ian scrimgeour, northern territory government - opportunities and challenges for exploration in the...
DESCRIPTION
Ian Scrimgeour, Northern Territory Government delivered the presentation at the 2013 Mining the Territory Conference. Mining the Territory Conference is part of the Northern Territory Resources Week. It provides the perfect platform for stakeholders in the NT mining industry to hear the latest information on this booming region. For more information about the event, please visit: http://www.miningnt.com.au/miningnt2013conferenceTRANSCRIPT
Opportunities and challenges for
exploration in the Territory Ian Scrimgeour
Executive Director, Northern Territory Geological Survey
0.0
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
Sep-2
000
Jan-2
001
Ma
y-2
001
Sep-2
001
Jan-2
002
Ma
y-2
002
Sep-2
002
Jan-2
003
Ma
y-2
003
Sep-2
003
Jan-2
004
Ma
y-2
004
Sep-2
004
Jan-2
005
Ma
y-2
005
Sep-2
005
Jan-2
006
Ma
y-2
006
Sep-2
006
Jan-2
007
Ma
y-2
007
Sep-2
007
Jan-2
008
Ma
y-2
008
Sep-2
008
Jan-2
009
Ma
y-2
009
Sep-2
009
Jan-2
010
Ma
y-2
010
Sep-2
010
Jan-2
011
Ma
y-2
011
Sep-2
011
Jan-2
012
Ma
y-2
012
Sep-2
012
Jan-2
013
Ma
y-2
013
$ M
illio
ns
Mineral exploration expenditure since 2000
2012/13 –
$131.7M
Challenging times for mineral exploration, but there is still good news
• Development of Roper iron field underway as NT enters new mining boom
• Teena discovery leads resurgence of interest in shale-hosted zinc-lead
• Exciting copper results across Arunta highlight potential of central Australia
• Smart exploration is delivering results
• Shale gas exploration boom
• Rapidly expanding geoscience knowledge base
Western Desert Resources: Roper Bar
Total resource: 611 Mt @ 40.3% Fe
Includes: 30.8Mt @ 59.0% Fe (Area F)
and 16.6 Mt @ 54.2% Fe (Area E)
• Targeting first DSO shipment in Q4 2013
• Export through Bing Bong port
• Offtake agreement with Noble Resources
Sherwin Iron: Roper River
Total resource: 488 Mt @ 41.7% Fe
Includes 41.1Mt @ 57.8% Fe
Deposit C – 18.42 Mt @ 58.3% Fe
Deposits W, X – 22.74 Mt @ 57.5% Fe
• Export via Roper Hwy, then to Darwin port
• First DSO shipment from bulk sample this
month
v
Roper iron field
1.88 Mt @ 10.10 g/t Au (300 g/t top cut) 1.88 Mt @ 11.96 g/t Au (no top cut)
• High-grade vein-hosted deposit with potential to be a low-cost mining operation
with a simple gravity extraction process
• New discoveries in area (eg Golden Hind) show potential for size of system to
increase (34,000t @ 45.59 g/t Au)
• Trial mining/bulk sampling and processing underway, >5000t mined
Company: ABM Resources
Old Pirate Au
Gold – Pine Creek
Cosmo Deeps
Company: Crocodile Gold
Cosmo Deeps in production
High-grade resources beneath Union
Reefs
Spring Hill
Company: Thor Mining
Plans announced for development
4.0 Mt @ 2.32 g/t Au
Mount Todd
Company: Vista Gold
350 Mt @ 0.81 g/t Au
Revised two-stage development
Mount Bundy project
Company: Primary Gold Ltd
Investigating restarting Toms Gully
Rum Jungle Resources - Barrow Creek 1
Near-surface high-grade phosphate
238 Mt @ 14.6% P2O5
Now combined with Arganara :
310 Mt @ 15% P2O5
Barrow Creek region
TNG Ltd - Mount Peake V-Ti-Fe 160 Mt @ 0.28% V2O5 , 5.3% TiO2, 23% Fe
Significant downstream processing
Recent greenfields discoveries moving
towards development
Copper in central Australia
Kidman Resources –
Home of Bullion Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag-Au
Geophysical targeting identifying extensions
to mineralisation
Main Lode:
5m @ 6.5% Cu, 53g/t Ag, 2.75% Zn, 0.63% Pb, 0.61 g/t Au
36m @ 2.78% Cu, 0.9% Pb, 2.3% Zn, 27.6g/t Ag, 0.2g/t Au
including 10m @ 8.5% Cu, 0.6% Pb, 4.35% Zn, 40.9 g/t Ag
Southern Lode:
26m @ 4.6% Cu, 5.5% Pb, 1.84% Zn, 142.9 g/t Ag
(true width 6-8m)
Momentum building for copper and copper-
gold exploration
KGL Resources Ltd – Jervois Cu-Ag-Au(-Pb-Zn)
• 13.5 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, 25.8g/t Ag
• 20,000m drilling program commencing
Reward: 9m @ 4.9% Cu, 1.22 g/t Au, 66.2 g/t Ag
72m @ 3.27% Cu, 1.16g/t Au, 51.3g/t Ag
Bellbird : 6m @ 1.2% Cu, 12.43 g/t Au, 10.3 g/t Ag
Copper in central Australia
Copper in central Australia
Arunta Resources Ltd - Johnnies Reward
Gold-copper mineralisation in granulites
• 24m @ 4.19% Au, 0.33% Cu
• 34m @ 3.83% Au, 0.44% Cu
• 22m @ 1.23% Au, 1.21% Cu
TNG Ltd - Mount Hardy
• 10.7m @ 4.1%Cu
• 1m @ 2.35% Cu, 3.08%
Zn, 1.16% Pb
Mithril Resources Ltd – Illogwa IOCG
• Greenfields discovery of potential new regional-
scale iron-oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) system, following up
NTGS mapping
• 2m at 1.15% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au and 5.3 g/t Ag
• New drilling program underway
• MMG drilling for Ni-Cu targets
Copper-gold discoveries using HeliTEM
Mineralisation in shear zones with quartz-
chlorite-sulfide veins
Goanna - 15m @ 4.19% Cu, 8.13 g/t Au
- 26m @ 4.75% Cu (incl. 8m @
9.32% Cu)
Monitor - 15m @ 5.05% Cu
- 12m @ 16.9 g/t Au, 2.00% Cu
Emmerson Resources Ltd
Gecko mine corridor Cu-Au
Tennant Creek and Rover Cu-Au fields
Metals X Ltd – Rover 1
Approvals process for exploration
decline underway
Tennant Creek Cu-Au
TUC Resources Ltd: Stromberg
Discovery of high-value heavy rare earth elements
(yttrium and dysprosium) at surface
4.2m @ 0.93% TREO (92% HREO/TREO)
Potential for numerous deposits
Arafura Resources: Nolans Bore
Major resource upgrade
47Mt @ 2.6% REO, 11% P2O5, 0.02% U3O8
55% in Measured and Indicated category
Crossland Uranium Mines: Charley Creek
Potential for development of mining of alluvial
sand for production of a REE-bearing concentrate
Indicated: 387 Mt @ 295ppm REO
Inferred: 418 Mt @ 289ppm REO
including 17% HREE (in xenotime)
Rare earth elements
• high-grade discovery in western
Arnhem Land
Hole WRD0084:
12.2 m @ 1.1% U3O8 followed by
20.2m @ 5.2% U3O8 incl. 0.5m @
27.8% U3O8
Cameco Australia - Angularli
$10M in expenditure in 2012/13 (down
from $55M in 2008/09)
• Mining ceased at Ranger 3 open cut
• Ranger 3 Deeps exploration decline
and drilling underway
39m @ 0.88% U3O8
ERA – Ranger 3 Deeps
Uranium
Hole 1:
26.4m @ 13.3% Zn+Pb, from 1060m
including
8.0m @ 21.2% Zn+Pb
Hole 2:
20.1m @ 15.0% Zn+Pb from 944m
including
12.5m @ 19.5% Zn+Pb
Teena – a major zinc disovery
• Rox Resources – Teck Australia joint venture
• 10 km west of McArthur River
• Similar deposit to McArthur River, but deep
(up to 1 km)
Zinc
MMG JV into
AngloAustralian’s
Victoria River
project – untested
potential shale
sub-basin
EM and drilling
planned in 2013
A resurgence of zinc exploration?
Batten Fault Zone –
• Teck exercise $10M
option in Reward JV
• MMG enter $10M
exploration JV with
Sandfire
Pitchblack Resources
Ltd acquiring 90%
interest in Crocodile
Gold’s base metals
assets in the Pine Creek
Orogen (includes $4m
exploration
commitment)
Map of shale oil/gas basins, Geoscience Australia
Shale gas
Surprise -1: Central Petroleum • 200-400 barrels per day of light sweet crude
• First onshore oil discovery in NT for 50 years
• 4560 bbl produced, 3D seismic acquired
• Santos farm-in into other Central tenements
Onshore petroleum
Batten Fault Zone: Armour Energy • 3 wells in 2012
• flows equivalent to 3.3 million standard cubic feet of
gas per day from Glyde-1
Beetaloo Sub-basin: Falcon Oil and Gas • 3,600 line km of 2D seismic in 2012
• Hess withdrawl from JV
Georgina Basin: Petrofrontier-Statoil • 3 horizontal wells drilled in 2012
• positive oil shows but hampered by technical issues
Challenges for greenfields
exploration
• Difficulties in raising funds for
greenfields exploration
• Rising costs of discovery, especially in
Australia
• High-risk nature of undercover
exploration
Role of Government is to lower the risk
and cost of discovery relative to other
jurisdictions
CORE – Creating Opportunities for Resource Exploration
• Regional gravity surveys
• 1:100,000 scale geological mapping and regional prospectivity studies
• Increased focus on sedimentary basins
• Collaborative grants for greenfields drilling and geophysics
• Online delivery of company reports
• Investment Attraction
NT Government Support for exploration
The Geology and Mineral Resources of
the Northern Territory
• first ever comprehensive overview of the
geology and resources of the NT
• definitive reference for mineral and
petroleum explorers
• 1100 pages, with more than 800 photos,
maps and figures
• 42 chapters describing each geological
province and basin descriptions of all
named geological units in the Territory,
and all major mineral deposits and
petroleum fields
Order from the NTGS website
($250 including postage)
Gravity
• Southern McArthur gravity survey
– late 2013
• South Wiso gravity survey
– mid-2013
• East Amadeus gravity survey
– mid-2012
CORE gravity surveys
NTGS Geoscience Programs
• Scoping of a major collaborative study
in the McArthur Basin for shale gas
and zinc
• Arunta Region continues to be a major
focus – Jervois 1:100k mapping
underway
• Amadeus Basin study underway –
including collaboration with CSIRO
and commencement of mapping
• Hyperspectral logging of drillcore
incorporated into projects
Summary
• Despite a major downturn in exploration, there are positive signs in the Territory
• Recent exploration boom has generated a pipeline of new mining projects
• New discoveries and emerging mineral fields in the McArthur and central Australia
• Gas exploration and development is emerging as a major industry
• NT Geological Survey is working to stimulate exploration in the region through the
CORE initiative
March 18-19 2014,
Alice Springs Convention Centre
Annual Geoscience
Exploration Seminar (AGES)