Geoscience Australia and Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC) have reached agreement to collaborate on regional drilling to reveal the hidden mineral potential of Australia’s buried but prospective geology. The new agreement will facilitate the deployment of transformational technologies for successful mineral exploration though the cover rocks obscuring prospective geology. DET CRC will deploy conventional diamond drilling, together with for the first-time, new real-time sensing technologies both downhole and top-of-hole. DET CRC will, for example, in collaboration with partners CSIRO, Index and Olympus deploy its Lab-at-RigTM analytical system providing geochemical and mineralogical information on drilling samples as they are recovered. The data will be uploaded to the internet for real-time, remote access. Such new technologies seek to inform drilling decisions and, in due course, to replace time-consuming and expensive lab-based assays of drilling samples.
Richard Hillis, DET CRC CEO, commented “This collaboration provides an opportunity to field test and ‘pull through’ the new technologies that will be required to explore the 80% of the Australian continent where mineral deposits are hidden beneath barren cover. It is also a great example of different organisations collaborating under the ‘UNCOVER’ mineral exploration strategy of the Australian Academy of Science.”
Dr Andy Barnicoat, Chief of Geoscience Australia’s Minerals Division, said “our goal is to provide pre-competitive data on the mineral potential of unexplored areas of Australia where prospective rocks are obscured by barren cover. Drilling provides a critical source of information to confirm the nature of concealed geology, which reduces the technical risk to mineral explorers. Through this collaboration we will not only undertake this advanced drilling, but also help develop the new technologies that are required for cost-effective and successful mineral exploration through cover”.
DET CRC has been established in order to bring together the diverse research, engineering and operational expertise required to develop and implement breakthrough technologies. It arose through an industry-driven consultative process, via AMIRA International’s Drilling Technology Roadmap, and was established in 2010 under the Australian government’s CRC programme. AMIRA International was commissioned by a group of members to develop the successful bid for the CRC.
