Golden opportunity for exploration in Victoria
|
20 May 2008
|
High prices for gold have resulted in record levels of exploration in Victoria with estimates there is still another 30 to 50 million ounces of the precious mineral yet to be discovered.
|
Victoria produced 225,000 ounces of gold in 2006-07, valued at approximately $210 million - a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.
|
Victoria's gold exploration expenditure for 2007 reached $56 million with the majority of that gold derived from Victoria's Golden Triangle, an area between Bendigo, Ballarat and Stawell in central Victoria.
|
“High gold exploration expenditure in Victoria over recent years has been driven by an improved perception of Victoria's prospecting opportunities and the continued strength of the gold price on international markets,” Victorian Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said.
|
Victorian Government-funded geoscience programs, such as the $9 million Gold Undercover, define new potential for gold discoveries and further encourage gold exploration and production in Victoria.
|
And prospectors in Victoria face the best odds yet in accurately locating the state’s untapped mineral, oil and gas deposits with the help of a new state-of-the-art 3D facility.
|
The 3D Visualisation Room at GeoScience Victoria is the first State-run facility of its kind in Australia and will help reduce the time, cost and risk of searching for mineral and petroleum deposits.
|
“Fifty years ago, understanding the complex geology of Victoria was a hit and miss affair, with geologists and scientists relying on trial and error in their search for mineral deposits,” Mr Batchelor said.
|
“Visualising Victoria’s geology in three dimensions will provide new insight into the geology beneath the Earth’s surface and enable modern explorers to better interpret and understand their
|
data.
|
“As Victoria’s resources are explored at deeper levels, better access to the latest technologies will help to make our State an ideal location for investors.
|
“The 3D Visualisation Room will allow geologists and exploration managers to see and analyse the plumbing network that runs through the Earth’s crust and will enable them to more accurately predict the location of mineral deposits, hydrocarbon, gold and base metals.”
|
The 3D room allows exploration companies to look at maps of Victoria and Bass Strait in 3D form showing where mineral, oil and gas deposits were located, giving them an accurate location of where to drill.
|
Mr Batchelor said the technology would assist the development of a whole-of-Victoria 3D model currently being constructed as part of the Brumby Government’s $2.5 million Rediscover Victoria 3D initiative.
|
“The resources sector is worth more than $5 billion to the State’s economy and employs more than 10,000 people in Victoria,” Mr Batchelor said.
|
Mr Batchelor said the 3D maps would also help to identify potential sites for geosequestration, which is the capture and permanent underground storage of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas emitted from coal.
|
