The Bulong vermiculite deposit, situated 20 miles east of Kalgoorlie was discussed with members of the West Australian Mines Inspection Branch. The geology, quality, and production potential of the deposit are discussed in this report.

The presence of laterite described as high-silica bauxite at Mt. Roe on Cobourg Peninsula had been reported early in this century by H.Y.L. Brown, who submitted a specimen for analysis. In the absence of information about the mineralogical composition of the rock the chemical analysis alone affords a very incomplete description of the material. It was considered that the rock might be somewhat similar to the commercially valuable high-silica bauxite which occurs in the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya. At the request of the Australian Aluminium Production Commission the writer was instructed to examine the area in the vicinity of Mounts Roe and Bedwell, and to sample and report on any accessible bodies of apparently aluminous laterite. The locality, topography, and general geology of the area are briefly described. Accounts of the laterite occurrence at Mounts Roe, Bedwell, Kura, and Victoria are given. The mineralogical character of the laterite is described.

The collection supports the compilation of national mineral resource and production statistics, and mineral prospectivity analysis. The collection includes the OZMIN database (Australian mineral deposit descriptions including geological, resource and production data); the MINLOC database (mineral occurrence locations sourced from Geoscience Australia and state and territory geological surveys); supporting GIS datasets (eg,mineral prospectivity datasets, ports, power stations); maps and reports.

This report is written primarily to present the determination of the permeability and porosity of a number of rocks and minerals, but it has also been considered advisable to give a brief description of the different kinds of apparatus designed and used in making the determinations. The materials on which the tests were carried out included a suite of specimens from No. 10 bore, Lakes Entrance, two specimens of sandstone from one of the bores at Roma, Queensland, and a number of Australian diatomites. The method of presentation adopted in this report is, firstly to describe the apparatuses used in making the determinations and the technique adopted in preparing the specimens for testing and secondly to discuss the results obtained for each set of specimens. In addition to the permeability and porosity tests already mentioned, a number of tests of compressive strength were made on wet and dry samples of glauconitic sandstone from Lakes Entrance.

These notes are compiled as a result of conversations with Government officials and mining engineers in Noumea on 4-6th July, 1951. Figures are given for the production, reserves, and exports of Nickel, Chromite, Manganese, Cobalt, Iron, and other miscellaneous minerals. Most of the figures quoted herein have been compiled from records collected by the Australian Consul.

It has been fairly firmly established that the fineness of the gold in any ore deposit varies with the depth from the surface at which the deposit was formed and as a corollary to this, that it is dependent upon the temperature and pressure at the time of deposition. This relationship is such that, under certain conditions, the gold fineness, taken into consideration with other recognised criteria, furnishes a very sensitive and reliable guide to the relative temperature of ore formation, at least within the epithermal and the upper part of the mesothermal range. The definition, determination, relation to deposits, and application of gold fineness are discussed in this report.

The beach sands on which investigations were carried out, were mainly from beaches along the eastern coast of Australia and from islands adjacent to this coast. A high percentage of the mineral grains of the heavy mineral fraction in these sands have grain sizes within the range -100 to +200, referred to British Standard Sieves. The grain size of the minerals, combined with the fact that the grains are quite well rounded, makes the heavy mineral sands an ideal subject for separation using the inclined method with the Isodynamic Separator. The use of this method, and the results obtained, are described in this report.

The Northern Territory is an integral part of the great Australian Pre-Cambrian shield which underlies almost the whole of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, much of South Australia and portions of New South Wales and Queensland. In most parts of the Continent, Pre-Cambrian rocks were welded into a stable shield before the end of Pre-Cambrian time, and in the Northern Territory itself the structural framework was established, and most of the mineral deposits introduced by an orogeny which terminated geosynclinal sedimentation about the end of the Lower Proterozoic. This discussion of the structure of the Territory in relation to mineralization is mainly concerned with Pre-Cambrian, and in particular with Lower Proterozoic rocks. Only a broad outline of the subject is given here.

A visit was paid to the mine on March 14th, 1945, during a field season at Mount Bischoff. The purpose of the visit was to gain some general idea of the potential importance of the deposits as a source of asbestos fibre. The location and access, workings, geology, and the grade of orebodies are discussed in this report. An accompanying sketch plan of the deposit is included.

Boring commenced in the Broadbeach area on an East-West line 500 feet south of the northern boundary of DC22. Subsequent boring was carried out along lines 1300 feet, 2100 feet, 2900 feet, 4500 feet, 6125 feet, 7740 feet, 9300 feet, and 10900 feet south of the northern boundary of DC22. The results of the beach sands investigation are presented here. Estimates of the tonnages of heavy-mineral concentrates, the average grades of the heavy-mineral bearing sands and the average thickness of overburden, are tabulated. The complete set of data, from which these figures have been calculated, is attached as an appendix to the report.