MINERAL EXPLORATION

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development a question about the quality of geological survey material available in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The 2009-10 Fraser Institute annual survey of mining companies ranked South Australia's geological database as equal first in the world for the quality and scale of maps and ease of access to information. This database has been a critical part of the success of South Australia's Plan for Accelerating Exploration (PACE) initiative. The Rann government committed to extending this seven year, $30.9 million program during the recent election campaign. In our third term, this government is to provide an additional $10.2 million to fund PACE 2020. Will the minister provide advice on how the PACE initiative is enabling the government to support innovative geoscientific programs using an array of data gathering techniques that target frontier areas of the state?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for her important and timely question. Not satisfied with being equal No. 1 in terms of our geological database, South Australia is striving to build on our pre-competitive data and survey material. As part of the world renowned PACE program, the largest airborne electromagnetic survey ever flown in South Australia is now being conducted in partnership with Geoscience Australia. The survey area lies east of the Flinders Ranges, from the northern Murray Basin to north of the Flinders Ranges, covering an area of more than 93,000 square kilometres, which, I am advised, is an area equal to 1½ times the size of Tasmania.

This extensive airborne electromagnetic survey over the Frome embayment aims to collect more than 25,000 line kilometres of new geophysical data—and that is like flying to Los Angeles and back. The Frome embayment, overlaying the Curnamona province of eastern South Australia, is of key interest for the state of South Australia as a setting for world-class sandstone hosted uranium deposits such as Beverley, Honeymoon and Four Mile deposits. This airborne method of surveying captures data that allows for the location of ancient river channels (the so-called palaeochannels), the potential setting for sandstone hosted uranium deposits.

The Frome survey aims to improve the understanding of the geology and mineral potential of the survey area by mapping critical elements, including the conductivities of different geological and hydrogeological units buried beneath regolith. The survey will require a fixed-wing aircraft to fly in straight lines at 100 metres above the ground. Most of the flight lines will be 2.5 kilometres apart, with a few smaller areas flown on lines spaced five kilometres apart. As this is an airborne survey, the geophysical data collected will have no physical impact on the landscape or on pastoral activities.

The Frome airborne electromagnetic survey is a partnership between Geoscience Australia (the commonwealth government's national geological survey agency) and the South Australian government. PIRSA will contribute about 10 per cent of the survey cost, as well as providing scientific, administrative and promotional support.

The data gathered by the survey will assist the state and federal governments to manage the state's mineral, energy and water resources by improving the understanding of our geology. This will be achieved by mapping critical elements of the survey area such as different geological and hydrogeological units buried beneath cover. This survey data will also provide valuable new pre-competitive data for the mineral, geothermal and petroleum exploration community. The data collected by Geoscience Australia and PIRSA will be used by both agencies to produce a variety of products, including geological maps, datasets and three-dimensional models that have direct application to exploration in the area. It is anticipated that upon its release this data will act as a catalyst for exploration efforts attracting new companies and joint venture partners to this area and potentially leading to the discovery of new mineral or energy resources.