The investigation of the Fitzroy Basin and adjacent areas was commenced in 1948 when a detailed survey was made of the Nerrima Structure and a widespread reconnaissance by land, sea and air was completed. The Fitzroy Basin survey was completed in 1952 and during this period 24 months were spent in the field and the remainder in office preparation. Approximately 40,000 square miles were examined during the survey and detailed maps covering an area of 28,000 square miles have been prepared at 1 inch = 1 miles, 1 inch = 2 miles and 1 inch = 10 miles. The area has been examined in the past in varying detail by three geological parties on behalf of local and overseas oil companies. The purpose of this survey was to examine the complete sedimentary sequence in sufficient detail to solve the problems encountered by previous surveys and eventually to be in a position to assess to a reliable degree the petroleum prospects of the area based on the examination of surface outcrop. The assessment of the petroleum prospects of the area has very definite limitations in that the potential source rocks (Devonian and Ordovician) are limited to the extreme eastern margin of the basin and nothing is known about their distribution or facies elsewhere under the cover of Permian and Mesozoic sediments. The aerial photography of the area, which was conducted by the Survey Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, has been the basis of all mapping, as reliable topographic maps of the area were not available.

The Waterhouse Uranium Prospect No. 2, situated six miles south of Batchelor siding, consists of a series of rock exposures striking approximately 360 degrees and dipping 45 degrees to the East. The three main rock types are shale, hematized and brecciated quartzite and siltstone. Significant radioactivity is restricted to the shale bed, which also contains copper mineralization in the vicinity of the highest counts. No source of radioactivity has yet been identified. Copper mineralization is present on a small scale 100 feet south and 40 feet east of the 00 peg. The highest readings recorded by the initial radiometric survey were from 6 x - 12 x background over an area of roughly 20 feet by 20 feet, and 4 x - 6 x background in two other areas as shown in plate 1. Geophysical work consisted of both radiometric and magnetometer surveys. (Plates 1 and 2). Geochemical work was carried out and the results shown in Plate 3. Developmental work in the area is to date restricted to three costeans and the results obtained from these will be discussed in the appropriate section of this report. Further work by diamond drilling has been recommended on a limited scale to obtain information on the unweathered and perhaps unleached radioactive rock.

The Frazer Uranium Prospect was located by the Bureau of Mineral Resources airborne scintillometer survey in 1952. Subsequent geological and geophysical investigation has shown that radioactivity is apparently confined to the ferruginous zone of the laterite profile. The maximum activity recorded on the surface was equivalent to 7.5 times background. A costean was bulldozed and a supplementary hole in the deepest part of the costean showed that activity dropped appreciably with depth, at one point it dropped to 2 x background in ten feet.

Madigan's uranium prospect is situated in a Lower Proterozoic sequence of interbedded sandy shales, sandstone and grits. It is located near the headwaters of the Charlotte River, near the crest and on the eastern side of a northerly trending ridge. Detailed geological and radiometric surveys were carried out and significant radioactivity was outlined over an area of approximately 300 feet by 400 feet. Some channel sampling was done over 50 feet in the zone of highest radioactivity. The greatest radioactivity appears to be associated with hematitic material occurring sporadically in a system of flat joints in a grit bed. Some fluorescent minerals were observed in this material.

The prospect was a second order anomaly located by the Airborne Scintillometer Survey of 1952. After preliminary ground investigation, a survey grid was set out by the geophysical section. The base line runs east-west for 800 feet. The traverse lines are spaced 100 feet apart and pegged at intervals of 100 feet. The detailed radioactive coverage constituted the main survey. Plate 1 shows the results of this survey. Area No. 2 was the first located and the grid was laid out with the outlining of this area in view. As work progressed area 1 was discovered and later area 3. Time did not allow the grid to be extended to indicate clearly the third area. A detailed magnetic survey supplemented the geiger work. The results are shown on Plate 2. The work commenced in July and was completed in September, 1953.

This statement supplements Record 1952/3 by H.B. Owen, which recorded the preliminary results of drilling for open-cut coal in the northern part of Portion 11, Ph. Stockrington near Newcastle, N.S.W. A further 33 holes, entailing 3,220 feet of drilling, were sunk in an area of about 430 acres immediately south of the area reported on by Owen. The majority of the holes were drilled into the Borehole Seam: two encountered only the beds below the Borehole Seam, and a number of holes encountered seams which may be the Australasian, Dudley, Yard, and Sandgate Seams. The results of the drilling indicate that the Borehole Seam is not suitable in this area for open-cut mining because of present high quality coal standards; however the lower plies of the seam, averaging 3 feet 6 inches in total thickness may be suitable for underground mining over a limited area of at least 25 acres. Total indicated reserves in this area are only 130,000 long tons (calculated on the basis of 1,500 tons per acre foot); the quality of the coal would be only fair: calorific value of about 11,500 B.Th.U/lb., ash content about 20%, and the coal would have some coking properties. Further drilling may increase this as workable area. It is considered that the preliminary results did not justify extensive prospecting of the Australasian(?), Dudley(?), Yard(?), or Sandgate Seams.

A radiometric survey was made, by carborne equipment, of the area of granitic country south-west of Edith Siding that was covered by the airborne scintillometer survey of 1952. Several small, lenticular deposits of radioactive, hematitic lode material were found in three shear zones, but the radioactive anomalies were in general due to hills of granite which have counts higher than the general background count. A similar carborne survey, and an investigation by a geochemical party, were made in an area of Brocks Creek sediments south-east of the Edith Siding, in which twelve third order anomalies had been indicated by the airborne survey. The anomalies were found to occur mainly along a slaty band, and along a prominently outcropping bed of tuffaceous sandstone. A shear or fracture zone near the southern end of the area investigated contains oxidized copper minerals, and Geiger counts a little higher than usual were obtained at one locality within it, and at another locality approximately 200 feet east of it. The largest of the hematitic lenses in the granitic country south-west of the Edith Siding will be inspected and sampled, and additional prospecting will be done along and adjacent to the copper bearing shear zone.

Samples from three bores were submitted by the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission, of New South Wales for micropalaeontological examination namely: 1. Bore No. 8271, K.F. Robinson's "Talyealye" property, 2. Bore no. 8290, J.T. O'Connor's "Shannon" property, Bourke, [and] 3. Bore No. 8302, J.J. Doohan, "Yarralee" property, Wanaaring. A detailed description of the microfaunal content of the samples from these bores is given below.

The Crater Prospect is situated about 4 miles south-south-east of White's workings and 1 mile north-east of the junction of Batchelor Road and the Darwin-Birdum railway line. It is the name assigned to a type area of an extensive radioactive bed of conglomerate. Low grade but wide-spread radioactivity was discovered by R.S. Matheson and D.F. Dyson (geophysicists) in June 1951, while prospecting along the sedimentary beds out-cropping immediately south of the Rum Jungle granite on the south-side of Giant's Reef fault, and on the south side of another major parallel fault. Geiger-Muller traverses along the strike of a grit-conglomerate horizon away from the Crater prospect revealed that the radioactivity extends westwards for 1.5 miles and for half a mile to the east. The radioactivity, which was confined to the conglomerate, was low-grade and discontinuous over this distance of 2 miles. The Crater Prospect, which can be regarded as a type locality, was geologically mapped by the writer on a scale of 200 feet to one inch after the area had been radiometrically contoured, and the plan accompanies this report (Plate 1). [The geology and structure of the prospect, nature of the radioactivity, and prospecting recommendations are discussed].

This prospect is situated on the northern bank of the East Finniss River, approximately 500 yards north-east of Brown's workings and 800 yards south-west of White's workings. About 50 years ago the area was prospected for copper and abandoned after several costeans had been dug. A small radiometric anomaly was discovered in 1950 and the area was radiometrically contoured. A geological map on a scale of 20 feet to one inch was prepared by the writer during the 1951 field season, and accompanies this report (Plate 1). [Geology, structure, mineralization, workings, diamond drilling, and prospecting recommendations are discussed].