This document provides an update from the Director of the Geological Survey of NSW on their work building foundations for resource discovery. It discusses the economic importance of mining in NSW, current low levels of exploration drilling and expenditure, and initiatives of the Geological Survey of NSW to address this like creating a seamless digital geology map of NSW, 3D modeling of depth to basement and basin geology, geophysics education courses, cooperative drilling programs, and developing geotourism. The overall aim is to improve geoscience data and attract more exploration investment to make new discoveries.

1. Building
the
Founda/on
for
Discovery
–
an
update
from
the
24
May
2015
Dr
John
Greenfield
Director
-­‐
Geological
Survey
of
NSW
Division
of
Resources
&
Energy

2. Economic
Importance
of
the
Sector
§ Cri%cal
to
long-­‐term
energy
security
&
affordability
§ Mining
industry
contributed
$1.3
billion
in
royal%es
to
NSW
(2012-­‐13)
§ Royal%es
from
coal
alone
were
$1.2
billion
§ Mining
industry
directly
employs
about
33,000
people,
and
supports
more
than
130,000
jobs
indirectly.

3. New
Mines
Geological
Survey
Investment
AMrac%on
Industry
Coordina%on
Resources
&
Energy:
Industry
Support
Resources & Energy
Geo Survey
Of NSW
Industry, Skills & Regional Development
Operations
& Programs
Investment
Attraction

4. § Metres-­‐drilled
near
historic
lows
§ Minimal
greenfields
drilling
§ NSW
trends
match
Australian/global
paMern
(Except
NSW
drilling
didn’t
rebound
post-­‐GFC)
§ NSW
drilling
not
reaching
minimum
for
moderate-­‐sized
discovery
(415km)
Explora/on
Drilling
and
Expenditure

5. Mee/ng
the
uncover
challenge-­‐
all
aboard!
NATIONAL MINERAL
EXPLORATION STRATEGY
COAG SCE EIGWG
Exploration Investment
Geoscience Working Group
1. Precompetitive data geological surveys & federal bodies
Geological
Surveys:
Data
acquisition
Data storage &
delivery
2. Investment attraction federated model for maximum impact
3. Research initiative focused national umbrella bodies
University research focuses effort on the
exploration strategy through these bodies

6. Seamless
Geology
of
NSW
§ Best
available
mapping
– Into
standard
geodatabase
§ ‘Seaming’
of
geology
– Remove
map
sheet
boundaries
– Separate
chrono-­‐tectonic
layers
§ Interpreta%on
of
geology
under
cover
sequences
for
each
layer
Western NSW is next!
Part of an MOU
between SA and NSW

7. 3D
Depth
to
Basement,
Basin
Geology
Cover Thickness

8. 25°S
30°S
Thomson Orogen
Southern Thomson
Orogen Project
South Australia
New South Wales
SA
QLD
NSW
COBAR
TIBOOBURRA
COBAR
TIBOOBURRA
Southern
Thomson
Orogen
Project
• Depth to basement
• Basement geology
• Geochem survey
• Airborne EM
• Magnetotellurics (MT)
• Stratigraphic drilling
complete
2016

9. Collerina
Paupong
GSNSW
success…
building
founda/ons
for
discovery

10. Geophysics
Course
assis/ng
Explora/on
• ASEG
Travelling
Educa%on
Program
(OzSTEP)
• “Poten%al
Fields
–
an
introduc%on”
• 1
day
course
• Aimed
at
geophysicists
and
geologists
who
use
gravity
and/or
magne%c
data
in
explora%on,
mapping
and
interpreta%on,
covering:
• Earth’s
gravity
and
magne%c
fields
• Data
acquisi%on
and
processing
• Data
presenta%on
and
filtering
• Poten%al
field
inversion
Dr
Bob
Musgrave,
GSNSW
Research
Geophysicist
October 2015
Tour Dates
Perth 12th
Adelaide 14th
Brisbane 16th
Melbourne 20th
Hobart 22nd
Sydney 26th
Canberra 28th
…Then Maitland, Orange, Broken
Hill
email: robert.musgrave@trade.nsw.gov.au

11. How
to
‘just
miss’
the
Jackpot
?
Black line =
induction +
significant
remanent
magnetism
Blue line =
induction
only
An inversion that does not
include remanence will
mislocate source!

12. Coopera/ve
Drilling-­‐
Round
1
• $2m for up to 50% of direct drilling costs, with a cap of $200 000 per project
• New Frontiers projects- either greenfield areas or new concepts
• Last receipts in 16th September 2015

13. Coopera/ve
Drilling
Round
2
50%, 75% or 100% of drilling metre-rate

15. Geotourism
Brochure

16. Thank
you
www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au