Data

Groundwater geochemistry applied to mineral exploration under cover in northern Australia

Geoscience Australia
de Caritat, P. ; Schroder, I.F. ; Wallace, L.
Viewed: [[ro.stat.viewed]] Cited: [[ro.stat.cited]] Accessed: [[ro.stat.accessed]]
ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FANDS&rft_id=https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/121327&rft.title=Groundwater geochemistry applied to mineral exploration under cover in northern Australia&rft.identifier=https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/121327&rft.description=Mineral exploration in Australia faces the challenge of declining discovery rates despite continued exploration investment. The UNCOVER roadmap, developed by stakeholders from industry, government and academia, has highlighted the need for discovering mineral resources in areas of cover. In these areas, potentially prospective basement is covered by regolith, including transported sediment, challenging many traditional exploration methods designed to probe outcrop or shallow subcrop. Groundwater-mineral interaction in the subsurface has the potential to give the water geochemical and isotopic characteristics that may persist over time and space. Geoscience Australia’s hydrogeochemistry for mineral exploration project, part of the Exploring for the Future Programme, aims to use groundwater chemistry to better understand the bedrock-regolith system and develop new methods for recognising mineral system footprints within and below cover. During the 2017 dry season (May to September), ~150 groundwater samples (including QC samples) were collected from pastoral and water supply bores in the regions of Tennant Creek and McArthur River, Northern Territory. The Tennant Creek region has a demonstrated iron oxide-hosted copper-gold-iron(-bismuth) mineral potential in the Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic basement and vast areas of regolith cover. Among the critical elements of this mineral system, the presence/absence of redox contrasts, iron enrichment, presence of sulfide minerals, and carbonaceous intervals can potentially be diagnosed by the elemental and isotopic composition of groundwater. The McArthur River region, in contrast, has demonstrated sediment-hosted stratiform lead-zinc-silver mineral potential in the Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic basement and also vast areas of regolith cover. Here, critical mineral system elements that have the potential to be identified using groundwater geochemistry include the presence of felsic rocks (lead source), carbonate rocks (zinc source), basinal brines, dolomitic black shales (traps), and evaporite-rich sequences. Preliminary results will be presented and interpreted in the context of these mineral systems.Maintenance and Update Frequency: notPlannedStatement: Not supplied&rft.creator=de Caritat, P. &rft.creator=Schroder, I.F. &rft.creator=Wallace, L. &rft.date=2018&rft.coverage=westlimit=130.4648; southlimit=-22.61; eastlimit=139.3242; northlimit=-14.4857&rft.coverage=westlimit=130.4648; southlimit=-22.61; eastlimit=139.3242; northlimit=-14.4857&rft_rights=&rft_rights=Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence&rft_rights=CC-BY&rft_rights=4.0&rft_rights=http://creativecommons.org/licenses/&rft_rights=WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link&rft_rights=Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem&rft_rights=https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx&rft_rights=WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link&rft_rights=Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0&rft_subject=geoscientificInformation&rft_subject=groundwater&rft_subject=geochemistry&rft_subject=EFTF - Exploring For The Future&rft_subject=exploration&rft_subject=mineral&rft_subject=isotope&rft_subject=trace elements&rft_subject=bore&rft_subject=Tennant Creek&rft_subject=McArthur&rft_subject=IOCG&rft_subject=Basin hosted&rft_subject=iron oxide copper gold&rft_subject=regolith&rft_subject=footprint&rft_subject=Published_External&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data
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Brief description

Mineral exploration in Australia faces the challenge of declining discovery rates despite continued exploration investment. The UNCOVER roadmap, developed by stakeholders from industry, government and academia, has highlighted the need for discovering mineral resources in areas of cover. In these areas, potentially prospective basement is covered by regolith, including transported sediment, challenging many traditional exploration methods designed to probe outcrop or shallow subcrop. Groundwater-mineral interaction in the subsurface has the potential to give the water geochemical and isotopic characteristics that may persist over time and space. Geoscience Australia’s hydrogeochemistry for mineral exploration project, part of the Exploring for the Future Programme, aims to use groundwater chemistry to better understand the bedrock-regolith system and develop new methods for recognising mineral system footprints within and below cover. During the 2017 dry season (May to September), ~150 groundwater samples (including QC samples) were collected from pastoral and water supply bores in the regions of Tennant Creek and McArthur River, Northern Territory. The Tennant Creek region has a demonstrated iron oxide-hosted copper-gold-iron(-bismuth) mineral potential in the Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic basement and vast areas of regolith cover. Among the critical elements of this mineral system, the presence/absence of redox contrasts, iron enrichment, presence of sulfide minerals, and carbonaceous intervals can potentially be diagnosed by the elemental and isotopic composition of groundwater. The McArthur River region, in contrast, has demonstrated sediment-hosted stratiform lead-zinc-silver mineral potential in the Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic basement and also vast areas of regolith cover. Here, critical mineral system elements that have the potential to be identified using groundwater geochemistry include the presence of felsic rocks (lead source), carbonate rocks (zinc source), basinal brines, dolomitic black shales (traps), and evaporite-rich sequences. Preliminary results will be presented and interpreted in the context of these mineral systems.

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Purpose
Presentation of initial results and novel research plan for Hydrochemistry work associated with Exploring for the Future. Abstract and poster for the Resourcing for Future Generations conference in Vancouver 2018

Created: 22 06 2018

Issued: 27 06 2018

Modified: 09 04 2019

Data time period: 2017-04-01 to 2018-06-01

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139.3242,-14.4857 139.3242,-22.61 130.4648,-22.61 130.4648,-14.4857 139.3242,-14.4857

134.8945,-18.54785

text: westlimit=130.4648; southlimit=-22.61; eastlimit=139.3242; northlimit=-14.4857

Subjects
Basin hosted | EFTF - Exploring For The Future | IOCG | McArthur | Published_External | Tennant Creek | bore | exploration | footprint | geochemistry | geoscientificInformation | groundwater | iron oxide copper gold | isotope | mineral | regolith | trace elements |

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Download the poster (pdf)

uri : https://d28rz98at9flks.cloudfront.net/121327/121327.pdf

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