending some 70 miles east and west and 40 miles north and south. Over this area are scattered a large number of small mines and prospects and it is sometimes difficult to bring a field such as this into perspective so as to obtain some idea of its true valuation. The following notes are designed to help in this direction. The output and nature of the orebodies, and the respective positions and productivity of the major deposits, are discussed in this report.

This dataset is part of a digital geological map of the Granites-Tanami Block which Australian Geological Survey Organisation has prepared by joining together as a seamless coverage 15 of the 1:250 000 geological maps which cover the province.The data layers in the digital map include geology, faults, lineaments structural data, mineral deposits and Australian Geological Survey Organisation drill hole locations. The digital data is available in Arcinfo/ Arcview or Mapinfo format. Topographic and cultural layers are not included: these can be purchased separately from AUSLIG.

Ajana is 66 miles north from Geraldton by rail and is the terminus of the branch railway which passes through Northampton mining district. Aspects of regional geology and mineral occurrence are discussed in these notes.

A report on the Lake Cargellico magnesite deposit following a visit on 30th May, 1944.

Legacy product - no abstract available

The area was bored and sampled in May, 1948. Bores were put down to water level, using a post-hole digger. When the sand brought up from the boreholes appeared to contain appreciable quantities of heavy minerals, it was sampled by quartering. Sample weights, volumes, and dry concentrates were determined. Percentage composition of concentrates was determined by grain counting. The estimates of the quantities and grades of heavy mineral concentrates, the quantities of overburden, and the quantities of each of the heavy minerals are tabulated in this report. Data collected in the course of the investigation has been tabulated and is appended. Accompanying locality and section plans have been included.

This study assessed the geochemical indicators for carbonatite-associated and alkaline igneous REE mineral systems based on state-scale ASTER data for Western Australia and the National Geochemical Survey of Australia. In the latter we applied discrete field models obtained by attributing catchment outlet sediment geochemical data to their catchment basins. The cerium data was found to be a suitable proxy for the main features of REE distribution across the continent. In general, this provided a well-expressed positive correlation between identified catchments with anomalous (elevated) Ce and the mineral occurrences and deposits that they contained but not all REE deposits were identified by these methods. The study also included more detailed mineral mapping using the recently released ASTER geoscience map of Western Australia (WA). A study of the relatively well exposed Yangibana 'ironstone' dykes in the Gascoyne Province of Western Australia showed relatively good correlations with known REE occurrences for the AlOH Group Composition, MgOH Group Composition and Ferrous Iron Content in MgOH/carbonate ASTER products. However, no well defined correlations were observed for Mt Weld, Ponton and Cummins Range all of which occur under cover. The ASTER SWIR products have difficulty detecting the types of minerals present in alteration zones surrounding these carbonatites. Some of these minerals may be detected with the ASTER thermal infrared geoscience products which were not available at the time of this study. These products will include a silica index (e.g. for quartz, feldspars, Al-clays), a carbonate index (e.g. for calcite, dolomite, magnesite, siderite, ankerite) and a mafic group index (e.g. for pyroxenes, garnets, olivine, epidote, chlorite, calcite, magnesite, dolomite). However, the lower resolution of the thermal infrared bands (~90 m) may still make it difficult to detect carbonatite-associated mineralisation. Finally, the ASTER data for the Brockman (Hastings) alkaline igneous REE deposit was also examined. The mineralised unit of this deposit only reaches a maximum width of 35 m and so, once again, proved difficult to detect with ASTER. However, the ASTER maps readily highlighted the contact between the Olympio Formation to the east with the Biscay Formation to the west and demonstrated the mapping capabilities of the ASTER products where the lithologies are relatively well exposed. In order to overcome the problem of only sampling the surface, we combined the ASTER data with the regional magnetic data because the magnetic signal is derived from a greater depth. As many carbonatite complexes are surrounded by mafic alkaline rocks, they often show up as a magnetic bull's eye combined with a gravity low and ringed by a gravity high.

This dataset is part of a digital geological map of the Granites-Tanami Block which Australian Geological Survey Organisation has prepared by joining together as a seamless coverage 15 of the 1:250 000 geological maps which cover the province.The data layers in the digital map include geology, faults, lineaments structural data, mineral deposits and Australian Geological Survey Organisation drill hole locations. The digital data is available in Arcinfo/ Arcview or Mapinfo format. Topographic and cultural layers are not included: these can be purchased separately from AUSLIG.