ROUND THE CLOCK PRODUCTIVE POWER
DISCOVERY V I C T O R I A ’ S
E A R T H
R E S O U R C E S
J O U R N A L
M A Y
2 0 0 1
FOR DRILLING
Every minute your machinery is idle, costs you money. Parker Commercial Hydraulics components give you the power to ensure you extract the maximum value you expect from your plant and equipment. By giving you the power to keep running day in day out, week after week, throughout the year. With over 200 plants around the world, Parker Commercial Hydraulics’ components are compatible with all imported machinery and equipment. It’s little wonder we’re the original equipment choice of manufacturers in most countries. Parker Commercial Hydraulics are the world’s leading suppliers of OEM hydraulic components and ‘True Fit’ parts, with a network of experienced sales and technical staff to support you Australia-wide. • GEAR PUMPS • HYDRAULIC & 2 SPEED MOTORS • FLOW DIVIDERS • DUMP TRUCK PUMPS • SINGLE & DOUBLE ACTING CYLINDERS • CONTROL VALVES • AUXILIARY VALVES For the full story on how we can help you maximise the returns on your investment, give us a call today.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
MOBILE HYDRAULICS VICTORIA: P.O. Box 191, 265 Ingles Street, Port Melbourne 3207. Phone: (03) 9646 2017. Fax: (03) 9646 2257
•
IT’S GO FOR BENDIGO
•
GAS TREBLE IN OTWAYS
•
VIC CELEBRATES!
NEW SOUTH WALES: 9 Carrington Road, Castle Hill 2154. Phone (02) 9843 0644. Fax (02) 9842 5113 QUEENSLAND: 76 Zillmere Road, Boondall 4034. Phone (07) 3265 3988. Fax (07) 3265 3661 WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 82 Robinson Avenue, Belmont 6104. Phone (08) 9277 1544. Fax (08) 9277 8678
TELFORD 1203
DISCOVERY V I C T O R I A’ S
E A RT H
R E S O U R C E S
J O U R N A L
M AY
2 0 0 1
contents IT’S GO, GO FOR BENDIGO
2
Bendigo Mining aims to be No 1 in the gold stakes
SANTOS SCORES GAS TREBLE
4
Three wells in quick succession boost Santos stocks
MINER DIGS DEEP TO DIG DEEPER
6
Perseverance raises extra cash to expand its operations
MINING 2001 SWITCHES VENUE
7
This year’s convention promises to be bigger and better
SAFETY IMPROVES
8
Good news on the safety front
NEW EXPLORATION ACREAGE RELEASE
10
Six new blocks in the Otway Basin are released
OUR GOLDEN STORY ISN’T OVER YET
14
cover picture
Victoria celebrates the 150th anniversary of gold discovery
EUREKA IT’S GOLD – LET’S CELEBRATE
15
There’s plenty of events to mark our 150th gold anniversary
MINERS FLOCKED TO FOLLOW SHEPHERD
Victoria is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold, with a range of activities throughout the state. Our cover features the state’s premier gold attraction Sovereign Hill which will be a focus for many events.
16
Historians still debate who first found Victorian gold
STAWELL GIFT STARTS WELL
17
MPI reports that its new ore body is shaping up nicely
MINERALS INDUSTRY HELPS FIGHT SALINITY
18
Mining technology gives new impetus to the battle
EAGLE WILDCAT WAS A DUSTER
19
New drilling in Bass Strait proves unsuccessful
BASSGAS WILL KEEP US ALIGHT
23
New field will boost Victoria’s gas supplies
WEMEN IS JUST A STARTER
25
Big things are afoot in the Murray Basin
SCIENCE PEEKS UNDER THE BLANKET
27
New research centres develop new exploration techniques
DIGITAL REPORTING NOW MANDATORY
28
A timely reminder on reporting requirements DISCLAIMER: This publication may be of assistance to you, but the State of Victoria and its officers do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.
regular features GOVT SUPPORT REMAINS STRONG
9
Minerals and Petroleum Victoria acknowledges contributions made by private enterprise. Acceptance of these contributions, however, does not endorse or imply endorsement by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of any product or service offered by the contributors.
A continuing positive investment climate is the target
NEWS BRIEFS
12
Our regular review of the latest industry news
RESOURCES MAP
All photographs, maps, charts, tables and written information in this publication are copyright under the Copyright Act and may not be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
21
Victoria’s mineral, oil and gas resources
MINERAL LICENCE REVIEW
24
© Minerals and Petroleum Victoria 2001.
Who’s doing what with mineral exploration licences
Published quarterly on behalf of the Minerals and Petroleum Division of the Department of Natural Resources & Environment by RBA Communications, 86 Cooloongatta Rd, Camberwell Vic 3124 Tel: (03) 9889 1094 Fax: (03) 9889 9997 EMail:
[email protected] Editorial: Rex Banks. Advertising: Watts Media, 3 Emily Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170 Tel: (03) 9546 9566 Fax: (03) 9546 9965. Distribution enquires to Chandri Nambiar, Manager Marketing Development, Minerals and Petroleum Division, Department of Natural Resources & Environment, Level 7, 240 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, Vic, 3002, Tel: (03) 9412 5061 Fax: (03) 9412 5155. Website:
Australia Post Print Publication PP349472/00128. ISSN Number 13282409.
1
GOLD MINING
It’s go, go for Bendigo B
endigo Mining NL has announced plans to start producing gold at a rate of around 90,000/100,000 ounces a year from late next year, with the mine expected to last another 25 years. The announcement is the first step in a plan to return Bendigo to its nineteenth century role as one of Australia’s biggest and lowest-cost gold producers operating at an estimated cash cost of A$150 – 200 per ounce (US$75100/ounce). In the second stage of production at Bendigo, the company plans to expand its ore treatment facilities to process 600,000 tonnes a year, generating up to 250,000 ounces gold by the end of 2004. In the third stage, the treatment plant would be boosted further to handle an annual throughput of 1.2 million tonnes to produce approximately 500,000 ounces of gold by 2007. A two-year program of exploration drilling, followed by construction of the Swan Decline, has allowed the company to plan a mining operation based around ore resources close to the present bottom of the decline in the vicinity of the Sheepshead and Deborah anticlines. Exploration drilling of these anticlines from the Swan Decline has already located eight reefs in four ribbon structures beneath historic workings. Drilling in seven of the reefs continues to return gold grades and orebody width data indicative of the historic grades on the Sheepshead and Deborah lines of reef, which produced 650,000 ounces at a recovered grade of 13 grams of gold per tonne of rock, a grade which, in today’s terms, rates as amongst the highest in the country.
Gold mining is set to resume at Bendigo after the rich quartz reefs lay virtually undisturbed for the majority of the last century. New technology has helped locate economically viable new reserves just where the early miners downed their tools.
Central to Bendigo Mining’s belief in the future of the Bendigo goldfield has been an interpretation of the gold bearing structures in the field which shows that gold occurred in ‘ribbons’ along the line of the quartz reef in the field.
Stage one production is expected to require capital investment of $A40-50 million over the next two years, with a further A$50-70 million to be invested in 2004 and 2005 to complete the stage two facility. Thereafter, the project plans on becoming self funding.
These quartz reefs, once known as saddles, are repeated at regular intervals vertically below the original workings, which were limited by water pumping technology. Bendigo Mining believes it has now confirmed its theory that the ribbon structures are repeated at depth and carry gold at similar grades to the ribbons mined in the past. Bendigo's three-stage mining plan follows preparation of a conceptual life of mine plan
Bendigo Mining has appointed N M Rothschild & Sons (Australia) as financial advisors to locate the required equity and debt. prepared by independent mining experts C.L. Smith and Associates and Australian Mining Consultants. SRK Consulting was also commissioned to conduct an independent assessment of the geological risks pertaining to the plan. 2
Bendigo Mining managing director, Doug Buerger, said: “This conceptual program shows that the New Bendigo is a low-risk, advanced gold project, with the real potential to become a major gold producer for many years.
GOLD MINING
“Once stage three rate of production has been reached, the cash costs are expected to be less than US$100 per ounce.”
A new decline into the underground orebodies allowing extensive exploration of the old workings and new target areas, as well as strong financial support, could see the New Bendigo field pour its first gold next year.
The New Bendigo story is an amazing tale of persistence in the face of a large number of obstacles, which slowly strangled gold production from the field since before the First World War. Initially, a lack of manpower for the deep underground mines, then a lack of water pumping technology followed by many years of official neglect, led to the closure of the field’s last gold mine in the 1960s. In 1997, Bendigo Mining set out to confirm the 10 million-ounce resource potential of the field it termed the New Bendigo. That estimate was later lifted to 12.3 million ounces, although that resource potential is restricted to the five most prolifically mined lines of reef on the field, from the base of historic workings to a nominal depth of 1,500 metres. The potential is based on a geological model for the gold mineralisation, which Bendigo Mining calls the ‘Repeat Ribbon’ model. This model was developed from extensive research of the vast historic mining and exploration database, supplemented by modern-day exploration drilling, surface geology mapping and underground exploration work. The exploration program designed to confirm the resource potential involved accessing, via decline, the shallowest known occurrence of the New Bendigo on the Deborah anticline for correlation bulk sampling.
tion figure does not take into account lower grade, which was not economic using the technology available a century ago.
and parallel to the crest of the anticline axis. The company also found that the structures occur as groups or ‘clusters’ due to interrelated structural controls and that the reef clusters form distinct linear bands called ‘ribbons’ containing gold mineralisation which is both coarse grained and erratically distributed resulting in a high ‘nugget effect’. The characteristic of ribbons to repeat at regular intervals with depth is fundamental to the exploration potential of the Bendigo goldfield. On average, the ribbons repeat at 210-metre vertical intervals. Historical gold production in the field averaged 134,000 ounces per kilometre of ribbon structure mined. But Bendigo Mining believes that the resource potential/ribbon kilometre is significantly greater as the historical produc-
Drilling to demonstrate the repeatability of ribbons was conducted from the decline on the Deborah and Sheepshead anticlines and, from surface, some six kilometres north on the New Chum and Garden Gully anticlines. The Swan Decline is presently 3.5 kilometres long and 550 metres beneath the surface and is located between the Sheepshead and the Deborah anticlines. When studying the potential to resume mining gold at Bendigo, Bendigo Mining determined that the gold mineralised reefs at Bendigo displayed certain characteristics critical to the successful exploration and redevelopment of the goldfield. The most important characteristics are that the reefs occur in close proximity to the anticline axis, display a relatively small cross-sectional area but a large strike extent (up to 5 kilometres) and that the ribbons are sub-horizontal 3
The historical gold recovery rate also failed to include any gold lost during ore processing, often considered to be up to 20 per cent of the total gold content, any losses of gold during mining, gold theft by workers or gold not reported due to poor documentation. Mr Buerger said that, allowing for some of these factors, a conservative estimate of the goldfield's potential is up to 165,000 ounces per kilometre of ribbon, producing the 12.3 million-ounce resource estimate for the field. But, applying “best estimate” parameters for all of the factors listed above increases the estimated New Bendigo resource potential to over 25 million ounces, making it potentially still the largest goldfield in Australia, he added. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Doug Buerger, Managing director Bendigo Mining NL Telephone: (03) 5447 1834 or 0418 178 640
4
EXPLORATION SUCCESS
Santos scores gas treble S
antos Ltd has made three more commercial-scale gas discoveries in Western Victoria in quick succession. The latest is the wildcat Croft 1 which intersected a 60-metre gross gas column in the Cretaceous Waare Sandstone over the interval 2025 to 2085 metres. The find, announced by Santos on April 18, follows hard on the heel of the company’s earlier success in the Tregony 1 and McIntee 1 wildcat wells in the same area. All three wells are close to the company’s gas plant at Heytesbury. Long-time Basin explorer Beach Petroleum has a 10% interest in the McIntee and Croft wells. Santos plans to drill two more wells in the area by May. Its next target is at nearby Lavers. The three discoveries have added to the known gas reserves in the area which were first discovered and brought into production in the Wallaby Creek, North Paaratte and Brumby fields Tregony 1, has the thickest gas column Santos has yet found in the onshore Otway Basin.
The Croft 1 well will be cased and suspended as a future gas producer. It is expected to come on production at 10-15 terajoules per day based on analogy with other wells in the area.
The new discoveries support renewed exploration enthusiasm for the region with a number of new wells expected to be drilled in the next few years.
Santos is Australia’s largest net gas producer. It operates the Cooper Basin in central Australia and has been supplying gas to Victoria since 1998. Santos has also supplied gas from Western Victoria through its Heytesbury Gas Facility since July 1999.
The success also follows the discovery of the Penryn gas field in the same area in January last year and which has already been connected to the Victorian gas grid system. Penryn is currently producing at around 12 to 14 million cubic feet a day (mmcfd).
Santos’s minority partner in two of the wells, Beach Petroleum, also hailed the finds, recalling that it was in the area where Beach Petroleum made its first onshore gas finds in the Otway Basin of Victoria and South Australia, more than 20 years ago.
Buoyed by the success at Penryn, Santos acquired the 83 square km Curdievale seismic survey to help identify new drill targets, leading to the siting of the three new wells. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange in late March, Santos said that, based on analogies with existing wells in the immediate area, Tregony 1 was expected to produce gas at a rate of up to 15 million cubic feet per day. The well reached a total depth of 1,817 metres after penetrating a 55 metre gross hydrocarLeft: Santos is set to increase its exposure to Victoria’s natural gas market with a string of new gas discoveries in the Otway Basin, near Port Campbell. Right: More advanced seismic technology has helped exploration activities.
bon column in the Late Cretaceous age Waare Sandstone. Wireline logs indicated a net pay zone of 42 metres over the interval 1,652 metres to 1,708 metres. The Tregony field is located in petroleum exploration permit (PEP) area 153 in which Santos is the sole interest holder. Santos’ managing director John Ellice-Flint said the Tregony 1 well was expected to be in production by mid-year, in time for the winter peak demand in Victoria. 5
Beach Petroleum’s chief executive, Reg Nelson, said that while the company had always believed in the Basin’s prospects, the more advanced seismic technology now available as an exploration tool gave much greater confidence in selecting targets in these onshore areas. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Graeme Bethune, General Manager – Finance and Investor Relations, Santos Telephone: (08) 8218 5157 or 0419 828 617
MINE EXPANSION
Miner digs deep to dig deeper G
old miner, Perseverance Corporation Ltd, has raised its sights and more funding to dramatically expand production at its Fosterville project, south of Bendigo. Perseverance is planning a major new drilling program to test the deep, underground sulphide ore potential of its mining leases in the hope of finding a large-scale, long -life ore resource. If the new studies are successful, Perseverance is looking to lift production into the 100,000 ounce a year range for up to 10 years, Several major steps have already been taken by the company, which currently operates small-scale gold production from the oxidized surface layers of the orebody. The first has been a radical reshaping of the board. Three of Australia’s more experienced mining industry figures, John Quinn, John Robinson and Dr Robin George, have joined the Perseverance board, replacing long-serving director, Mr Wayne Kernaghan, who resigned. Mr Quinn, who has taken over as non-executive chairman, was formerly the managing director of Newcrest Mining Limited. Dr George, a geologist, was formerly director of exploration and mining with Acacia Resources Limited before it was acquired by Anglo Gold Limited in 1999. Mr Robinson is a metallurgist and, until recently, was managing director of Ashton Mining Limited before it was acquired by Rio Tinto Plc of London.
This follows a reappraisal of the potential for a significant body of high-grade mineralisation at depth. Attention has focussed on the central zone of sulphides on the major Fosterville Fault where existing drilling data was re-examined at a 3 g/t Au cut-off grade to determine the potential for an underground mining development. This re-examination showed a series of coherent, high-grade shoots along the Fault.
Another recent major step by Perseverance has been to raise $5.74 million through a three-for-two rights issue.
The shoot under the central north area showed excellent continuity along approximately 400 metres of strike and 100 metres down dip.
British-based Waverley Mining, the company’s major shareholder, used the issue to increase its stake in Perseverance to 30 per cent, clearly signaling its commitment to the company.
A cross section of the drill hole 9130N is typical of the drilling results along this shoot at central north.
The proceeds from the issue will be used primarily to fund the proposed deep-drilling program to assess the down-plunge continuity of the high-grade sulphide mineralisation known to exist at Fosterville and, if warranted, complete a pre-feasibility study for a large-scale, long-life mining operation. The company’s new board of directors believes there is the potential to find sufficient gold resources to underpin a substantial, longlife mining operation.
This particular section revealed six major sulphide intersections and, using a 3 g/t Au cutoff grade, these intersections included 7.5 g/t Au over 1.5 metres, 9.0 g/t Au over 9.9 metres, 11.1 g/t Au over 8.3 metres, 8.8 g/t Au over 7.4 metres, 11.0 g/t Au over 7.5 metres, and 8.0 g/t Au over 4.7 metres. The depth potential of the multi-shear zone prospect at Fosterville is shown in the only deep drill hole which has yet been sunk into the Fosterville orebody. Drilled in 1995/96, the hole intersected the 6
sulphide mineralisation at a depth below surface down to 450 metres. The deep intersection was 55 metres thick with the gold grade averaging 1.92 g/t Au, and included 12 metres at 3.27 g/t Au, at a 1.0 g/t Au cut-off grade. The same hole also produced a number of other significant sulphide intersections much higher up on this section, providing strong encouragement for the continuity of the gold resource at depth. At a 3 g/t Au cut-off grade, these intersections were 6.9 g/t Au over 9.0 metres, 6.5 g/t Au over 13.5 metres, 9.9 g/t Au over 11.0 metres, 14.2 g/t Au over 3.2 metres, and 9.5 g/t Au over 5.3 metres. Perseverance Corp has been investigating for several years the best method of processing the complex sulphide ore bodies below the oxidized zones. The company was planning to develop a bacterial leach process to separate the gold from the complex sulphide ore, which in the past has had to be roasted to liberate the gold. In a prospectus lodged with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Stock Exchange to support its rights issue, Perseverance detailed its planned work program for the deep sulphides project. The prospectus said the proposed deep drilling program was a four-stage proposal to define
Perseverance is what it will take as the operator of the Fosterville gold project reworks an earlier plan to mine the deep sulphide orebody at the project, near Bendigo. But a new board, with solid mining experience and some new financial backing could see the project become one of Victoria’s flagship gold operations.
MINING 2001 SWITCHES VENUE
approximately 1 million ounces of gold at Fosterville beneath the existing three kilometre central zone of the Fosterville Fault, down to a depth of 1,000 metres. If this was successful, it would double the known sulphide mineral resource base at Fosterville to approximately two million ounces.
Organizers are already planning the Mining 2001 convention in Melbourne as a follow up to the inaugural Mining 2000 event held in Melbourne last year.
The four-stage mapping and drilling program is estimated to need 17,200 metres of reverse circulation drilling and 28,000 metres of diamond drilling which is expected to cost a total of about $4.9 million.
Timed to coincide with the Melbourne Cup, the convention will be held at the Royal Exhibition Building (above) in Nicholson Street, Carlton from November 7-9.
Additional expenditure of between $200,000 and $400,000 is required to assess two issues that will impact on the metallurgy of any underground operation.
It also coincides with Victorian Mining Week and the 150 year anniversary of the discovery of gold in Victoria.
The first concerns the mined ore grade from an underground operation being much higher than has been modelled for the existing open cut deposit and, therefore, the sulphur grade will increase markedly. However, Perseverance’s BIOX bacterial leaching technology is expected to cope with the higher sulphur levels. The prospectus said, “There is no problem in redesigning the plant to handle the higher total sulphur feed rate. “In the main, an increase in residence time using larger reactors and additional or larger associated equipment would be necessary to supply the necessary volumes of air to the slurry that would be required for the oxidation of the higher levels of sulphur.” However, because of potential metallurgical problems associated with gold recovery, the company will also reassess the use of pressure oxidation as a recovery technique. The economics of pressure oxidation may also be more favorable at the higher sulphur throughput and ore grade required to achieve gold production in excess of 100,000 ounces per year, the prospectus said. Conceptual studies of the large-scale underground mining operation at Fosterville were also included in the prospectus. A decline tunnel would readily access a steep, westerly dipping orebody. Mining widths averaging five
Following feedback from the inaugural convention, organisers have reformatted the event. Above: Perseverance Senior Exploration Geologist, Trevor Jackson, and Exploration and Development Director, Chris Roberts, examine core from SPD7, the 400-metre deep diamond drill hole that has sparked renewed interest in the Fosterville sulphide mineralisation.
metres and varying from four to twelve metres should allow for mechanised mining techniques to be used. An internal study examined the underground mining potential at Fosterville showing that if the proposed drilling program encounters the projected grades and widths, then an underground deposit could be economically mined. An underground mine pre-feasibility study would then need to be carried out which is projected to cost from $400,000 to $700,000 and is included in the planned expenditure from the rights issue. The entire work program could take up to two years. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
John Kelly Managing director, Perseverance Corp Ltd Telephone: (03) 5439 7244 or visit www.perseverance.com.au
7
“We are aware that there were some elements that did not work and as such we have adjusted the format to suit,” Mining 2001 director, Stewart McDonald said. “Last year’s event was seen as Australia’s ‘International’ mining conference. Our aim is to build on this success.” Mining companies will again be prominent along with investment, finance, exploration and international presentations. Another feature will be the release of a VIMP geological data package by the Geological Survey of Victoria. The Federal Government, through the Australian Geological Survey Organisation, will be the lead sponsor and also will be heavily involved in promoting an ‘Exploration Day’ as part of the convention program. The Victorian Chamber of Mines will be coordinating site tours on Monday, November 5, the day before the Melbourne Cup. For more information contact: Stewart McDonald, Director, Mining 2001 on (08) 9485 1166 or visit: www.mining2001.com.au
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT M I N E R A L S A N D P E T R O L E U M C O N TA C T L I S T:
SAFETY IMPROVES
MINERALS BUSINESS CENTRE: Level 8, 240 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne Vic 3002 Australia Tel: +613 9412 5020 Fax: +613 9412 5150
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM DIVISION: Fax: (03) 9412 7834 David Lea Executive Director Minerals and Petroleum Telephone: (03) 9412 4508 Fax: (03) 9412 4183
Geoff Collins Manager Petroleum Projects Telephone: (03) 9412 5095
David Wallish Business Manager Telephone: (03) 9412 5137
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM REGULATION: Fax: (03) 9412 5152
MINERALS BUSINESS CENTRE: Fax: (03) 9412 5157
Rob King Manager Minerals and Petroleum Regulation Telephone: (03) 9412 5069
Kim Ricketts Client Services Officer Telephone: (03) 9412 5103 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VICTORIA: Fax: (03) 9412 5155 Phil Roberts Manager Geological Survey Victoria Telephone: (03) 9412 5035 Alan Willocks Manager - Geophysics Telephone: (03) 9412 5131 Peter O’Shea Manager Geological Mapping Telephone: (03) 9412 5093 Roger Buckley Manager Mineral Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 5025 Graham Gooding Regional Manager Ballarat Telephone: (03) 53 336 521 Guy Hamilton Regional Manager Bendigo Telephone: (03) 5444 6697 PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT: Fax: (03) 9412 5156 Kathy Hill Manager Petroleum Developments Telephone: (03) 9412 4208 Kourosh Mehin Acting Manager Petroleum Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 5074 Mike Woollands Manager Basin Studies Telephone: (03) 9412 5135
T
he safety performance of Victoria’s mining and extractive industries continues to improve. Figures released recently by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) show that over the past eight years, both the actual number of lost time injuries (LTI’s) and the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) for the mining industry has declined.
Bob Harms Manager Petroleum Information Telephone: (03) 9412 5053
The LTIFR declined to 9.4 in the 1999/2000 financial year – down from 35.0 in 1993/94. The downward trend is slowly levelling off. The last fatality in the mining sector was in February. The Extractive Industries Sector LTIFR also has shown a slight improvement over the same period. While the LTIFR in 1993/94 was 21.6, this declined to 15.4 in 1999/2000. The last fatality in extractive industry was in the 92 / 93 financial year. DNRE also announced that it was reviewing its risk based auditing and inspection schedule for the mining and extractive industries. It said the new schedule would ensure that the Department’s resources were more effectively targeted at high-risk sites and that MPV inspectors are where they are needed most. Victoria’s extractive industries in particular will come under the spotlight later this year with the launch of guidelines for safety and health in quarries.
George Buckland Manager Minerals and Petroleum Tenements Telephone: (03) 9412 4778
The guidelines have been developed to provide quarries with a valuable resource for implementing standard safety, health and management systems. They are similar in approach to guidelines already developed in NSW and Tasmania and will help facilitate a consistent approach to SHE management nationally.
Graeme McLaughlan Manager, Northern Region Chief Mining Inspector Telephone: (03) 5444 6689
To improve service delivery and to provide better expert advice all MPV Inspectors are currently undertaking advanced Safety, Health and Environmental Management training through the University of Ballarat. The Department’s website is also being redeveloped in response to industry requests with additional SHE information and links being added to the site. DNRE has administered the OHS Act for the off-shore petroleum industries since 1995. It also assumed responsibility for the OHS Act on all quarrying sites from last February and plans to extend this to pipelines, on-shore petroleum and mining worksites during 2001 / 2002.
John Mitas Manager, Southern Region Chief Inspector of Quarries Telephone: (03) 9412 5083 Doug Sceney Environmental Manager Telephone: (03) 9412 5107 Horacio Haag Manager, Petroleum Operations, Safety and Environment Telephone: (03) 9412 5101
Victorian Mining Industry Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate 1992-2000 40.0 35.0
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM POLICY:
30.0 25.0
John Lambert Manager Minerals and Petroleum Policy Telephone: (03) 9412 5068
20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0
INFORMATION: Janne Bonnett Manager Minerals and Petroleum Reference Centre Telephone: (03) 9412 5022 Fax: (03) 9412 5157
0.0 '92/'93 '93/'94 '94/'95 '95/'96 '96/'97 '97/'98 '98/'99 '99/'00
Victorian Extractive Industry Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate 1992-2000 40.0 35.0
Chandri Nambiar Manager Marketing Development Telephone: (03) 9412 5061 Fax: (03) 9412 5155
30.0 25.0 20.0 15.0
Maher Megallaa Manager Acreage Release Telephone: (03) 9412 5081
10.0 5.0 0.0 '92/'93 '93/'94 '94/'95 '95/'96 '96/'97 '97/'98 '98/'99 '99/'00
8
REGULAR FEATURE
Government support remains strong
D
evelopment of Victoria’s mining industry, including the gold mining sector, remains a high priority for the Bracks Labor Government.
As outlined in the June 2000 policy statement ‘Pillars for Balanced Growth - Minerals and Petroleum for the 21st Century’, the Government is committed to the development of a minerals and petroleum industry that contributes substantially to the wealth and wellbeing of all Victorians, while meeting contemporary expectations for social and environmental outcomes. The Victorian Government has already acted to implement its policies, including: • amendments to the state’s mining legislation to add to investor certainty and streamline approvals, • additional funding to ensure that the Geological Survey of Victoria continues to provide state-of-the-art regional geological information for the minerals industry to encourage exploration, and • additional funding for regulation to ensure that the minerals industry meets or exceeds contemporary standards for safety, social and environmental outcomes. The Government has worked, and will continue to work, closely with industry to ensure a positive investment climate for exploration and mining. As in the case of the recent amendments to mining legislation, the Government will act decisively to resolve issues of real concern to industry. The Government is currently seeking input from industry and other stakeholders as part of a review of procedures under the Environment Effects Act and the processes for assessment of the environmental impacts of major projects, including mining projects. The outcome of the review will ensure transparency and clarity of process, decisions based on rigorous analysis and balanced evaluation of impacts, improved certainty and timeliness for industry and better mechanisms for community input. I am well aware that Government’s recent decision on the Big Hill open-cut development at Stawell has been of some concern to the mining industry. The Big Hill decision related entirely to the particular circumstances of that project, which the Government believes did not provide an
acceptable balance of economic, social and environmental outcomes. The Government will consider all mining proposals on a ‘case-by-case’ basis taking into account the strategic value of the proposed operation to Victoria, the economic value of any land affected, the economics and practicality of backfilling, risk evaluation and any local social and environmental impacts. The Government has a responsibility to make balanced decisions for the wellbeing of all Victorians. While I welcome the economic and employment benefits that can flow from mining developments, projects must also meet contemporary expectations for social and environmental outcomes. By way of example, early last year the Government approved the Maryvale open-cut, brown-coal project development near Morwell. This massive development, long-term in its nature and important to the security of
I recognise the great potential for wide-ranging benefits to regional Victoria from mineral investment and production Victoria’s electricity supplies, raised many of the issues familiar to the mining industry – noise, dust, rehabilitation, biodiversity and catchment impacts. The project was assessed against economic, social and environmental criteria and was approved by Government. The Bracks’ Government will continue to provide a supportive investment environment for the minerals industry. Victoria’s early development was founded on the mining industry and I recognize the great potential for wideranging benefits to regional Victoria from mineral investment and production. Nevertheless, industry and Government have to be mindful of the attitudes of the local community and other stakeholders, and be responsive to them. Working together with Government, industry and all other stakeholders can help ensure sustainable development of Victoria’s natural resources into the next century and beyond. 9
Candy Broad Minister for Energy and Resources
OIL
/GAS
EXPLORATION
New exploration acreage release M
inerals and Petroleum Victoria has announced the release of six new exploration acreages in the Otway Basin. Three — V01-1, V01-2 and V01-3 are offshore while the remaining three — VIC/O-01(1), VIC/O-01(2) and VIC/O-01(3) are onshore. Applications for all blocks close on April 11, 2002. Dr Mike Woollands, MPV’s Manager of Basin Studies, said that for decades, the Otway Basin had been considered less prospective than the adjacent and more famous Gippsland Basin, home of the world-class Bass Strait oil and gas fields. However, since 1980, nearly a dozen commercial gas discoveries had been made onshore in the Port Campbell area while offshore exploration had culminated in the discovery of gasfields at La Bella (gas in place 210 billion cubic feet) and Minerva (GIP 575 bcf) south of Port Campbell. Dr Woollands added that MPV could provide detailed, informative reports which could be used for quick and confident evaluations of the prospectivity of the exploration blocks.
OFFSHORE AREAS The V01-1, V01-2 and V01-3 release areas are located in the Voluta Trough; an area of thick Late Cretaceous sedimentation (see Figure 1). To date, no wells have been drilled in any of these blocks. V01-1 and V01-3 are deep-water blocks spanning the middle to outer continental slope. The two blocks are 3650 km2 and 5530 km2 in area respectively. The third block, V01-2, is located on the continental shelf and covers an area of 2615 km2. MPV’s Basin Studies Group have produced a comprehensive evaluation of the prospectivity of these blocks. The report is titled: Reid, I.S.A., Geary, G.C. & Constantine, A.E., 2001. Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of Areas V01-1 to V01-3, Offshore Otway Basin, Victoria, Australia: 2001 Acreage Release. Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum Report 68. The report concludes that the Voluta Trough has all the elements necessary for successful exploration, including: • mature source rocks, • presence of an active petroleum system,
• several prospective reservoirs at different stratigraphic levels,
The Top Paaratte / Timboon Play is restricted to the Bridgewater High.
• development of regional and intraformational seals, and
Twelve prospects have been identified on this structure along with a number of smaller leads.
• structural and stratigraphic traps
Play types include tilted-fault blocks sealed vertically by K/T Shale, Pember Mudstone or Heytesbury Group, and erosional knolls flanked by Oligocene channels on the outer edge of the high sealed by marls of the Nirranda and Heytesbury groups.
Potential source rocks include the Eumeralla Formation (gas prone) and Waarre Formation (oil prone).
V01-1 and V01-3 V01-1 and V01-3 are deep-water blocks with water depths ranging from 500 to 3000 m. Little is known about the geology of these two blocks due to the poor seismic coverage. A regional, non-exclusive survey has been proposed, subject to environmental approvals. Interpretation of Australian Geological Survey Organisation deep seismic data suggests the blocks are underlain by a thick (up to 5 seconds TWT) Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous (Otway Group) and Late Cretaceous (Sherbrook Group) rift-basin succession capped by a veneer of Tertiary to Recent sediments that thin to less 200 m on the lower continental slope. The main plays in these areas include IntraPaaratte and Top Paaratte/Timboon tilted-fault block plays and roll-over anticlines. Oligocene lowstand fans are also an attractive target along the northeastern edge of V01-1.
V01-2 V01-2 spans the southeastern end of the Early Tertiary Portland Trough and Bridgewater High. Seven potential play fairways have been identified in this block: Waarre/Flaxman, Intra-Paaratte, Top Paaratte/Timboon, Pebble Point, Dilwyn, Mepunga, and Oligocene lowstand fans. Over 30 prospects and leads have been identified, many of which are stacked. The Waarre/Flaxman Play is prospective on the Bridgewater High in the northwestern part of V01-2 where tilted fault blocks are interpreted at depths less than 2.5 seconds TWT. Here, reasonable reservoir properties are likely to be retained provided reservoir facies have been developed. The Intra-Paaratte Play extends over the entire block. Fifteen prospects have been identified consisting of tilted fault-block sealed vertically by intraformational seals. 10
The Early Tertiary Pebble Point Formation Play is restricted to the Portland Trough where it thins up onto the Bridgewater High. Plays include tilted fault-blocks and up-dip pinchouts sealed vertically by Pember Mudstone. The Pebble Point Formation was a popular target onshore during the 1980’s with numerous reported oil and gas shows. The Dilwyn Formation and Mepunga Formation are two other potential plays in V01-2. Seismic mapping has identified four prospects in the Portland Trough at the Top Mepunga level, all with four-way dip closure sealed by Narrawaturk Marl. These units should have excellent reservoir potential but have never been tested for hydrocarbons. Another play with significant potential are Oligocene lowstand fans developed on the southern edge of the Bridgewater High. Trap styles include up-dip pinchouts and four-way dip closures.
ONSHORE AREAS VIC/O-0(1), VIC/O-0(2), VIC/O-0(3) are located in the eastern Otway Basin and cover an area of 5473 km2. The three blocks encompass the Colac and Gellibrand troughs (VIC/O-0(1)), Otway Ranges (VIC/O-0(1)), and Bellarine Peninsula - Anglesea Depression (VIC/O-0(3)). PDU Basin Studies Group have prepared a comprehensive data package summarising the geology of the area and data availability. The report is titled: Constantine, A.E. & Liberman, N., 2001. Hydrocarbon Prospectivity Package, Eastern Onshore Otway Basin: VIC/O-01(1), VIC/O01(2) and VIC/O-01(3). Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum Report 70.
NEW CD-ROM DATASETS Two new easy-to-use CD-ROMs have been produced to assist explorers. They are:
OIL
/GAS
EXPLORATION
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE OTWAY BASIN
• Otway Basin Published Papers, and • Source Rock, Vitrinite Reflectance and Reservoir Properties A third CD-ROM titled ‘Biostratigraphic Reports Version 2’ is currently in production. The Otway Basin Published Papers CD-ROM contains 68 papers on the Otway Basin from the APPEA Journal (1981-2000), PESA Journal (1991-1996), Exploration Geophysics (1988-1998) and 1986 ‘Second South-Eastern Australia Oil Exploration Symposium’. The papers have been scanned, character-read, and are text-searchable. The CD-ROM is a must for any company interested in exploring in the Otway Basin. The Source Rock, Vitrinite Reflectance and Reservoir Properties CD-ROM contains geochemical and reservoir properties data for the Victorian part of the Otway Basin. The spreadsheet contains over 1570 RockEval analyses, 930 vitrinite reflectance measurements and 990 porosity and permeability measurements.
All of the reports the data has been extracted from have been included on the CD-ROM in PDF format. Formation data is also included in the spreadsheet. The CD-ROM will be available from, August 7 2001. The Biostratigraphic Reports Version 2 CDROM is an update of an earlier CD-ROM issued by MPV in 1998. The new version contains additional 51 reports (293 in total). All of the reports have been character read and are fully text searchable. The planned release date for this CD-ROM is June 30, 2001.
REGIONAL STUDIES Over the past year, MPV’s Otway Basin group has been steadily compiling a series of regional TWT grids and isochrons for the Otway Basin in order to define the extent and thickness of units, and principal structural elements. The TWT grids have been obtained from a number of sources including in-house studies by MPV, open-file company TWT grids, previously published NGMA grids, and SADME. 11
Five horizons have been mapped: Top Basement, Top Crayfish Subgroup, Top Eumeralla Formation, Top Sherbrook Group and Base Nirranda Group. These grids have been used to generate isochrons for the Crayfish Subgroup, Eumeralla Formation, Sherbrook Group), Wangerrip Group, and Nirranda-Heytesbury Groups. The Otway Basin group has also started constructing a series of regional onshore-offshore seismic sections in order to illustrate the gross structure of the Basin. Six composite lines have been chosen using open-file industry and AGSO seismic data.; four in the central Otway Basin and two in the eastern Otway Basin – Torquay Sub-basin area. The lines range from 98 to 407 km in length and extend as far south as the continent-ocean boundary. Once completed, the TWT grids, isochrons and regional seismic sections will form the foundation for a more detailed look at the tectonostratigraphic history of the basin and its petroleum systems.
REGULAR FEATURE
News Briefs NEW OFFSHORE WELLS FOR OTWAYS Petroleum exploration drilling in Victoria’s Otway Basin is about to enter a major new phase with several new offhore wells planned shortly in a bid to locate, so far elusive, commercial scale oil and gas reserves. Two wells are expected to be drilled in Victorian and Tasmanian waters during May – June to test the Geographe prospect in Victorian permit area VIC/P43 and the Thylacine prospect in Tasmanian permit area T/30P. The two drill sites, interpreted as potentially major gas fields, were determined through the detailed Investigator seismic survey, conducted early last year. The main reservoir objective is the Waare formation which has proved to be highly productive in recent onshore drilling by Santos in the Otway Basin near Port Campbell.
GEOLOGICAL CHIEFS MEET
PROSPECTORS EXPO
The annual Chief Government Geologists Conference was held in Dunedin, New Zealand on the April 30 - May 1.
More than 2500 people attended the first Australian Gold & Prospectors EXPO at Ballarat during March.
The meeting involved the heads of the geological surveys of all Australian States, the Northern Territory, New Zealand and New Guinea, as well as the Australian Geological Survey Organisation. Phil Roberts, Manager Geological Survey of Victoria, represented Victoria.
The two day event featured 24 booths displaying prospecting equipment for fossickers; camping gear, and prospecting clubs. The Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria had a strong presence while MPV presented a display of maps and information.
The meeting covered a range of issues related primarily to the provision of geological data for the exploration industry, co-operative projects between the states and Commonwealth, promotion of exploration and mining in Australasia and co-operation with CRC’s and universities in applied research.
EXPLORATION SPENDING UP
The Waarre formation was also the reservoir for potentially commercial quantities of gas in the Minerva and La Bella discoveries in the offshore part of the Basin.
Figures released recently by the Bureau of Statistics show that spending on petroleum exploration in Victoria was worth $63.2 million in 1999-2000, double the amount in the previous financial year.
The two wells will be drilled by a joint venture including Woodside Petroleum and Origin Energy with Woodside acting as operator for the wells. The drilling rig, Ocean Bounty, is expected to drill the first well in May.
In the September quarter, spending on petroleum exploration was $6.7m while spending on minerals exploration was $8.6m, largely gold ($7.7m) with the remainder on mineral sands ($700,000).
STATISTICAL REVIEW The 1999/2000 Minerals and Petroleum Statistical Review is now available on the Department’s website. No hard copies were produced this year however the document can be downloaded as word and excel files from www.nre.vic.gov.au/minpet. The Statistical Review provides an overview of the minerals, petroleum and extractive industries in Victoria and includes data on production, exploration activities and expenditure, licensing and safety performance.
PAPER WINS AWARD A paper on the hydrocarbon prospectivity of the deepwater Gippsland Basin won a highly commended award at the recent Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) Annual Conference in Hobart. The paper, prepared by the Basin Studies Group of Minerals and Petroleum Victoria (pictured above), was aimed at encouraging oil and gas exploration activity in the deep water areas of Bass Strait. Copies are available from Mike Woollands, Manager Basin Studies on 03 9412 5135 or email: [email protected] PMAV President Rita Bentley and member Noel Holland display an 80-ounce nugget found on the goldfields some two years ago using metal detectors.
12
REGULAR FEATURE
News Briefs PDAC CONVENTION Victoria’s minerals industry was on show at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Vancouver, Canada, during March. The Convention is a major event on the world-mining calendar and an important forum for promoting Australia and Victoria as a place for investing in exploration and mining. The Australian promotion was organised by AGSO with support from Austrade and included a display by the combined governments that highlighted Australia’s position as a major mining nation and promoted its economic attractiveness and undiscovered mineral potential. As delegates passed through the Victorian area they were provided with information and promotional materials on Victorian mineral resources and exploration and mining activities. Leading up to the convention, the Australian delegation visited 16 Canadian-based mining companies and investment groups. The meetings were essentially information exchange sessions with the companies visited including major world players in gold, base metals, mineral sands and nickel.
ESSO/BHP AND DUKE ENERGY SIGN GAS DEAL BHP Co Ltd and Esso Australia will supply Tasmania’s first pipeline gas reserves under a long term deal signed with Duke Energy International which will build a gas pipeline from Victoria across Bass Strait to Tasmania. Esso/BHP won the contract after demonstrat-
ing access to long-term reserves and willingness and ability to supply competitively priced gas over a long period. The capacity of Esso/BHP’s gas processing plant at Longford will have to be increased to meet the new contract. The Longford facility currently has three gas processing plants and a crude oil stabilisation plant. The Tasmanian pipeline being built by Duke will run from the Longford gas plant, cross Bass Strait and come ashore in the region north of George Town. The offshore pipeline will rest on the bed of Bass Strait, while onshore pipelines in Tasmania will stretch to Port Latta in the
north west, and Hobart in the south. Duke Energy expects the pipeline to be completed in the first half of 2002.
FAST FIND Four days after the Australian Gold & Prospectors EXPO, MPV’s Graham Gooding met an excited prospector who had bought gold detection equipment at the Expo. Two days later, using the all terrain coil by Coil Tech and attached to a 2200 Minlab, the prospector stumbled across this 15-ounce nugget (476 grams, see pic above) in the goldfields. The find was in granitic type gravels 20 inches below the surface near the top of a rise. Some well-rounded quartz gravel was associated with the pocket. It shows there’s still gold to be found in those hills.
ROMANIAN VISIT Five mining inspectors and engineering and environmental geologists from Romania toured Victorian mining centres recently, including the state’s largest goldmine at Stawell. The visitors showed special interest in tailings dam design criteria and MPV’s works approval process. Their focus arose from an incident in Romania when a freak storm resulted in the breach of a gold mining dam. Members of the team are shown at left with local representatives. 13
GOLD DISCOVERY - 150TH ANNIVERSARY
Victoria this year is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold. It was an event of enormous economic, social and political importance for the State. Discovery writers look at our golden history and its effects.
Our golden story isn’t over yet
V
ictoria’s wealth and development were founded on the back of its fabulous gold discoveries in the famous golden triangle area 150 years ago.
Gold provided an enormous kick-start and led to a period of prosperity and progress which underpinned the development of a modern, industrial state with a strong industrial base, a flourishing agricultural industry and a wide diversity of both city and country lifestyles. After breaking away from New South Wales as a colony, it was the discovery of gold at Clunes in 1851 that established Victoria’s economy and set it on the economic path which saw Melbourne become the nation’s capital and, financially, its most important city. Today, while circumstances are different, Melbourne is still one of Australia’s most important cities and Victoria’s economy continues to thrive although the gold industry has declined sharply from those heady days in the last half of the nineteenth century. Today, Victoria boasts only three producing gold mines with only the Stawell gold mine ranking as significant on a national scale. However, the state’s prospectivity for new gold resources remains strong and new technologies to help explorers locate previously unknown gold deposits are being developed to provide encouragement to the industry. Gold’s discovery not only endowed instant wealth on Victoria and laid the foundations for 150 years of economic prosperity. It also focussed world attention on Victoria at a crucial time in its development. By 1861, up to 27.5 million ounces of gold had been exported from Victoria and Melbourne had become the financial centre of Australia. Gold helped to diversify Victoria’s economy from a largely agricultural base to a healthier mix of mining, agriculture and engineering.
The mining industry fostered rapid scientific and technological innovation. Heavy industrial engineering was a direct consequence of mining. The Thompsons, Kelly and Lewis engineering works at Castlemaine has been in business for 125 years. Gold also tended to spread wealth more evenly across social classes through increased employment opportunities and funded a massive and rapid increase in infrastructure both in Melbourne and rural areas through the development of new towns, railways, roads and water reticulation systems. Gold attracted a massive new wave of immigration to Victoria. The State’s population in March 1851 was only 77,345 (23,000 in Melbourne; 8000 in Geelong; 46,000 in outlying areas). This more than doubled in the 12 months after gold was discovered and, by 1861, the total population had swelled seven fold to an impressive 540,322. Large numbers of well-educated people and skilled artisans were attracted to the state. This included many talented scientists, surveyors, engineers, entrepreneurs and administrators. Literacy was unusually high in 1861with 89 per cent of men and 78 per cent of women literate. Innovative public institutions such as the School of Mines and public libraries were created in response to the needs of the mining industry.
The mining industry led to the development of innovative mining law, health and safety legislation and some early environmental regulation. In 1859, a Royal Commission on sludge at Bendigo and the chaotic nature of the gold rush workings led to the first official mining statute of 1865. That was followed by the Regulation and Inspection of Mines Act in 1873, legislation covering the mining for gold and silver on private property in 1884 and the first formal Mining Act of 1890. Victoria has been one of the world’s great gold provinces, with production of 2500 tonnes currently valued at around $40 billion. Victorian production represents 2 per cent of all the gold ever produced and 80 per cent of this has been from the Golden Triangle, including Bendigo and Ballarat, in central Victoria. Gold production peaked last century but, by 1920, was practically non-existent. It has remained so until recent times. Annual production remained under 100,000 ounces until 1990 but has now reached around 160,000 ounces (about 5 tonnes), although this is still very low by comparison with historic Victorian and current Western Australian production levels. Despite some misgivings about the application of modern mining methods to Victorian gold deposits, there is a general industry acceptance that Victorian goldfields still have enormous potential for re-development and have been under-explored by modern techniques. Victorian goldfields are not small. Bendigo is still the second largest producer goldfield in Australia, Ballarat is third or fourth and Stawell’s resources, mined and in-situ, place it in the top dozen discoveries in Australia.
Home ownership increased through the granting of public land for residential licences.
Current projects to redevelop Bendigo and expand production at Stawell and Fosterville (see our stories on these projects in this issue of Discovery) will greatly boost the gold industry in Victoria and make a very significant contribution to the state’s regional economies.
The new populace was vigorously interested in democratic principles and sound regulatory systems. Several high quality newspapers emerged from the goldfields such as the Bendigo Advertiser and the Mount Alexander Mail (Castlemaine Mail).
The Victorian Government believes that the state’s golden heritage still has much to contribute and supports gold exploration and mining projects which meet contemporary community expectations for social and environmental outcomes.
Victoria was decentralised through the creation of many new towns and cities such as Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine which grew rapidly as substantial urban centres.
14
GOLD DISCOVERY - 150TH ANNIVERSARY
Eureka it’s gold – let’s celebrate
S
The City of Greater Bendigo’s celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Victoria, are led by project officer, Fay Buerger.
cores of cities and towns throughout rural Victoria, particularly those in the state’s golden triangle area, are the focus for celebrations and events to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Victoria.
ounces of gold, equivalent to 685 tonnes.
Officially, gold was first discovered in 1851 at Clunes, north of Ballarat – although the debate continues about earlier finds (see our separate story page 16.)
Unofficially, gold carted away in diggers pockets, traded for grog and supplies on the goldfield and simply salted away for the benefit of the miners may have added another 30 per cent to the total.
Many of the celebrations and other commemorative projects are being supported by a $1 million fund set up by the Victorian Government to mark the anniversary.
By comparison, Ballarat produced around 342 tonnes – followed by the Castlemaine, Chewton, Frysterton area which generated about 180 tonnes.
Twenty seven projects are underway which include restoration of historic sites and buildings, new gold publications and construction of special ‘gold trails’.
Each goldfield had its own character. Ballarat was renowned for its alluvial gold, eroded off massive quartz reefs exposed at the surface and collected in the gravel in the beds of creeks and rivers.
Money from the special fund is also supporting a range of anniversary events ranging from a ‘Rush for Gold’ celebration at Sovereign Hill on October 20-21, a re-enactment walk from Melbourne to Wedderburn and a ‘Golden Fiesta’ in Bendigo on November 2-3.
tions, recalls that during the late 19th century, Bendigo was renowned as “the jewel in the Empire’s crown.”
Fay Buerger, project officer for the City of Greater Bendigo’s 150th anniversary celebra-
Bendigo is Victoria’s largest ever goldfield, officially producing more than 22 million
Many of these creeks were later buried by molten lava from a series of volcanos which erupted and covered much of the landscape under basalt rock. The first Ballarat diggers simply paddled in the creeks for their fortunes but later had to chase the creek beds beneath the basalt cover forming the world’s greatest ‘deep lead’ goldfield. Bendigo, by contrast, was quartz reef country, requiring the excavation of deep mines and the use of companies to finance the workings. Many of the notable events are being celebrated in a host of events across the goldfields. During March at Clunes, historian, Professor Geoffrey Blainey, addressed a formal dinner in the town’s community hall to remind the gathering of the history beneath their feet. During April, a group of walkers arrived in Bendigo to end the re-enactment of the Chinese migration from Robe in South Australia to the goldfields of Bendigo. Many Chinese used this route to get to the goldfields to avoid paying a $20 head tax levied by the Victorian Government on persons heading for the goldfields. Robe was the first port for ships after they left the port of Melbourne. Chinese influence over the goldfields was enorChinese immigrants to the goldfields had to walk from Robe in South Australia to Bendigo before they could start work. A re-enactment walk celebrated the Chinese community’s contribution to Victoria’s gold wealth. Picture courtesy of the Bendigo Advertiser.
15
GOLD DISCOVERY - 150TH ANNIVERSARY
mous. The labor force of Chinese digging for gold was significant, but the community’s input from growing vegetables and operating vital stores was just as influential and is remembered today in the Chinese Museum in Bendigo.
development of a gold mining industry.
Also in Bendigo in August will be a re-enactment of the famous Red Ribbon rebellion, Bendigo’s own ‘Eureka’ protest against unfair gold digging licence fees.
The trail will include Poverty Point, the location of Ballarat’s first recorded discovery, the central business district and other points of special significance.
A monument to women will also be unveiled in Bendigo in September, remembering Margaret Kennedy and Mrs Farrell, the wife of a cooper, who are credited with the first discovery of gold in Bendigo Creek, the goldfield’s first official gold find.
An obelisk, erected more than 50 years ago to mark the discovery of gold in is also being relocated in the city in a prominent position. Several relocations and city development had relegated the historic obelisk to an undignified position behind a local toilet block.
Many of the state’s monuments marking the discovery of gold are being restored and relocated as part of Victoria’s celebration activities.
Ballarat is also celebrating the anniversary with a host of activities which include a major refurbishment of the Gold Museum adjacent to Sovereign Hill.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For further information on Victoria’s gold 150 celebrations contact Country Victoria Tourism Council Telephone: (03) 9650 8399 or [email protected]
The museum will refocus its collection on the story of Victoria’s early gold industry and undergo substantial development. Other activities include the creation of a Ballarat gold heritage trail which connects the major sites relevant to Ballarat’s discovery and
Miners flocked to follow shepherd
S
ome of Australia’s leading historians have an enduring love of the Victorian gold industry. The romance of the goldfields, the nuggets, the wealth of the quartz reefs which allowed unskilled prospectors to break off lumps of gold the size of footballs, created a romance and mystique never likely to be repeated. Victoria’s gold story officially began at Clunes, a little town just north of Ballarat, in 1851 where the state’s first gold strike was made on the sheep run owned by Donald Cameron, initially by a shepherd and later confirmed by an eccentric German physician and geologist, Dr Georg Hermann Bruhn. But historian, Dr Geoffrey Blainey, delights in recounting the more likely account of Victoria’s first gold discovery. Not surprisingly, it also occurred near Ballarat, just a few miles north west of Clunes at the small settlement of Amherst. In his masterful history of Australia’s gold industry, ‘The Rush That Never Ended’, Prof Blainey writes that a shepherd boy named Chapman walked into a Melbourne jewellers store in February 1849 carrying 38 ounces of gold he had found on his masters Glenmona Station.
The find was reported in the Melbourne Argus of February 6, 1849 and quickly “troopers found 30 or 40 men had already gathered at Chapman’s Hut with pick axes, shovels and hoes to dig the gold.” The would-be gold seekers were quickly dispersed and news of the discovery suppressed to prevent a gold rush of the type that, at the time, was sweeping California. Eminent historian, Westin Blake, former chair of history at Melbourne University and author of ‘Lucky City’, a history of the gold discoveries at Ballarat, agrees that gold was the key driver of the Victorian economy. “When I wrote my Ballarat history I learned a lot about what gold meant,” Dr Bate told Discovery. “Alluvial gold was a democratic mineral. It was a powerful supporter of democracy. It was currency,” he said. He said the discovery of such an abundance of gold, able to be freely collected by all those who wanted it, created a “conjunction of forces that allowed a community to raise itself.” “It freed the Victorian community from the need to borrow its finances from overseas. 16
Using its own capital Victoria was very lucky.” The discovery of gold attracted a major influx of people to Australia. But it was not unskilled labourers in the main who came. Many were professional people, literate and skilled in various areas. This provided Victoria in particular with an abundance of builders, architects, engineers, business people, writers, artists and miners who quickly began to develop the state’s resources. Victoria’s forests and farmland provided strong support for the gold industry as well as for the rapidly developing state infrastructure. Ballarat developed so quickly that, by 1861, steam locomotives were being manufactured in the city and exported interstate and overseas, an industrial diversity that would typically have taken many decades to develop. Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine, the three main cities of the ‘golden triangle’ in central Victoria, are still strong and viable cities today. The importance of gold as an economic driving force may have waned, but its impact, starting 150 years ago, remains unmistakable.
A GROWING GIFT
Stawell gift starts well N
ew drilling is creating mounting excitement over the discovery of a major new ore resource at the Stawell gold mine in western Victoria.
Mineral Project Investors, the operator of the mine, has reported continued drilling success in its exploration of the ‘Golden Gift’ orebody below the existing Magdala orebody. MPI reported recently that the Golden Gift ore resource was shaping up as a potential multimillion ounce discovery, possibly one of the biggest in Victoria since the gold rush days. In the quarter ended December 31, MPI reported that, “Exploration aimed at determining the down-plunge geometry of the Magdala system and the potential size of the Golden Gift discovery continued.” An intensive program of deep diamond drilling was achieving particular success. “At Golden Gift, a total of 23 significant intersections had been achieved by year-end,” MPI managing director, Mr Ken Fletcher said. “These intersections are wide spaced over a strike length of 1200 metres and a dip length of 500 metres and have an estimated average horizontal width of 6.2 metres and an average grade of 8.0 g/t of gold. “All up, the results indicate the possibility of a multi-million ounce gold deposit at depth at Stawell.” This potential is being followed up by a program of surface diamond drilling to explore for southern extensions of the Golden Gift resource.
114,460 ounces of gold during the year. Once the Golden Gift orebody begins to add to the resource picture, the mine could quickly become one of the biggest gold discoveries in recent years.
Above: Drill core from the bottom of the deepest exploration hole in Victoria - 2257 metres deep. Left to right: Trevor Ellice, SGM Exploration Geologist, with Kevin Davis, Danile Wilmott and Sid Baker. Left: The drill site.
over the past year totalling $A330 an ounce. Total production costs came to $A417 an ounce, allowing MPI to report a profit, before tax, of $A4.77 million for the year.
MPI also reported that a program of underground diamond drilling, consisting of at least 50 holes, would be drilled.
Gold production at Stawell could increase substantially once the current exploration program finalises the mine’s new ore reserve position. Increasing production will assist MPI to reduce its operating costs by more fully utilising mining and ore processing capacity. Production rates of 150,000 ounces a year, rising towards 200,000 ounces annually are potentially achievable if the new ore reserves continue to grow.
The aim is to confirm continuity of mineralisation and provide data for preliminary resource estimates for the Golden Gift orebody. In addition, a new exploration decline has been started to provide geologists access to the deep orebody without interfering in the existing mine workings. While the exploration success at Golden Gift did not add to the mine’s inventory of gold resources, other drilling within the mine has substantially increased ore resources.
During the past year, the mine produced a total of 798,000 tonnes of ore for 114,460 ounces of gold with an average recovered grade of 5.1 grams of gold per tonne of ore.
At the end of 1999, the mine held total underground and surface gold reserves and resources of 1.098 million ounces.
Average gold recovery rates in the year came to 86.9 per cent, due to the complex nature of the ore.
This had improved to 1.158 million ounces by the end of 2000, despite the production of
The Stawell mine has concentrated on reducing its production costs with average cash costs 17
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Ken Fletcher, Managing director Mineral Project Investors Pty Ltd Telephone (03) 9628 2222 Facsimile (03) 9620 7424 Email: [email protected]
TECHNOLOGY
Minerals industry helps fight salinity
T
he mining and petroleum industries are being called on to help solve Australia’s biggest single environmental challenge – the problem of salinity.
It’s an odd twist for industries that, for the past two or three decades, have been the subject of growing environmental scrutiny, not only in Australia but also worldwide. Salinity is sterilizing vast tracts of Australia’s once productive farmland, fouling river systems, making the water useless for human consumption and even causing widespread damage in urbanized areas as salt erodes building foundations and walls. It is now clear that the massive scale of land use changes in Australia, from native bushland to shallow rooted pasture and commodity crops, has allowed salt, once trapped underground, to mobilize and emerge. However, geophysical technologies developed
almost exclusively for the benefit of explorers seeking new gold, mineral or petroleum deposits, are now being adapted for use in helping researchers understand how salinity works, where salt is stored, what has happened to allow the salt to emerge and how the effects of salt mobilization might be reversed. A major conference on salinity, land management and new technologies, held recently in Bendigo, brought together the best brains in the mineral exploration, agriculture, land management and hydrogeology communities as part of the battle against salinity.
Geophysicists meeting in Perth in March 2000. “An extra stream of papers on geophysics for land management made an appearance at that conference, whereas at previous events only isolated papers had been seen. “It was obvious that things were starting to happen in this sector and a group of interested scientists met over lunch. “The group recognised that geophysics had information to offer but that it was not getting to land managers in quite the right way.”
Conference chairman, Greg Street, from the consulting firm Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Ltd, was enthusiastic about the gathering of experts from so many different branches of science.
Mr Street said the Bendigo conference was designed to allow information providers, such as geophysicists and information users such as land managers, to meet and discuss mutual needs.
In his opening address Mr Street said, “This conference grew from a meeting held at the last Australian Society of Exploration
He said the conference was, “designed to be a learning exercise for both the data providers and the information users.”
18
TECHNOLOGY
EAGLE WILDCAT WAS A DUSTER Eagle Bay Resources’ Northright 1 wildcat exploration well in Bass Strait has failed to find any hydrocarbons. “The history of these developments goes back even further to magnetic and radiometric surveys flown in northern Victoria (under the Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum scheme),” Mr Street added. “Mineral explorers and geologists recognized the vast volume of data produced by the series of new aerial surveys but it has taken several years for the value of the data to reach the ears of land managers and farming groups. “Early electromagnetic surveys using the old INPUT style systems did not have the resolution to ‘see’ the information that was needed. “At Tatura in 1989 a workshop/conference ….. prompted a few of us to look into developing a new electromagnetic system specifically for salinity mapping. “With major support from the National Soil Conservation program, a geophysical survey company Aerodata Pty Ltd and the Geological Survey of WA, new technologies were developed. “Along the way there have been many supporters of this new technology and, as is always the case, many sceptics.” But Mr Street said the supporters of the new technologies, “share a belief that future catchment management needs better information and these new methods are a means of attaining new knowledge on which to make better decisions. “The new generation of electromagnetic systems, of which TEMPEST is the first, constitute, what I believe, will be valuable tools for land management. “Electromagnetic developments however are not the only changes we have seen in the past ten years. “Other airborne geophysical systems have improved dramatically … to (produce) techniques for supply of better information. “In addition, though we need better decision support systems, the information and knowledge from interpretation of geophysical data will allow better design of groundwater models in the future.” In a separate paper to the conference, Bureau
Salinity is crippling vast tracts of Australia. But new technologies and a dramatically increased awareness of the problem are driving Australia’s farmers, scientists and the resources industry together to overcome the problem.
of Rural Sciences scientist David Dent summed up the acceptance by the agriculture industry of scientific disciplines from outside sources. “There is consensus that Australia’s critical salinity and water quality problems are driven by land use – the relentless conversion of bush to shallow rooted pastures and arable crops, and irrigation developments,” he said. “These either use less water or add more water than comes naturally. The surplus water is raising water tables and the groundwater is commonly salty. “To arrest salinity, we need to know where the salt is (and where it is not); the nature of salt stores; the conduits through which recharge and salt movement occur; the rate of water and salt delivery at present and under a range of future land use and engineering scenarios.”
The well, drilled by the Ocean Bountry semi-submersible rig, spudded on April 26 and reached its target area five days later. However, the reservoir was found to be full of water. The target area is close inshore in permit area Vic P-41 which covers 2165 square kilometres. Eagle Bay Resources told the Australian Stock Exchange in its March quarterly report that in addition to the prolific Latrobe formation, which has produced the bulk of the area’s oil and gas reserves, the intra-Latrobe and Golden Beach formations have now also been recognised as important, potential oil and gas targets. Northright 1 was drilled to a total depth of 400 metres at a total expected cost of just over $A5 million.
In an acceptance of the role of airborne geophysical surveys of various types, Mr Dent added, “Advances in airborne geophysics have opened new horizons in three-dimensional mapping of the salt stores and conduits.
The well lies 17 km north of the Sole oil and gas discovery made by Esso/BHP and which is a part of the Kipper/Basker/Manta oil and gas field development currently being considered by Shell/Woodside.
“Airborne electromagnetics can plot conductance, and therefore salt, to 150 metres below ground surface.
Eagle Bay resources also noted in its ASX report that it had recently identified a new, large wet gas prospect, which it has named Scorpion, in the southern portion of Vic P-41.
“High resolution magnetics gives fine details of buried channels where these carry magnetic gravels. “Gamma ray spectrometry, combined with landform analysis, is a basis for soil mapping and interpretation of salt stores in hill country.” But the key to the successful interpretation of the new data for application to the battle against salinity, was ‘close interdisciplinary teamwork”, he added. As a part of the fight against Australia’s escalating salinity problem the Federal Government has recently allocated $A700 million to address salinity and water quality problems by developing regional encatchment priorities and actions. The State and Territory governments are required to match the Commonwealth contribution with new funding. Victoria’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment has sought some of the funding for new airborne surveys specifically aimed at salinity surveys as well as mineral surveys under cover of younger sediments or basalt.
19
The Northright structure covers 30 square km and is considered most likely to contain wet gas, which is natural gas with a high concentration of condensate (light oil) contained within the gas. One of the keys to determining the likely oil content of Northright, according to the company, has been the regularly recorded presence of oil seeps from the seabed in the immediate vicinity. Non biodegraded, aromatic crude has been observed leaking to the surface of the ocean at four separate locations close to the Northright structure. These oil slicks are generally 1-2 meters wide and 20-40 meters long and have been observed and recorded with a normal video camera, according to a prospectus prepared by Eagle Bay Resources used to raise capital to fund the drilling of the Northright prospect. The prospectus said the more than 100 observations of oil leaks in the area, “supports the concept that the Northright structure is full to a fault-controlled spill point.”
REGULAR FEATURE
Victoria’s m
20
REGULAR FEATURE
mineral, oil and gas resources
21
The Yolla field will be drilled by floating rigs such as the Ocean Bounty, which is already drilling new wells in Victorian offshore areas.
22
GAS DEVELOPMENTS
Bassgas will keep us alight V
ictoria’s gas supply system, which was severely disrupted by the Longford gas plant disaster of 1998, could be strengthened by the planned $A400 million development of the Yolla and associated gas fields in central Bass Strait. Late in March, Australia Worldwide Exploration, CalEnergy and Origin Energy, signed a heads of agreement for gas sales from Yolla into the Victorian market with deliveries expected to begin in 2004. Under the development concept, Yolla gas would be produced via a conventional fixed platform and transported to the Victorian coastline through a 130-kilometre sub-sea pipeline. A processing plant onshore would clean the gas to contract specifications before it is piped to the Melbourne citygate gas station at Dandenong. Under the terms of the proposed contract, Yolla gas would supply up to 20 petajoules of natural gas a year, equivalent to 10 per cent of Victoria’s annual gas demand. This would provide a substantial buffer to any major interruption of gas supplies from the Esso operated Longford gas plant in East Gippsland. A gas plant would be built near the South Gippsland coast between Westernport Bay and Cape Liptrap. The BassGas project, as it is now known, will produce gas from the Yolla field which lies in the T/LR1 permit area in Bass Strait. But the project may also incorporate gas from the White Ibis field in an adjacent permit area, T/18P, with the two permits combined to make up the BassGas project. Australian Worldwide Exploration Limited and CalEnergy Gas (UK) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, have entered into separate binding heads of agreement with Origin Energy Retail Limited for the sale of gas from the Yolla field. In addition to gas, the Yolla project would also produce approximately 13.5 million barrels of condensate and million tonnes of LPG over the contract period. AWE, CalEnergy, Origin Energy, and their joint venture partners T/LR1, can now accelerate the development of the project. In the next six months, the BassGas partners will undertake a detailed engineering design of the gas platform, pipeline and the onshore gas processing plant as well as deciding on the pipeline route and a plant location. They will also be seeking environmental approvals and
start a community consultation and regulatory approval processes. AWE’s managing director, Bruce Phillips, said the BassGas project could transform AWE from a small exploration company into a longterm player in the Australian energy scene. Origin Energy’s managing director, Grant King said, “The signing of HOA’s for the purchase of gas marks a step forward in the path to commercialise the gas and hydrocarbon liquids reserves contained in the Yolla field. Yolla and White Ibis Victorian Development Scenario
“Like any major infrastructure project, there are many issues to be addressed - such as obtaining regulatory and environmental approvals and undertaking further engineering studies - before the development of the field can take place. The project will bring a range of benefits, including improved security and diversity of supply into the southeast Australian gas markets.” Under the terms of the gas sales agreement, Origin Energy will buy AWE’s 30.5% share and CalEnergy’s 20% share of 260 PJ of gas reserves from the T/RL1 area over a 15-year period. Origin Energy will purchase the gas at an initial rate of 20 PJ per annum. The sale price remains “commercial-in-confidence.” The project is expected to provide gross revenues from gas and liquids sales in excess of A$1.5 billion over the estimated 15 years with the first gas to be produced in the first half of 2004. The development of a substantial new source of gas into the Victorian will help fulfill a desire by the Victorian Government to diversify the sources of gas supply in the state. While this will help overcome Longford-type supply interruptions, the major new infrastructure involved in the project, including a new gas plant and a trunkline to the Dandenong 23
Citygate, also will improve the operation of the Victorian gas network. He project will also create a large number of jobs during the construction phase and ongoing employment opportunities and the development of workforce skills. Importantly, BassGas gas and liquid products will enter the market when Gippsland reserves are entering a period of significant decline. With the heads of agreement to support the development costs, the project partners say the planned development of Yolla is economically viable without any additional gas customers. BassGas is one of several new gas projects, which are moving towards development in the Bass Strait and Otway Basin region in the next few years. In Bass Strait, OMV is planning for development of the Patricia/Baleen field while Woodside and Shell are hoping to bring the Kipper/Basker/Manta gas fields into production shortly. Esso/BHP are also working to bring new gas into the market from the Bream field project where a new gas pipeline ashore from the Bass Strait fields is about to start construction. The BassGas partners are now preparing offshore geotechnical site surveys for platform and pipelines, surface facilities engineering specification and construction details and working to obtain government and other regulatory approvals. This work is aimed at achieving a formal gas sales agreement and project financing in place to allow the partners to officially sanction the project by the third quarter of this year. A twoyear construction phase could see first gas deliveries in the second quarter of 2004. BassGas interest holders in the various lease and permit areas are: Company Permit T/RL1 Permit T/18P AWE
30.5%
35.1%
Origin Energy
30.5%
41.4%
CalEnergy
20%
23.5%
Galveston Mining
14%
-
5%
-
Santos
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Bruce Phillips, Managing director Australia Worldwide Exploration Telephone 02 9460-0165 email: [email protected]
LICENCE REVIEW
Mineral Licences
January/March 2001
EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL 4281
CURR
GRANT
HEATHCOTE
AGD MINING PTY LTD
04/01/2001
04/01/2003
EL 4280
CURR
GRANT
HEATHCOTE
AGD MINING PTY LTD
04/01/2001
04/01/2003
EL 4525
CURR
GRANT
BENDIGO
PROVIDENCE GOLD AND MINERALS PTY LTD
11/01/2001
11/01/2003
EL 4529
CURR
GRANT
NYAH
BASIN MINERALS HOLDINGS NL
11/01/2001
11/01/2003
EL 4524
CURR
GRANT
HEATHCOTE
DEEPGREEN MINERALS CORPORATION LTD
22/01/2001
22/01/2003
EL 4514
CURR
GRANT
HAMILTON
NEW HOLLAND MINING NL
05/02/2001
05/02/2003
EL 4536
CURR
GRANT
BENDIGO
HORIZON ENERGY AND RESOURCES PTY LTD
05/02/2001
05/02/2003
EL 4535
CURR
GRANT
WARRAGUL
GREENPOWER ENERGY PTY LTD
26/02/2001
26/02/2003
EL 4501
CURR
GRANT
CRESWICK
SHIRVID PTY LTD
26/02/2001
26/02/2003
TITLE NO.
STATUS
MAP
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL 4212
SURR
BENDIGO
REEF MINING NL
11/01/2001
11/01/2001
EL 3178
EXP
BACCHUS MARSH
ST BARBARA MINES LTD
21/01/2001
21/01/2001
EL 3650
SURR
HEATHCOTE
MIKE GARRATT PTY LTD
22/01/2001
22/01/2001
EL 3414
EXP
MATLOCK
RIDGE CREST PTY LTD
27/01/2001
27/01/2001
EL 3822
SURR
CRESWICK
ALLIANCE GOLD LTD
31/01/2001
31/01/2001
EL 3823
SURR
CRESWICK
ALLIANCE GOLD LTD
31/01/2001
31/01/2001
EL 3947
SURR
CRESWICK
ALLIANCE GOLD LTD
31/01/2001
31/01/2001
EL 3930
SURR
CRESWICK
ALLIANCE GOLD LTD
31/01/2001
31/01/2001
EL 3329
SURR
BAIRNSDALE
DENBY VALE PTY LTD
20/02/2001
20/02/2001
EL 3135
SURR
NAGAMBIE
PERSEVERANCE MINING PTY LTD
20/02/2001
20/02/2001
EL 4295
SURR
DOOKIE
PERSEVERANCE MINING PTY LTD
20/02/2001
20/02/2001
EL 3339
SURR
NAGAMBIE
PERSEVERANCE MINING PTY LTD
20/02/2001
20/02/2001
EL 3025
SURR
BOGONG
PERSEVERANCE MINING PTY LTD
20/02/2001
20/02/2001
EL 3421
SURR
YEA
PERSEVERANCE MINING PTY LTD
27/02/2001
27/02/2001
EL 4458
SURR
EDENHOPE
BASIN MINERAL HOLDINGS NL
05/03/2001
05/03/2001
EL 4314
SURR
MILDURA
STEINER HOLDINGS PTY LTD
19/03/2001
19/03/2001
TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
MIN 5316
CURR
GRANT
ALBACUTYA
GYPSUM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
16/03/2001
26/03/2006
TITLE NO.
STATUS
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
11/01/2001
EXPLORATION LICENCES SURRENDERED, CANCELLED OR EXPIRED PRIMARY OWNER
MINING LICENCES GRANTED
MINING LICENCES SURRENDERED, CANCELLED OR EXPIRED MAP
MAL 4
SURR
CASTLEMAINE C J KINRADE
11/01/2001
MIN 5052
EXP
DUNOLLY
16/01/2001
16/01/2001
MIN 5051
EXP
CASTLEMAINE GORDON L MASON
30/01/2001
30/01/2001
MIN 4653
EXP
MATLOCK
WILLIAM G GOONAN
17/03/2001
17/03/2001
MIN 5244
SURR
ALEXANDRA
JOHN F EASDOWN
19/03/2001
19/03/2001
MIN 5120
SURR
MANSFIELD
HARDROCK EXPLORATION PTY LTD
19/03/2001
19/03/2001
MIN 5070
EXP
BALLARAT
TRASA TRADING AS IMPERIAL JOINT VENTURE
25/03/2001
25/03/2001
MIN 5071
EXP
BALLARAT
IMPERIAL JOINT VENTURE
26/03/2001
ML 948
EXP
HOPETOUN
MAURICE F CONWAY
ML 836
SURR
CASTLEMAINE C J KINRADE
R SKINNER
26/03/2001 08/01/2001
08/01/2001
11/01/2001
11/01/2001
ABBREVIATIONS: SURR - SURRENDERED, CANC - CANCELLATION CAN/AM - CANCELLED/AMALGAMATED
24
MINERAL SANDS
Wemen is just a ‘starter’ T
he rush to develop Victoria’s rich titanium mineral sands deposits in the Murray Basin in the state’s north west is becoming a race between several smaller players and the world’s biggest manufacturers. Already the Murray Basin’s first project is in production at Wemen where Murray Basin Titanium, a joint venture between Japan’s Nissho Iwai and Perth based Sons of Gwalia Ltd, has developed a mining and separation operation. The company has also commissioned a secondary separation plant, located at Thurla, south of Mildura. The plant takes heavy mineral concentrate from the Wemen mine and separates out the constituent minerals, rutile, ilmenite and zircon. The resulting products are then transported to Melbourne and Portland in bagged and bulk form for export. While small, the Wemen plant is the beginning of what could quickly become a multi-million dollar industry spanning three states, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Murray Basin Titanium development manager, Pat McManus, said the Wemen development is part of a bigger project to develop the deposits generally known as the ‘Twelve Mile’ and ‘Prungle’ projects in southern NSW and Victoria. Each will be developed as part of an overall development likely to involve the simultaneous operation of several mines, with each mine producing a heavy mineral concentrate. That concentrate would then be processed at a secondary separation plant which will produce rutile, zircon and ilmenite for export. One of the key decisions yet to be made by the project partners is the location of the secondary separation plant. The long-term development of the Murray Basin region will be affected by a number of crucial infrastructure decisions still to be made including the possible conversion of the Wimmera region’s broad-gauge railway system to standard gauge. Such a conversion would allow heavy mineral products to be railed from the Murray Basin, south to the Port of Portland, a major deepwater port and ideally located to handle bulk mineral exports from the Murray Basin.
While Wemen is the first mineral sands project to start commercial production, several other projects are moving closer to development decisions. Iluka Resources, Basin Minerals and Austpac Resources are all moving towards mineral 25
The Port of Portland, Victoria’s only major deepwater port outside Port Phillip Bay, ranks as a prime location for the export of titanium mineral products being produced in rapidly increasing volumes in the Murray Basin.
MINERAL SANDS
Right: Redevelopment of railway facilities across Victoria could provide Murray Basin mineral sand producers with a direct link to the Port of Portland and a cheap export route which would help kickstart a major new industry for the state. Below: Basin Minerals’ new separation plant at Thurla, near Mildura. Primary separation of mineral sands into the valuable constituents, ilmenite, rutile and zircon is required before export.
sands development projects which could put Victoria firmly on the global titanium industry radar screen. Basin Minerals has recently finalised an exploration and technical alliance with the world’s biggest titanium pigment producer, E L Dupont De Nemours (DuPont) in relation to a South Australian mineral sands discovery, but the deal could have major spin-off benefits for Basin’s planned Victorian mineral sands mining and processing operations. The alliance followed a substantial resource upgrade for Basin Minerals’ world-class Douglas project near Horsham in Western Victoria. A bankable final feasibility study on the Douglas project started late last year with the aim of reaching a decision on project development by mid-2002. Basin Minerals plans to commission mining and treatment operations in the second half of 2003 to take advantage of market opportunities expected to be created by predicted shortfalls for titanium and zircon. Over 50,000m of reserve definition drilling at the Douglas project in the last six months is expected to increase the mineral concentrate resource to around 20.8 million tonnes. Douglas remains the company’s major focus because of its massive, high-grade resources and logistical advantages, including its proximity to Portland which lies just 150 km to the south . In February, Basin Minerals announced the discovery of an additional two million tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate at the Dunkirk prospect, one of several targets being evaluated within the company’s Culgoa project near the Victorian town of Sealake.
A first-pass, inferred resource estimate is expected soon at Basin’s Culgoa project. Basin Minerals managing director, Dr Brad Farrell, said the DuPont alliance would maximise the company’s chances of developing any titanium feedstock discovered in the Oakvale region and would also satisfy Dupont’s desire to establish new feedstock sources of the high TiO2 chloride grade ilmenite. Dupont is the biggest TiO2 pigment producer in the world, with 25 per cent of the global market currently worth about $US9 billion a year. The TiO2 pigment is extracted from ilmenite and used in a wide range of common household and industrial applications, primarily as a white pigment for paint and plastics Elsewhere in the Murray Basin, Austpac Resources NL has completed an initial bulk sampling program from the heavy mineral horizon of the WIM 150 deposit. WIM 150, initially discovered by Rio Tinto Ltd, lies within exploration licence 4521 in the southern Murray Basin.
Over 400 tonnes of ore from the heavy mineral section have been stockpiled for upgrading as required and the sample mine site will be rehabilitated as a dam for the landowners. Earlier drilling by Rio indicates the WIM 150 resource contains at least ten million tonnes of ilmenite, six million tonnes of ‘Hi-Ti’ minerals (rutile and leucoxene) and four million tonnes of zircon. A heavy mineral concentrate will be produced from the bulk sample for processing at Austpac’s pilot plant at Newcastle in NSW. Bench scale testwork undertaken last year at Newcastle on similar fine-grained heavy minerals from another deposit was successful and the main focus of the pilot plant program is to produce a marketable synthetic rutile product from this large ilmenite resource. The latest developments in the mineral sands industry development in the Murray Basin will be explored at a major conference in Melbourne in June. A full day of the conference will be devoted to the emerging Murray Basin region. The conference, to be held at the Le Meridien at Rialto on May 31 and June 1, will also feature a speech by Victorian Minister for Energy, Resources and Ports, Candy Broad F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Basin Minerals Dr Brad Farrell , Managing Director or Neil O’Loughlin, Exploration Director Telephone: (08) 9486 1028 Mike Turbott, Managing Director Austpac Resources NL Telephone: (02) 9221 3211
26
SPECIAL FEATURE
Science peeks under the blanket G
Ballarat East gold mine - deep weathering profile developed in Ordovician metasediments.
eologists have often speculated on why no major gold fields, like those at Ballarat, Bendigo, or Castlemaine, have ever been found in Victoria’s Murray Basin region.
The CRC for LEME will look specifically at the top 50 to 100 metres of the earth’s surface, the regolith, to develop methods of dealing with the layers of cover over the underlying rocks.
Is it because gold never actually formed in this area? Scientists now believe that gold probably did form in the area, but its presence has not been discovered because a thick layer of sediments, sands and clay has been dumped over the top.
As a second part of the CRC LEME, the increasing problem of salinity will be closely studied (see our story on page 18).
While those sediments and rich alluvial soil make wonderful farmland, it acts as a blanket over the primary geology beneath, masking the potential of the region’s mineral endowment. It is unlikely that any new gold discoveries the size of Bendigo will be found in Victoria unless they lie buried deeply in the earth. The high population density has dramatically reduced the possibility that a major gold deposit, which outcrops at surface, remains undiscovered. So science is developing ways of peeling back the covering blanket of silt, sand and soil, known as the regolith, to expose the primary rocks underneath which could provide the key to discovering new mineral wealth. The Federal Government has established two major new co-operative research centres to study the problem and to develop new ways of exploring the sub-surface of the earth, without having to physically dig up the area. A CRC typically includes Federal and State Government scientists from a variety of agencies including the CSIRO, geological survey organizations, universities, industry and private consultants.
Professor Phillips said salinity has traditionally been regarded as an agricultural problem and looked at only on two dimensions, principally cause and effect. base metal deposits of Tasmania’s west coast. CSIRO’s Professor Neil Phillips, based in Melbourne, is currently drawing together participants to join the Victorian section of the CRC. Professor Phillips said one of the first participants to become involved was Stawell Gold Mines, operator of the Stawell gold mine in northwestern Victoria. “Parts of the Murray Basin lie in the heart of the central goldfields. It may be that gold never formed in those areas, but it would seem unlikely,” Professor Phillips said. “If you can make predictions and work out where you should be looking, the chances of success are far better.” Professor Phillips is also involved in the second CRC, which is called Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration (LEME). This forms stage two of a project which has already been running for six years but which is being wound up and restarted under a new CRC.
The Federal Government recently provided funds to establish 13 new CRC’s, two of which will provide direct benefits to Victoria’s resources sector. The first is the Cooperative Research Centre for Predictive Mineral Discovery. This project, which could continue its work for up to ten years, will study the processes which contributed to and controlled the formation of Australia’s major mineral deposits as a means of attempting to predict where new mineral deposits might be located. The CRC will examine how the Ballarat goldfield was formed with a view to predicting the formation of other gold deposits in Victoria or other states but will form part of a wider examination of the mineral formations of Mt Isa, Broken Hill, the goldfields of Kalgoorlie and the Cargerie Creek gravel pit, south of Ballarat - deep weathering profile developed in Cainazoic sediments.
27
“But there is a third dimension, depth and a fourth dimension, time,” which are intimately involved in the problems of salinity, he said. By bringing geology into the study of salinity, the underlying details of groundwater movements, the age and origins of underground water and the regional geology which allows that water to travel through the earth, can be studied. This may assist in helping defeat surface salinity which is destroying vast tracts of Victoria’s prime farmland. The salinity component of the CRC LEME will look at Victoria as well as the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Professor Neil Phillips CSIRO Melbourne Telephone: 0418 300400
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Digital reporting now mandatory M
ineral explorers are now required to submit their statutory reports and associated exploration data to Minerals and Petroleum Victoria (MPV) in full digital form. The requirement has been in force since January l but MPV says while industry response has been generally pleasing, it has also been ‘patchy’. Details of the move were reported in the May 2000 edition of Discovery magazine along with a timetable for the staged introduction of digital data and reporting. Other states are currently implementing a similar staged introduction. Western Australia already requires full digital reporting. The latest, updated exploration reporting guidelines are available on the website: http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/minpet. Reports should be in PDF format and the digital tabular data in ASCII text format according to the requirements outlined in the guidelines. Companies will need Adobe Acrobat Version 4.0 to present the digital report in the required Portable Document Format (PDF). This software facilitates the compilation of text with maps and plans to reproduce the structure and sequence of a hardcopy report. A software product, EL Template, is also
available free of charge from MPV to ensure that critical metadata (data about data) is included with digital tabular exploration data. The metadata is recorded as header information within the datafiles and the software provides templates to generate these headers in the required de-limited ASCII format, ready for the addition of exploration data. A CD containing a copy of the updated reporting guidelines, EL Template and a guide to the use of EL Template was mailed to all exploration licence holders during May. During the remainder of this year, hardcopy versions of reports are still required in addition to the full digital report. The process will be reviewed next January after which it is planned to move to digital submission only. MPV says the move will benefit future explorers, allowing information to be easily retrieved and avoid duplication of effort. New exploration models will be able to be readily developed and tested on the basis of historical data. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Roger Buckley Manager Mineral Resources Telephone: 03 9412 5025
the WORLD is yours
TRAINING SESSIONS Training sessions on the new reporting requirements will be held at NRE offices in Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo during June. These sessions will take 2-3 hours. Large companies can arrange to have the sessions carried out on site. Some computers will be available to test the software but where possible participants should bring their own PC computer (not MacIntosh) preferably with Adobe Acrobat Writer and EL Template installed. EL Template will be available to install during the session if necessary. To participate in one of the sessions listed below company representatives/titleholders should call Marvena van Kann at MPV (Tel: 03 9412 5042) to reserve a place. Please mention if you will be able to provide your own laptop computer. MELBOURNE: June 19, 26 Time: 9.30am-12.30pm Level 3, Yarra Room 250 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne BALLARAT: June 20, 27 Time: 9.30am-12.30pm Level 4 Conference Room 402-406 Mair St, Ballarat BENDIGO: June 21, 28 Time: 9.30am-12.30pm Room 2, Cnr Midland Highway and Taylor Street, Epsom
You’ll find a world of information on Victorian mining, geology and petroleum in the Department of Natural Resources’ Minerals and Petroleum Reference Centre. Although focussed to serve members of the mining industry, the MPRC is open to the public from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. It is conveniently located next to the Minerals Business Centre.
special collections include: • Expired tenement reports on microfiche (and hard copy) • 5000+ Geological Survey of Victoria Unpublished Reports • Departmental publications (old Mines Department records and reports dating from 1851) • Victorian published geological maps, both current and historical • Underground mine plans on microfiche • 1600+ B&W historical Victorian mining photographs The MPRC is now located with the Minerals Business Centre on the 8th floor, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, 240 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne. Phone: (03) 9412 5145. Fax: (03) 9412 5157. E-mail:[email protected]
28
