pace copper early results: towards new discoveries to...

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Dr Steve Hill

Chief Government Geologist / Director

Geological Survey of South Australia

Department of the Premier and Cabinet, South Australia

PACE COPPER EARLY RESULTS:

Towards New Discoveries to Build South

Australia’s Copper Production

Presentation for Copper to the World Conference, 27 June 2017

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This Presentation…

1. The Challenge

• Increasing copper production and efficiency through

new resource DISCOVERY

2. What are we doing about it?

• PACE Copper and Geological Survey of South

Australia workflow towards DISCOVERY

3. Where to from here?

• UNCOVER new DISCOVERIES through improved

exploration (especially drilling)

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1. The Challenge…

White Clay Bay near Hillside Cu Prospect, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

(Photo: Steve Hill)

Mineralisation

Cover

Coastal Environment

Farmland

CalcreteRogue Fm

Throoka Silt

Muloowurtie Fm

Saprolite

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1. The Challenge

Aim to accelerate production value of copper products from commercial ore

bodies and to drive global competitiveness…

• Exploration

• Mine Development

• Mining

• Processing

• BUT…..

• needs DISCOVERY of new high-quality resources!

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1. The Discovery Challenge

New High Quality Mineral Discoveries…

• Maintain or increase Economic Production Capacity (replace reserve

depletion)

• Maintain or increase resource quality and thereby efficiency

• Provide opportunity to re-invigorate with new development and

processes for mining and processing

• Provide key learnings to stimulate new exploration search space, further

exploration and further discoveries

• Demonstrate success

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1. The Discovery ChallengeSome technical considerations to transform exploration into

discovery:

• Prospectivity (is there something to find?)

• Search Space (where to best look?)

• Detection (Search technique and strategy?)

• Scale (How much or hard do we need to search?)

• Collaboration (what help do you need?) ….

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Geoscience initiatives / strategies in support of future mineral

discoveries in Australia

http://www.uncoverminerals.org.au/

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UNCOVER

Within 10 years, facilitate discovery of new

major economic mineral deposits in

Australia beneath post-mineralisation cover

rocks

Within 20 years, discovery performance in

the concealed search space will be at least

comparable to modern-era, first-pass

surface exploration

Improve exploration performance under post-mineralisation cover

UNCOVER Roadmap Phase 1 Sponsors

http://www.uncoverminerals.org.au/

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UNCOVER

Broad themes utilising a Mineral Systems approach:

Theme 1. Characterising the cover: New knowledge to confidently explore beneath the cover

Theme 2. Investigating Australia’s lithospheric architecture: A whole-of-lithosphere architectural framework for mineral systems exploration

Theme 3. Resolving the 4D geodynamic and metallogenicevolution of Australia:

Understanding ore deposit origins for better prediction

Theme 4. Characterising and detecting the distal footprints of ore deposits: Towards a toolkit for minerals exploration

http://www.uncoverminerals.org.au/

Confidentiality-I#-A# Moon Plain, Stuart Shelf, SA (Photo S.Hill)

1. The DISCOVERY challenge…The covered minerals search space across 80% of South Australia

Need to UNCOVER South Australia!

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2. What are we doing?...

South Australia Drill Core Reference Library

(Photo: Steve Hill)

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2. What are we doing?

Geological Survey of South Australia

• Attract and deliver a geoscience framework to assist mineral

explorers to make mineral discoveries in South Australia

• World-class geoscience towards a better understanding of

South Australia’s geological framework and prospectivity

• Delivering geoscience information and advice to Minister,

government, mineral explorers and community

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2. What are we doing?

PACE (Plan for Accelerating Exploration)

Since 2004, for a government investment of ~$70 million, PACE has:

• Delivered an additional >$700 million in private mineral exploration;

• Leveraged a return of investment of 20:1 on public geoscience expenditure;

• Directly led to discovery at Carrapateena and indirectly contributed to many others;

• Yielded an additional increase in State mineral production value of >$2.4 billion; and,

• Provided a benchmark that other jurisdictions have emulated for pre-competitive and collaborative geoscience initiatives

The current initiative program, PACE Copper, provides $20M over 18 months for transformational pre-competitive and collaborative geoscience with a copper focus in South Australia

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2. What are we doing?Regional Pre-competitive - Industry Geoscience Workflow

Characterising Covere.g. Thickness, age, type, geochemical

response

Lithospheric Architecturee.g. MT, seismic, potential fields, isotopes

4D Geodynamic and

Metalogenic Evolution e.g. “transient events”; field mapping;

solid geology interp.; geochronology

Mineral System FootprintsAlteration, geochem; spectral mineralogy

Regional

ModelsExploration

TargetingDISCOVERY

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2. What are we doing?Pre-competitive Geoscience Workflow / scale reduction

From Robbie Rowe,

UNCOVER Roadmap

minerals.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/geoscience/drill_core_reference_library

South Australian Drill Core Reference Library

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South Australian Drill Core Reference Library operations

Woodall Laboratory Holloway Geoscience TheatreNelson Discovery Hall

https://map.sarig.sa.gov.a

u

New: South Australian Resources Information Gateway

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2. What are we doing?Gawler Craton (especially Olympic Domain)

Well established copper prospectivity…

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2. What are we doing?

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• Increase the size of the target

• Predict where you are within the mineral system

• IOCG deposits - large alteration systems

Adrian Fabris et al, DET CRC

Gawler Craton• IOCG Hyper-

spectral mineral

system mapping

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• IOCG index(commercialisation with Reflex for ioGAS 5.2 release)

2. What are we

doing? Gawler Craton

• IOCG geochemical

mineral system

mapping

Adrian Fabris et al, DET CRC

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SA Mineral Systems Drilling Program

A unique collaboration• $2.5m + $0.65m + in-kind = $8m

• 14 cored holes, 7868m, ~ 8 months

• 100 South Australian based suppliers

• Uncovering:• New Mineral provinces

• New Technologies required to explore

beneath barren cover

• Building collaboration between junior

explorers, METS sector, government

and research organisations in South

Australia

CarriewerlooPeltabinna

Mt Double

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A 1590 Ma crustal section for South Australia?

/ ISCG

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DET CRC – cheaper, faster drilling, rapid data

collection

Challenge - collecting sufficient data in covered terranes

MSDP – support the pull through of new technology

Wireless SubAutoSonde

Lab-at-Rig

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DET CRC – Coiled tubing drill rig

• Cheaper and faster drilling!

• 1st comprehensive field trial of RoXplorer®

• Initial trials at Brukunga

• Field test utilised drill pad of cored hole MSDP02

(Photos: Courtesy of Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre

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SA Mineral Systems Drilling Program

Want to know more?

• MSDP webpage – 10 part video series

• Core now available for inspection!

• DET CRC Website

minerals.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au/msdp

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2. What are we doing?

Coompana region

• Previously not under tenement

• Covered Proterozoic basement

under the Nullarbor

• Precompetitive data initiative

to support discovery,

geoscience

• Now attracted uptake of 7

new tenements by

OzMinerals (Mithril JV)

through competitive

application process (ERA)New Coompana airborne magnetics

PACE Copper Western Gawler Craton / Coompana

targeted geoscience program

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Lithospheric Architecture

• Deep crustal seismic and MT

• Reveal lithospheric architecture

Report Book 2015/00029

2. What are we doing?PACE Copper Western Gawler Craton / Coompana

targeted geoscience program

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Gravity Survey

• 250,000 line kilometres; airborne magnetic and radiometric survey

• >13,000 new gravity observations

Before After

2. What are we doing?PACE Copper Western Gawler Craton / Coompana

targeted geoscience program

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Coompana Drilling• $3M collaborative program

between GSSA and GA

• Up to 18 drillholes

• Targeting different geophysical domains

• Boart Longyear selected as drilling service provider

• Drilling commenced 9th

April 2017 for ~ 5 month program

2. What are we doing?PACE Copper Western Gawler Craton / Coompana

targeted geoscience program

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Coompana DrillingCDP001

• First core sample

from the SA

Coompana

Province in 30

years

• Basement at 346m

• Currently 164m

HQ3 core

• Mixture of foliated

dioritic gneiss and

undeformed

granites

2. What are we doing?PACE Copper Western Gawler Craton / Coompana

targeted geoscience program

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3. Where to from here?...

MSDP, Carriewerloo Station (Photo: S.Hill)

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3. Where to from here?

National Drilling Initiative (NDI)

The next major step change for Australian pre-competitive geoscience?

MinEx CRC: Research Activities

Australian National

Drilling Initiative (NDI)

Geoscience Australia

State Surveys

Research Organisations

• data compilation for the NDI

• depth of cover and interfaces

• basement mapping with drill rig

• geochemical background

• corridor 3D seismic surveys

• petrophysical vectoring

• auto 3D geology modelling

• turbocoring

Drilling for Definition

of Mineral Deposits

Industry Partners

Research Organisations

• coiled tubing drilling (CTD) for

definition of mineral deposits

• trialling CTD in Chile

• composites for CTD

• petrophysical logging for CTD

• real-time downbhole assay

• borehole seismic inversion

Optimising

Conventional Drilling

Industry Partners

Research Organisations

• drilling automation

• rock properties from drilling

data

• reverse circulation (RC) drilling

Area of

Research

Partners

CRC

Activities

Significant greenfields CT drilling in NDI pulls through existing technology and

provides ideal platform for development of CT for brownfield and drill-out operations

Eastern Gawler (Olympic Domain)

0 100 200

kilometres

Nominal Drill Pattern

Task 1: Drilling and resampling program to identify and

map key aspects of the mineral systems under cover

10 x 10 km

Max DTB 1000 m

Previous Drilling

337 holesSource: SARIG

HyLogger Drill holes

Known Mineralisation

Geophysical

Extent

3. Where to from

here?National Drilling

Initiative (NDI)

10 x 10 km pattern with

depth to basement 1000 m

416 holes

203,200 m

$10.2M @ $50/m

41,600 km2

e.g.

Eastern Gawler (Olympic Domain)

3. Where to from

here?

National Drilling Initiative (NDI)• Geological surveys access ‘new hammer’ for mapping under cover

• Step-change in geological survey work required to write the prospectus for

exploration under cover

• Leveraged cash from CRC Program to support analysis of NDI and related

data

• Experience gained by, and success of previous collaborative drilling

programmes such as SA MSDP

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Finally: Some of our International Collaborations

and Partnerships

Sernageomin, Chile

China

National

Nuclear

Corporation

China Geological Survey

Saskatchewan Geological Survey

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National Exploration Undercover School (NExUS)• Over 30 registrants from industry, government and academia around Australia

• Presenters from industry, government and academia

(>10 GSSA presenters and Week 1 lectures at Tonsley)

• 3 week emphasis on engaging “next generation” on UNCOVER challenges

2016 NExUS at White Clay Bay,

Yorke Peninsula (Photo: Richard

Lilly, UoA)nexus.org.au

7th December

2017