Mapping mineral system "haystacks" for finding deep cover mineral resource "needles" in South Australia Steve Hill Director Geological Survey of South Australia

OPEN THE DOOR TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Murphy’s “Haystacks” (Photo: S.Hill)

Pre-competitive Geoscience Data… finding mineral system “Haystacks”

Government / Private Drivers of Discovery

Land Access

Human & Intellectual Capital Education and training R&D – new exploration and processing technologies

Precompetitive Geoscientific Data and Information

Capture and Delivery Value-add Research Underexplored / Covered Regions Targeted Programs Discovery

Quality of Exploration

Quantity of Exploration

Geos

cienc

e Aus

tralia

; CSI

RO, U

of A

; SAC

OME;

Gov

Age

ncies

Availability of Finance

GREENFIELDS

Adapted from Derek Carter

Moon Plain, Stuart Shelf, SA (Photo S.Hill)

Deep Cover Exploration Impediment…

South Australia – the state is covered! (from Carmen Krapf, GSSA) 75% is transported regolith!

5

Exploration Challenges…

• Covered areas are “under-explored”: • “Greenfields” Frontiers (WHAT? - we don’t know what is there) • Technical Frontiers (HOW? - we know its prospective but how do we

effectively and efficiently explore there?)

• Provides unrealised potential / opportunity / new search space

• Need to move beyond a single “silver bullet” approach (e.g. single stand alone pre-competitive regional survey) → “geoscience / exploration confetti”

• Need for an integrated deep cover exploration method and

framework

Exploration Through Transported Cover

(From James Cleverley, CSIRO)

Pre-competitive Geoscience workflow

8

Regional Geophysics Regional Geochemistry

Regional Geological Mapping Lithospheric Architecture

Stratigraphic Drilling 250k Geological Mapping

Targeted Geophysics and Geochemistry 4D Geodynamic & Metallogenic evolution

Regional Mineral System Drilling Geophysical & Geochemical Case studies

‘Distal Footprint’ Characterisation

Mineral Occurrence Studies Collaborative / Targeted drilling

Tenement Exploration

COMPETITIVE GEOSCIENCE (INDUSTRY)

PRE-COMPETITIVE GEOSCIENCE

(GOVERNMENT)

Greater Geological certainty

Greater Geological Uncertainty

This presentation… • What are some of things that we are doing to

help provide knowledge and information about the buried mineral system “haystacks” 1. Broad portfolio of activity 2. Gawler and Curnamona IOCG Mineral System

footprints towards regional mineral system drilling 3. Building a new frontier beneath the Eucla Basin 4. A better geological framework for covered frontiers

(Wednesday 8:45 am)

GSSA Portfolio

Government incentives to support investment and bring forward discoveries

PACE Collaborative Drilling • 8.8M Government

spend leveraged over $24M from industry

• New assay results; downhole logs; petrophysics; geophysics;

• DISCOVERIES!

• Funding for further rounds in 2015 and 2017

2013-14 GSSA Project Portfolio 1. Eastern Musgraves

mapping 2. Wintinna 3. Eastern Gawler Alteration

footprints (DET CRC P3.4) 4. WPA Geophysics 5. Cariewerloo Basin U 6. Pt Augusta mapping 7. Mt Painter 8. Curnamona Mapping 9. Statewide Data &

Synthesis 10. Commodity Mineral

Systems and Mindep 11. Non-discretionary

Geoscience (databases, regulation, core library …)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

New Maps • Mt Painter • Cultana • Tieyon • Bimbowrie CP • Wintinna

GSSA New Maps and Reports

New Reports • Copper Porphyry Potential (RB2013/19) • Cultana Geology (RB2014/6) • Tieyon Geology (RB2013/11) • Bimbowrie CP (2014/3) • Migmatites (2013/16) • WPA Data Atlas (2013/20)

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Uranium Occurrences Map (5th Edition)

and Uranium Minerals Systems

Report (2nd Edition)

• Known uranium occurrences and • significant geological parameters • for each deposit type have been • collated and represented spatially • as a ‘key ingredients’ map • Significant number of additions • Updated Classification scheme

Tania Wilson, GSSA

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PALAEODRAINAGE AND CENOZOIC COASTAL BARRIERS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA MAP • Understanding of the distribution

of paleovalleys and paleoshorelines • their morphology and evolution in

the context of their local and

• continental setting, and the factors that control deposition and

• preservation of ore minerals within the sediments.

Hou B., Fabris A., Michaelsen B., Katona L., Keeling J., Stoian L., Wilson T., Fairclough, M. and Zang W. (compilers)

2014 Depth to Crystalline Base package

• New data compilation includes: – Further data

points – Non-

perpendicular holes

– Free download on website

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DRILL CORE REFERENCE LIBRARY

Industry workshops • Pre-competitive Geoscience –Industry Workshop (March 28, 2014) • Regional Drilling Workshop (Friday 9 May, 2014)

• Land Access! • Ongoing PACE support • GSSA regional

mapping & geology • Collaborative Drilling • Drill core library • Geochronology • Regional Geophysics • Open file digital capture

of industry data sets • Regolith Mapping • Regional Geochemistry! • Regional Drilling?

Collaboration & Partnerships - MoUs • New South Wales Geological Survey

(Infrastructure, Regulation, Geoscience – particularly uranium)

• China National Nuclear Centre (CNNC) (Uranium Geology)

• Sernageomin, Chile (Copper) • China Geological Survey (Geological systems) • Saskatchewan Ministry of Resources and Energy,

Canada (Uranium Geology) • Northern Territory Geological Survey (Investment,

Infrastructure and Geoscience) • Geoscience Australia

Collaborations & Partnerships – Research Providers

• Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (participant sponsor)

• CSIRO • University of Adelaide

• University of Tasmania / CODES (Ross Large, Jacqui Halpin)

• HiSeis

• University of Iowa (Paul Spry and students))

Collaboration & Partnerships - Industry

• Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (sponsor / affiliates)

• Monax Mining • Punt Hill IOCG study

• Southern Gawler Ranges / Northern Eyre

Peninsula… • Musgraves…

Gawler and Curnamona IOCG Mineral System footprints towards regional mineral system drilling

ADELAIDE

Prominent Hill

Carrapateena

Olympic Dam

Moonta – Wallaroo

Hillside

Staff: Steve Hore, Wolfgang Preiss, Tania Wilson, Georgina Gordon New MoU with NSW Workflow underway especially using sedimentary U systems as ‘footprint’ for deeper IOCG systems

Eastern Gawler Craton Targeted Geoscience: Geophysics

New PACE Gravity

New hi-res magnetic grid

New prospectivity insights

Gravity - Old vs New • GIS-based anomaly extraction technique

• The new gravity grid merge improves positional accuracy of anomalies and gives greater detail when compared to the 2011 State grid.

Eastern Gawler Craton Targeted Geoscience:

Mapping synthesis towards 3D model and prospectivity analysis (S. van der Wielen)

Modelling - Inputs

Source of Metals and Fluids

Heat Sources

Fluid Conduits

Potential Trap Sites

Mineral System Component

Mappable Proxy Weight

Sources of brines, Fe, Cl and S

Fe-rich basins and metasediments Unknown

0.25 0.1

Magmatic Brine Sources

A type felsic magmas Interpreted felsic magmas

0.3 0.15

Sources of Cu /Au

Mafic-ultramafic rocks (Mesoprot) Interpreted mafic magmas (Mesoprot) Older than Mesoprot Mafic magmas

0.5 0.35 0.2

Mineral System Component

Mappable Proxy Weight

Felsic Magmas

A-type felsic plutons (Mesoprot) Interpreted felsic plutons (Mesoprot)

0.3 0.15

Mafic-ultramafic magmatism

Mafic-ultramafic rocks (Mesoprot) Interpreted Mafic-ultramafic rocks (Mesoprot)

0.3 0.2

Mineral System Component

Mappable Proxy

Weight

Fluid Flow along permeable structures

Interpreted faults

0.5

Crustal-scale shear zones permissive of magma/fluid transfer

Domain boundaries and faults >40km length

0.3

Mineral System Component

Mappable Proxy

Weight

Chemical gradients

Iron Formations

0.2

Geophysical signature

Density anomalies Magnetic anomalies residing within a density anomaly

0.4 0.45

Modelling – Results

Data acquired

• Re-assayed 95 dh’s

• Scanned 100’s of dh’s

• Collected 1000’s petrophysical measurements

• Data integrated

• Workflow for characterising alteration.

Alteration can be differentiated

K-spar

albite

Mus

Chl

Emmie Bluff

Emmie Bluff

• Geochemically rate samples

HyloggerTM

• Hylogger – automated hyperspectral scanner. • Wavelengths: VSWIR, TIR. • Enables objective and consistent mapping. • Key minerals – white mica, chlorite, carbonates, and some

silicate, Fe-oxide and sulphate minerals.

Olympic Dam - RU 39 5371

Hematite and granite breccia Altered granite (Roxby Downs Granite)

Hematite breccia

U3O8

Cu

Au

White mica: dominance of muscovite in ore zone and phengite in alteration zone

Chlo

rite:

dom

inan

ce o

f Fe

-end

mem

ber i

n

prox

imal

alte

ratio

n zo

ne

0m 100m 200m 300m

Muscovitic

Phengitic Fe-rich

Mg-rich

2250nm wavelength versus Cu 2200nm wavelength versus Cu

• Relationship of Cu with long wavelength chlorites and intermediate wavelength white mica

Cu ppm Cu ppm

w22

50nm

w22

00nm

• White mica and chlorite chemistry are useful indicators of prospectivity and provide a vectors

Conclusions

• Several methods of highlighting halos and producing vectors

• Footprints of IOCG systems are broad and support regional drill testing

• Once in a system, vector using integrated datasets.

Eastern Gawler Craton Targeted Geoscience: Regional Drilling and Mineral System Mapping

New results from 95 drill holes, including new Punt Hill case study → Breakthroughs in mapping IOCG alteration systems

Mineralogy: Chemistry+spectral

2 km

Emmie Bluff 3D Model

Sericite

Hematite Magnetite Hematite – Magnetite

K-Feldspar Albite

Sericite – Chlorite Chlorite

Previous drilling on the eastern Gawler craton,

‘Olympic Province’ provides example of

current practice under deep cover

Decision to drill based on 2

channels of data

Many false +ves

Expensive

Sparse, inconsistent data

Minimal iterative knowledge to inform follow-up drilling

Image courtesy of Simon van der Wielen

Golden Mile

Mt Charlotte

Kanowna Belle

Binduli

Kundana

Paddington

Mt Pleasant

Data courtesy of Scott Halley, Minmap

Potential roles of industry partner Follow-up on targets of interest Provide existing confidential drill

data for regional selection

Deep Exploration: Mineral System Drilling

SA Mineral Systems Drill Program

Bouger gravity

• GSSA – Key areas of interest highlighted although all proposed locations will be considered

Coiled Tubing Drill Rig

Autonomous Sonde

Lab-at-RigTM

LAR – What Can it Achieve? The Paradigm Shift…!

Standard Company Drilling Program

Co-Funded Drilling Program

DET CRC/DMITRE Research Project*

Access to DMITRE Co-Funding

No Yes, ~50% of drilling costs Yes, ~50% of drilling costs

Tax Deductible Yes (but tax deduction trapped if Company is making tax losses)

Yes (but tax deduction trapped if Company is making tax losses)

Yes, and may be immediately refundable under R&D Incentive

Eligible for R&D Tax Incentive

No, exploration expenditure is excluded under R&D

No, exploration expenditure is excluded under R&D

Possibly, small Co’s 45% refundable offset large Co’s, 40% tax offset

Confidentiality of Data

Confidentiality as per standard exploration regulations

Short confidentiality period (~3 months) then public

Short confidentiality period (~3 months) then public

Analysis of Sample (assay, logging etc)

All costs borne by Company

DMITRE to fund some assay (~10m intervals)

DMITRE to fund some assay (~10m intervals) DET CRC to provide real/near real time data (mineralogy & geochem via Lab-at-RigTM, gamma, mag sus, induction via AutoSondeTM)

Comparison of Possible Drilling Program Scenarios

* Must be a DET CRC Participant /Affiliate Member to participate in Research Project. New applicants welcome!

Standard Company Drilling Program

Co-Funded Drilling Program

DET CRC/DMITRE Research Project

Drilling Spend $500K $250K $250K

Gov’t Co-Funding $NIL $250K $250K

Total Drilling Spend

$500K $500K $500K

Drilling Metres 2,500 metres 2,500 metres 2,500 metres

Tax Refund $Nil, loss is deferred for later income years

$Nil, loss is deferred for later income years

$112.5K (45% refundable credit)

After Tax Cost $500K $250K $137.5K

After Tax Cost Per Metre

$200/metre plus logging/assay costs

$100/metre includes some core logging/assay

$55/metre includes some core logging/ assay + real-

time/near real time geochemistry and

mineralogy

Alternatively, savings applied to extra metres

- + 2,500 metres (100%) + 6,500 metres (260%)

Worked Example 1: Small Loss Making Company (<$20M turnover)

Photo: Steve Hill 51

Western Gawler Craton – Eucla Basin….

South Australian Mineral Exploration Licences

January 2004 September 2013

Pre-competitive Geoscience workflow for western Gawler Craton – Eucla Basin

53

Regional Geophysics Regional Geochemistry

Regional Geological Mapping Lithospheric Architecture

Stratigraphic Drilling 250k Geological Mapping

Targeted Geophysics and Geochemistry 4D Geodynamic & Metallogenic evolution

Regional Mineral System Drilling Geophysical & Geochemical Case studies

‘Distal Footprint’ Characterisation

Mineral Occurrence Studies Collaborative / Targeted drilling

Tenement Exploration

PACE FRONTIERS in 2014 • Eucla Seismic Line • Regional MT survey • New airborne geophysics • Regional Biogeochemistry

Western Gawler / Eucla Basin Continental Seismic Transect (TMI backdrop)

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Coompana Anomaly Fowler

Domain Gawler Ranges

Eucla Basin – Gawler Craton MT

Western Gawler / Eucla Basin Regional Geophysics

• Magnetics

• Radiometrics Older airborne surveys

1600-3000 line spacing (did not always collect radiometrics)

Western Gawler / Eucla Basin Geochemistry / Biogeochemistry

• Regional Geochemistry – 2013-14

• Hydrogeochemistry • Soil • Calcrete • Biogeochemistry

~450 plant samples ~170 sample sites

Western Gawler / Eucla Basin Future Program

• Gravity survey • Soil Geochemistry • Integration, Interpretation and value-add • REGIONAL DRILLING

• Coompana Competition?

• Phase I: service provider data acquisition • Phase II: Geological Interpretations • Phase III: Regional Drilling and ‘real time’ reinterpretations

A better geological framework for covered frontiers

• Wednesday 8:45am

Moon Plain, Stuart Shelf, SA

Deep Cover Exploration Impediment…

becomes Exploration Opportunity

Disclaimer The information contained in this presentation has been compiled by the Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy (DMITRE) and originates from a variety of sources. Although all reasonable care has been taken in the preparation and compilation of the information, it has been provided in good faith for general information only and does not purport to be professional advice. No warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness, correctness, accuracy, reliability or currency of the materials. DMITRE and the Crown in the right of the State of South Australia does not accept responsibility for and will not be held liable to any recipient of the information for any loss or damage however caused (including negligence) which may be directly or indirectly suffered as a consequence of use of these materials. DMITRE reserves the right to update, amend or supplement the information from time to time at its discretion.