South Australia has released new gravity data on its most underexplored provinces.
The release is part of the State’s Plan For Accelerating Exploration (PACE) program, and has captured around 6500 square kilometres of data on the eastern side of the Musgrave ranges.
The Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) includes a two-year, $4 million initiative to support exploration in the state, and has facilitated additional state mineral production of $2.4 billion over the past decade.
It comes just weeks after a pledge by the SA Government to prioritise growth in the resources sector, with plans to create 5000 new mining jobs in the state by 2017.
South Australian mineral resources and energy Tom Koutsantonis said the region, in northwest SA, is considered highly prospective, however “a limited quality of geological data has hampered the search for minerals – until now”.
“This release of eastern Musgrave gravity data, and associated maps, is an important step forward towards understanding the mineral potential of this next frontier area,” he added.
The survey has carried out 800 gravity measurements across the 6500 km2, with measurement points setup on a two kilometre spaced irregular grid.
According to Koutsantonis the new data measures the difference in density of rocks and gives higher resolution coverage as compared to existing data sets.
“It helps to better define large scale geological structures, giving geologists a greatly enhanced dataset for targeting mineral deposits,” he said.
Koutsantonis went on to say the aim is to stimulate new exploration discoveries.
“We are releasing this data to encourage companies to continue their search for new resources, as part of the ongoing effort to develop an inventory of projects for future development and deliver broader economic activity and regional benefits.”
To download the data and maps, click here.