The Resourcing the Territory initiative (2018–2022) was a four-year $26 million Northern Territory Government initiative.
Resourcing the Territory (2018-2022) was designed to increase exploration and support discovery and development of new mineral and petroleum resources.
The report focuses on a qualitative evaluation of outcomes and impacts from the initiative and provides strong support for the continuation of Resourcing the Territory, with potential expansion of the initiative if possible. In its key findings, the report states that 'evidence gathered consistently highlights the positive impact of the Initiative on exploration activities, economic outcomes, and the overall development of the NT's resource sector'. A key finding of the report is that 'investment into pre-competitive geoscience is one of the most significant things the Territory Government can be doing to de-risk investment and increase the possibility of successful resource projects contributing to the Northern Territory economy.'
Upgrading the Territory’s coverage of geophysical data
Unlocking the resource potential of the Barkly and Gulf regions
Stimulating exploration in central Australia
Promoting the Territory’s resource potential and investment opportunities
Making exploration and geoscience data more accessible.
Exploration grants
The Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations industry grants program has been continuously co-funded under Northern Territory Government initiatives since 2008. Resouring the Terriotry (2018-2022) allocated up to $1 million per annum to co-fund exploration activities in greenfields areas. The program was expanded to include reverse circulation drilling in round 11 (2018-2019) and brownfields diamond drilling in round 14 (2021-22) in direct response to recommendations made by Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission report in 2021. Between 2018-2022 the program added 13,600 m of industry drilling in greenfields areas, 4,400m of industry drilling in brownfields areas, and 23 industry geophysical surveys.
Geoscience projects
Under Resourcing the Territory, the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) undertook:
targeted regional scale magnetic-radiometric or gravity data acquisition programs in prospective areas to improve data quality and density to modern standards
a range of collaborative geoscience programs designed to investigate the minerals and energy potential beneath the soils of the Barkly Tableland and into the Gulf region and reinvigorating exploration closer to Tennant Creek by increasing data accessibility and value-adding to historic exploration data
precompetitive geoscience projects to open up new greenfields areas for exploration in Central Australia. particularly in the Amadeus Basin and Aileron Province.
NTGS completed three regional-scale geophysical acquisition programs, with Geoscience Australia providing contract management and quality assurance on behalf of NTGS.
NTGS Brunette Downs Ground Gravity Survey
The NTGS Brunette Downs Ground Gravity Survey was acquired in 2022 and was managed by Geoscience Australia. The survey covers an area of around 57,000 square kilometres located just north of Tennant Creek and extending to the Northern Territory - Queensland border. The survey infills existing 4 km gravity coverage to 2 km coverage. NTGS partnered with industry to acquire higher resolution data at 1 km x 1 km and 500 m x 500 m spacing over smaller areas within the survey. The data package consist of 17 312 gravity stations as a point located dataset and grids of the newly acquired gravity data.
NTGS Mount Peake - Crawford Survey
The NTGS Mount Peake – Crawford Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric Survey was acquired in 2019 and covers an area of approximately 22,000 square km. The survey is centred 250km NNE of Alice Springs and extends from the Tanami Region in the west to 40km east of the Barrow Creek township. Data was collected along 200m spaced north-south lines at 60m ground clearance. Industry partners are participating in this survey by funding infill data to 100m line spacing over areas of interest.
NTGS Tanami Region Survey
The NTGS Tanami Region Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric Survey was acquired in 2018 over more than 42,000 square km extending from the West Australian border to approximately 300km west of Tennant Creek. The survey was flown at 200m line spacing and more than 240,000 line km were acquired. Industry partners funded an additional 30,000 line km of infill data at 100m spacing.
The Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) undertook a range of collaborative geoscience programs designed to investigate the minerals and energy potential undercover in the Barkly Tableland and Gulf regions, building on major geoscience programs in the greater McArthur Basin that were undertaken under the CORE initiative.
The large volume of new geoscience data generated in the Barkly Tableland region has led to a substantial increase in industry activity in greenfields areas. Since late 2018, more than 17,000km2 of new mineral exploration licence applications have been made by industry over previous vacant ground in the Barkly Tableland east of Tennant Creek, targeting copper and gold. This area has not previously been explored for these minerals.
The prospective rocks are buried more than 100m below the surface and there was previously insufficient geological information to attract explorers into the area.
Exploring for the Future
A major component of new geoscience information for the area is the co-investment in extensive new data acquisition with Geoscience Australia under the Commonwealth’s Exploring for the Future program designed to investigate the minerals and energy potential beneath the soils of the Barkly Tableland. New data acquisition includes gravity, magnetotelluric, reflection and passive seismic, geochemistry and hydrogeochemistry. Recently released data and information from the Exploring for the Future program can be found on the Geoscience Australia website.
Successful stratigraphic drilling programs were completed in in the Barkly and Gulf regions under the MinEx CRC. The programs were designed to test new concepts from data derived from the Exploring for the Future program.
South Nicholson-Lawn Hill geoscience mapping
New regional-scale geological mapping by NTGS of outcropping geology in the Lawn Hill Platform and South Nicholson Basin, focussed on the Mount Drummond 1:250 000 sheet area integrating mapping with new geochronology and new seismic data acquired from EFTF.
Collaborative work between NTGS and GA has substantially upgraded the understanding the undercover distribution, basin geometry and resource potential of the subsurface South Nicholson Basin and Lawn Hill Platform, and their relationships to the Beetaloo Sub-basin and McArthur Basin.
Collaborative work undertaken included:
acquisition of the 813km Barkly seismic survey, and its integration with the interpreted data from the 2017 South Nicholson seismic survey
the 2017-2021 ARC Linkage Project, in collaboration with University of Adelaide, and industry and academic partners, focused on unravelling the tectonic palaeogeography of the greater McArthur Basin, including geochronology and isotopic studies to support regional correlations
Recent NTGS data and publications from the Barkly Tableland can be found on the GEMIS website.
Reinvigorating exploration in the Tennant Creek Region
New programs were designed by NTGS to reinvigorate exploration closer to Tennant Creek by increasing data accessibility and value-adding to historic exploration data.
These programs included:
compilation of digital mineral deposit atlases and 3D visualisation of mineral fields in the Tennant Creek area, in collaboration with the University of Queensland. The products for the Rover field southwest of Tennant Creek and the Tennant Creek mineral field are now complete.
improving understanding of the geological framework and gold and base metal potential of the concealed Rover field through acquiring new data from drill core, in collaboration with GA.
developing a physical and virtual repository of representative drill core from the Tennant Creek and Rover fields utilising the HyLoggerTM to provide spectral information on key drill core
Geoscience outcrop mapping at 1:250 000 and 1:100 000 across the north eastern Aileron and Irindina provinces provided an updated geological framework to these polymetallic provinces. This updated framework is designed to provide context to a new understanding of the geology and base metals potential of the Aileron Province, including studies of copper-bearing mineral systems in the region.
Programs and outputs in the Aileron Province have included:
ongoing geoscience outcrop mapping at 1:100 000 scale across the northeastern Aileron Province
release of products on the mineral deposits and potential of copper and tungsten mineral systems across the Aileron Province, including stable isotope and geochronology studies.
Recent data and publications can be discovered on the GEMIS website.
Amadeus Basin
Geoscience outcrop mapping at 1:250 000 and 1:100 000 across the central and western Amadeus Basin has provided consistent basin-wide stratigraphic correlation and improve the understanding of stratigraphy, structural evolution and palaeogeography. Basin-wide 1:500 000 pre-Mesozoic interpretative geology map was produced through the integration of the seamless stratigraphic approach with regional scale geophysics.
Programs have included:
completion of mapping the Henbury 1:250,000 and Henbury Special 1:100,000 sheets, with map linework complete
helicopter-supported mapping of the Lake Amadeus and Bloods Range 1:250,000 sheets, completed during the 2019 field season
Recent NTGS data and publications on the Amadeus Basin can be discovered on the GEMIS website.
Making exploration and geoscience data more accessible
There were major upgrades in the online availability of industry exploration reports and data. The GEMIS delivery system was upgraded, with all open file mineral exploration reports since 1901 made available for download, and NTGS Products, petroleum well completion reports and core sampling reports added to the system.
NTGS also implemented a new exploration geochemistry and drilling database and a project was undertaken to capture all data from current titles into the database, with capture of all new incoming data from industry now ongoing.
