Tag Archives: Gawler Craton

SensOre signs DPT machine-learning tech pacts with Barton Gold, Deutsche Rohstoff

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SensOre Ltd and its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning DPT® technology are continuing to gain traction across the exploration sector, with the ASX-listed company having progressed work with Barton Gold Holdings Limited and Deutsche Rohstoff AG.

SensOre says its exploration tools predict the location and economic viability of deposits, generating information on endowment (size), grade and depth at a cell dimension small enough to quicken decision making and move directly from predicted target to drill testing cost effectively and with a narrower environmental footprint.

The company has, first, signed a terms sheet with Barton Gold to adapt and refine its Discriminant Predictive Targeting (DPT) technology to a circa-60,000 sq.km portion of the Gawler Craton in South Australia surrounding Barton Gold’s assets (pictured). The companies will focus on the targeting of gold and copper mineralisation.

Second, the company has agreed terms with Deutsche Rohstoff on the identification, acquisition and exploration of SensOre-generated lithium targets in Western Australia following what it says were “exciting results” from its first lithium-targeting program completed in December 2021.

The agreement with Barton is worth up to A$400,000 ($295,662) in co-funding to add data to the company’s South Australian data cube in the area surrounding Barton Gold’s tenements, with SensOre and Barton Gold operating in exclusive partnership on DPT targets generated in that area. Barton will also become a SensOre client and, subject to production from new gold and copper targets identified via DPT, SensOre will be entitled to additional royalty fees linked to gold ounces produced (or copper equivalent), it said.

Under the contract, Barton Gold will also join SensOre’s South Australian gold and copper prospectivity mapping initiative, which includes Hillgrove Resources, Argonaut Resources and Aroha Resources. The subsequent DPT engagement includes provision for integrating Barton Gold’s extensive data sets and deploying SensOre’s DPT in the area.

SensOre and Barton Gold will now advance the terms sheet to a detailed binding agreement ahead of commencement.

In the Western Australian lithium sector, meanwhile, SensOre stands to benefit from Deutsche Rohstoff as a partner through agreed targeting, acquisition and geological consulting fees for a minimum of eight accepted lithium targets, worth A$125,000 per target for a total of A$1 million.

The company will hold an initial participating interest of 30%, with Deutsche Rohstoff holding the balance. A preliminary budget of A$4 million has been agreed to fund exploration activity (A$2.8 million contributed by Deutsche Rohstoff and A$1.2 million by SensOre).

SensOre’s agreements with Deutsche Rohstoff and Barton Gold are the latest of several client engagements that leverage the potential of SensOre’s multidimensional Data Cube and AI-enhanced targeting technology, it said.

SensOre Chief Executive Officer, Richard Taylor, said: “We are excited to collaborate with Barton Gold who understand the tremendous upside potential that machine learning can bring to exploration and are already trialling machine learning technologies in the area including CSIRO’s machine-learning adaptive sampling platform. This partnership is an important milestone in offering Australia-wide prospectivity mapping and AI-enhanced minerals targeting to innovative explorers.”

He added on the agreement with Deutsche Rohstoff: “We look forward to collaborating with Deutsche Rohstoff to find the mines of tomorrow to reinforce Europe and Australia’s supply chain of battery and critical minerals needed to underpin global energy transition demand.”

South Australia Government extends Accelerated Discovery Initiative

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The South Australia Government says it will extend its Accelerated Discovery Initiative (ADI) until 2025, committing another A$11.5 million ($8.2 million) to the program.

The ADI provides co-financing to mineral exploration activities to attract greater exploration investment, bringing forward new mineral resource discoveries, jobs, Aboriginal employment opportunities and royalties, according to the government. It also has a focus on supporting innovative technologies, collaboration and new exploration concepts to fast-track mineral exploration across South Australia.

Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan said the ADI plays an important role in maintaining South Australia’s international leadership in mineral exploration development.

“We expect to receive a high level of interest during round three, with a funding of up to A$3 million reflecting the global significance of ADI and the calibre of proposals,” van Holst Pellekaan said. “ADI is Australia’s most diverse exploration co-funding program, offering support for traditional drilling and geophysics, as well as other non-conventional exploration techniques, frontier logistics support, technology and research innovation.

“With a heavy emphasis on new technologies, scientific endeavour, and upskilling, to boost discovery while reducing risk, ADI reflects the changing drivers in exploration.

“Successful projects will bolster activities and support innovative technologies to generate and test new exploration ideas and increase new data sets to help accelerate data sharing between entities within the exploration sector.

“In additional to innovative exploration programs, ADI initiatives have fostered meaningful employment and upskilling of Aboriginal employees and businesses. So far, during rounds one and two, funding of A$7.4 million was allocated to 36 initiatives.”

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Barton Gold, Alexander Scanlon, said the ADI has allowed Barton to accelerate its innovation-driven exploration approach to the central Gawler Craton region of South Australia.

“ADI facilitated a trial of deep ground penetrating radar (GPR) in the region and early results are compelling,” Scanlon said. “The technique has not only found over 25 shallow new structures, but also their orientation, giving us clear, shallow targets for precise, high-efficiency and low-cost drill testing.

“We are looking at an order of magnitude gain in cost and time to target delineation, acquiring these targets for less than $200,000 over a 1-2 month period, versus A$2-3 million of drilling over a 1-2 year period of time,” he said.

Barton is an ASX-listed gold exploration company with a total attributable circa-1.1 Moz of gold in the resource category (28.74 Mt at 1.2 g/t Au), a pipeline of advanced exploration projects and brownfield mines, and 100% ownership of the only regional gold mill in the central Gawler Craton of South Australia, the company says.

van Holst Pellekaan said Barton’s recent success is another example of the benefits of the ADI not only delivering results for Barton but sharing the results publicly that will help other explorers unlock new discoveries.

“It was pleasing to see round two heavily over-subscribed, with a total of 76 high quality applications received with 22 projects assessed against the project criteria to receive funding,” he said. “We are anticipating a similar amount of interest for round three.”

The extension of the ADI will significantly contribute to increased exploration activity and discovery of new mineral resources to achieve the South Australian Growth State target of A$300 million in annual exploration investment, the government says.

South Australia government invites explorers to trawl Gawler Craton exploration data

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The South Australia Government is to host a A$250,000 ($169,397) crowd-sourced open data competition to fast-track the discovery of mineral deposits in the state.

Called ‘ExploreSA: The Gawler Challenge’, it will see the government partner with open innovation platform, Unearthed, in a worldwide call for geologists and data scientists to uncover new exploration targets in the state’s Gawler Craton region.

Using the Geological Survey of South Australia’s historical records, primary data and research, the competition combines geological expertise with new mathematical, machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase the number of potential drill targets across central South Australia, Unearthed said.

South Australia Minister for Energy and Mining, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, said: “This state-of-the-art competition has the potential to unearth the next Olympic Dam or Carrapateena by encouraging global thinkers and innovators to interrogate our open-file data and generate new exploration models and ideas for targeting.

“Mining is one of the pillars of the South Australian economy and this competition should add to the pipeline of projects in the resources and minerals processing sector.”

He said the state’s existing inventory of discoveries suggest there are “major prospects” and many other deposit styles and commodities to be identified, with this competition only serving to bring those internationally significant discoveries forward.

“ExploreSA is an example of the bold and progressive thinking required to assist industry in accelerating the state’s annual economic growth rate to 3%.”

All targets generated, including those from the winners of the A$250,000 prize pool, will be publicly shared to increase innovation and understanding in the resources sector by enabling access to data science approaches and modern geoscience thinking, according to Unearthed.

Unearthed Industry Lead – Crowdsourcing, Holly Bridgwater, said the competition served to leverage data science to its full potential at a time when significant new discoveries are becoming rarer.

“This exciting crowdsourcing competition and world-class open dataset will attract a global community of innovators, some whom won’t have worked in the mining industry before,” she said.

“We can’t wait to see how they will apply their diverse skills, fresh ideas and novel approaches to mineral exploration to accelerate discovery in South Australia.”

Earlier this year, OZ Minerals partnered with Unearthed on an online crowdsourcing competition to find new exploration targets at the Mount Woods tenements of the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine, in South Australia.

ExploreSA: The Gawler Challenge will open early next year. To find out more, visit: https://unearthed.link/ExSAGC_IM