Making news:

• New Stavely Project data release
• Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC) RoXplorer® drilling field trial
• Science in the Surveys 2017 – presentations now available
• TARGET Minerals Exploration Initiative Round 2 co-funded grants announced ($1.27M)
• State of play for gold in Victoria - GSV presentation at the Melbourne Mining Club Cutting Edge series

Also included:

• upcoming events
• industry news.

The Stavely Project is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Victoria (GSV).

A new report is now available, describing the outcomes of a gravity survey conducted by GSV.

Download the report here.

The report includes appended digital gravity data, survey summary and operations report.

During December 2016, the Stavely Project 2016 gravity survey was completed, acquiring 3,562 new ground gravity measurements at a station spacing of 200 metres along 19 traverses in western Victoria. The measurements were taken along 724 kilometres of road reserves across the Stavely Project area. The new gravity data will be used by the GSV to improve geological understanding in key areas of the region and refine the digital three dimensional (3D) geological model for the Stavely Project area.

The digital data are also available for download from Geoscience Australia’s Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System (GADDS).

Three overarching documents for the Stavely Project are expected in the next few months:

• Regional Geology and Mineral Systems of the Stavely Arc, western Victoria
• Explorers Guide to the Stavely Arc, western Victoria
• Solid geology and 3D model.

The overarching project documents will incorporate all of the project data released and present an interpretation of the Stavely Arc and associated mineral systems. 

Also, a compilation of all available historic mineral exploration data within the Stavely Project area is being undertaken by the GSV. Once complete this data will be publicly available for download.

More information on the Stavely Project, including previous releases, can be accessed from Geoscience Australia’s Stavely Project page and from the Victorian Government.

“RoXplorer® will drill cheap holes and produce a suite of real-time geological data at a drilling cost of $50 per metre, about one-sixth the typical cost of $300 per metre for diamond drilling, and one-third the cost of RC drilling.” – Mining Monthly, Rocking Exploration by David Upton, December 2016

The DET CRC undertook a field trial at the end of May 2017 in which the revolutionary next generation RoXplorer® coil tube drill rig is being put through its paces just outside of the regional centre of Horsham in western Victoria. The field trial follows previous collaborative efforts between the GSV, Geoscience Australia and the DET CRC as part of the Stavely stratigraphic drilling program completed in 2014. This is only the second field trial for the RoXplorer® and the first drilling program for the DET CRC outside of South Australia.

More information on the DET CRC and the development of the RoXplorer® coil tube drilling rig can be found on the DET CRC website project page.

(Image below: RoXplorer® coil tube drill rig in action last week near Horsham in Victoria.)

Earlier in the year, the Geological Survey of Victoria (GSV) hosted a successful one day national geoscience conference in Melbourne. There were over 160 registrations from across government, industry and research. The program featured high quality technical presentations delivered by senior representatives from each of the national geological surveys, as well as CSIRO, the UNCOVER initiative (AMIRA) and Deep Exploration Technologies CRC (DET CRC).

GSV (Ross Cayley, Mark McLean, Phil Skladzien) delivered a technical presentation with a 3D demonstration of the Stavely regional geological model including the inputs, work flow, constraints and implications for mineral explorers. The Stavely geological model is nearing completion and expected to be released mid-2017.

The presentations by the geological surveys and Geoscience Australia from the event have now been made available online through the Australia Minerals website.

Over $1.27 million in mineral exploration grants have been awarded to five exploration projects in the second round of the TARGET Minerals Exploration Initiative, which was focussed on gold and base metals exploration in the northern part of the Bendigo geological province.

The Victorian Government’s $15 million TARGET Minerals Exploration Initiative is designed to increase investment in mineral exploration for copper, other base metals and gold in Victoria. TARGET provides grants to mineral explorers to complete co-funded mineral exploration, covering up to half the cost of a broad range of eligible mineral exploration activities – including geophysical surveys, drilling and sample analysis amongst others.

Ten projects were awarded more than $2 million in co-funded grants to explore for copper, other base metals and gold in and around the Stavely geological province in the state’s west in the first round of funding announced in June 2016.

The TARGET Minerals Exploration Initiative is already providing encouraging signs, with recent reports of a high-grade gold discovery in western Victoria, as part of a TARGET Round 1 co-funded exploration project. You can read more about the results here.

GSV’s Ross Cayley recently delivered a presentation  on the current state of play of gold in Victoria as part of the Melbourne Mining Club Cutting Edge Series. New understanding of the geodynamic drivers of the system have placed Victorian orogenic gold into context with adjacent Arc terranes (Macquarie Arc, Stavely Arc) with proven potential for magmatic-related base-metals and gold. It was a great evening, featuring the GSV, Navarre Minerals and Mandalay Resources, with over 200 people attending to hear about the current state of play for gold in Victoria. You can download the presentation from the Melbourne Mining Club website.

The research by the GSV, much of which was undertaken as part of the Gold Undercover Initiative, can be downloaded from the Earth Resources website. As a tip, start with GU Report 24 - Gold Undercover - summary of geological findings: Exploring for buried gold in northern Victoria.

If you’re attending either of the following events, please make time to catch up with representatives from the Geological Survey Victoria (GSV) and Minerals Development Victoria (MDV) to discuss the latest Stavely data releases and project progress.

Geoscience data sets from the Stavely Project, and other information on Victoria’s mineral opportunities will be available from our representatives in attendance.

If you are unable to attend these events, all of the above information can be made available.  Please email mdv@ecodev.vic.gov.au.

Some recent highlights from the minerals industry in Victoria:

If you have any questions about the Stavely Initiative, please get in touch with us for more information:

• Cameron Cairns, Manager, Minerals Geoscience, Geological Survey of Victoria Cameron.Cairns@ecodev.vic.gov.au
• Fiona Clarke, Manager, Resource Strategy & Industry Investment, Minerals Development Victoria Fiona.clarke@ecodev.vic.gov.au