1. Onshore Energy Security Program Update
2. New Maps of Proterozoic Mineralising Events for Lead-Zinc and Copper
3. Australian Mineral Exploration expenditure at record highs
4. Airborne EM Survey Program - Pine Creek Region N.T.
5. Update on geophysical data releases
6. Kalgoorlie '07
7. Notification of planned improvements to the Australian National Gravity Database
8. Useful Geoscience Australia Websites
9. About Email Alert

1. Onshore Energy Security Program Update

Data acquisition for the Australia-wide airborne geophysical tie-line survey (AWAGS2) was completed in December 2007 and final processed data should be with Geoscience Australia in March 2008.

The gravity data over parts of Cooper Basin are now available, and the airborne electromagnetic survey of the Paterson Province in Western Australia has commenced and will be completed in mid-2008.

The first results are in from a major project to assess the potential of North Queensland for new onshore petroleum and mineral energy resources. The project involved the acquisition of deep seismic reflection, gravity and magnetotelluric data from the Mt Isa-Georgetown-Charters Towers region. Geoscience Australia's involvement in this major collaboration with the Geological Survey of Queensland also was part of our Onshore Energy Security Program.

For further information, visit AusGeo News.

2. New Maps of Proterozoic Mineralising Events for Lead-Zinc and Copper

Geoscience Australia has released four new 1:5 000 000 scale colour maps:

• Australian Proterozoic Mineralising Events: Lead-Zinc (Map 1);
• Australian Proterozoic Mineralising Events: Lead-Zinc (Map 2);
• Australian Proterozoic Mineralising Events: Copper (Map 1); and
• Australian Proterozoic Mineralising Events: Copper (Map 2).

Nine major Proterozoic mineralising lead-zinc and nine copper events are identified on the maps. They show:

• the mineralising event (based on determined or inferred age) for each deposit;
• the style of the deposit; and
• lead-zinc and copper occurrences within Proterozoic regions.

The maps also include enlarged insets of mineralised areas, time-space-event chart and pie-charts summarising lead-zinc and copper resources by Proterozoic mineralising events. The mineralising events on Maps 1 are superimposed on Australian Lead-Zinc Resources and Australian Copper Resources, whereas on Maps 2 they are plotted on Australian Proterozoic Regions of Lead-Zinc and Copper.

Parts 1 and Parts 2 of these map series can be downloaded free of charge online.

For further information, email Subhash Jaireth, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9419.

3. Australian Mineral Exploration Expenditure at Record Highs

Mineral exploration in Australia is at record levels. This is shown by Australian Bureau of Statistics survey figures which record that actual Australian mineral exploration expenditure (including iron ore, coal, and uranium) reached a record A$1,714.6 million in 2006-07, an increase of 38% from A$1,240.7 million in 2005-06. World non-ferrous mineral exploration budgets reached a record US$10.5 billion in the 2007 survey by the Metals Economics Group of Canada. Australia's share of world non-ferrous mineral exploration budgets rose to 11.9%, up from 10.6% in 2006. In addition, a first time survey of world uranium budgets identified a further US$963 million. Underpinning the record global exploration budgets and Australian mineral exploration expenditure is the continuing minerals boom, with record or near-record commodity prices driven largely by demand from China.

For further information, visit AusGeo News

4. Airborne EM Survey Program - Pine Creek Region, Northern Territory.

- Reminder call for expression of interest and subscribers

Geoscience Australia is planning a program of airborne electromagnetic mapping over the Pine Creek area in the Northern Territory. The objective of the survey is to improve the understanding of the geology and mineral potential of the survey area.

The areas to be covered comprise parts of the Pine Creek, Port Keats, Fergusson River, Mount Evelyn, Katherine, Alligator River, Cobourg Peninsula, Junction Bay and Millingimbi 1:250 000 sheet areas. Mineral exploration companies with interests in these areas are invited to register their interest in the regional survey. Companies also are invited to participate in this project by contributing towards the additional costs of surveying. Contributions can be towards extending the current survey areas and/or in-fill flying the current surveys in areas of particular exploration interest.

Coverage of the areas is being obtained as part of the Australian Government's funding package for Geoscience Australia's Onshore Energy Security Program and, as such, the data will be publicly available on completion of the survey. However, data acquired under company subscription will be subject to a confidentiality period prior to public release. The period of confidentiality will be agreed between Geoscience Australia and the successful subscriber prior to the commencement of the acquisition. From the company proposals received, Geoscience Australia will select areas for in-fill/extension flying of the current survey area which best complement the objective of the survey.

Expressions of interest should be submitted by Friday 1st February 2008 and should include a map of the desired infill/extension area and survey specifications.

Enquiries and expressions of interest (free of obligation) should be directed to Murray Richardson, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9229 and Alan Whitaker, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9702.

5. Update on geophysical data releases

The current status of Geoscience Australia's geophysical survey data acquisition is available in a comprehensive table.

For further information, email Murray Richardson; or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9229.

6. Kalgoorlie '07

The extended abstracts from the Kalgoorlie '07: Old Ground, New Knowledge Conference held in September 2007 are now available on the Geoscience website. The conference, the third in a series organised by Geoconferences (WA), focussed on recent advances in understanding of the geology and minerals deposits of the Yilgarn Craton and its margins. The two previous conferences on this topic also were published as AGSO records 1997/41 and 1993/54.

For further information, email Andrew Barnicoat, or phone +61 (0)2 6249 9850.

7. Notification of planned improvements to the Australian National Gravity Database

From Tuesday, 5 February 2008 gravity data held in the Australian National Gravity Database will be in a new gravity datum called Australian Absolute Gravity Datum 2007 (AAGD07). This new datum supercedes the previous ISOGAL84 datum. Others improvements which will take effect are:

• the Vertical Datum will use ellipsoidal heights relative to the GRS80 ellipsoid;
• the Horizontal datum will not change, and continue to use the GDA94 datum;
• Theoretical Gravity will use the closed form of the 1980 international gravity formula;
• the Free Air Correction will use the second order approximation for the change in the theoretical gravity based on the GRS80 ellipsoid with height relative to the ellipsoid; and
• the Bouguer Correction will use the closed form equation for the gravity effect of a spherical cap of radius 166.7 kilometres with height relative to the ellipsoid.

For further information, email Ray Tracey, or phone +61 (0) 2 6249 9279 and Mario Bacchin or phone +61 (0) 2 6249 9308.

8. Useful Geoscience Australia Websites

Geoscience Australia's website has a large number of informative products which are available as a free download, including digital surface geology data for all of the eastern States of Australia from Cape York to Tasmania and for the Northern Territory at 1:1 000 000 scale.

9. About Email Alert