MinEx CRC

The Geological Survey of New South Wales (GSNSW) is a major participant in the NDI program, committing $16 million to the program over 10 years.

In NSW, the program focuses on several areas in the state’s central and far west (Figure 1 below), where Group 1 minerals (metals) potentially exist under a layer of younger barren geology. These areas are:

• Cobar
• Mundi (Broken Hill)
• Forbes-Dubbo

Figure 1: MinEx CRC focus areas in NSW

GSNSW will undertake legacy data compilation, geological mapping and sampling, airborne electromagnetic and other geophysical surveys, hydrogeochemistry, biogeochemistry, and stratigraphic drilling from 2019 to 2028. Drilling is planned from 2025 to 2028 and will avoid sensitive areas such as state significant aquifers and national parks.

Mining of metals such as nickel, copper, zinc, silver and gold provide significant economic and social benefits to the state.

High-tech and critical metals including platinum, cobalt, scandium and lithium are also key to many emerging advanced-technology industries, such as the manufacture of smart phones and renewable energy technologies. These metals play an important role in our modern and smart, sustainable energy way of life.

As it is unlikely there are any significant new metalliferous mineral deposits left to discover at the surface in NSW, new data needs to be collected to enable the detection of deposits that may exist deeper underground. The various activities undertaken by MinEx CRC will contribute to the understanding of these mineral deposits in NSW.

GSNSW will consult landholders, local communities and other government agencies before and during major activities in each area.

Where possible community information sessions will be held in local town centres so all community members can find out more about activities in their area. The dates and venues of these sessions will be posted to this website as they are confirmed. Where face-to-face sessions are not possible or practical, online webinars will be used.

Online webinar - Geoscience activities in the Cobar-Lake Cargelligo area (October 2020).

Online information session – Mundi MinEx CRC airborne electromagnetic (AEM) Survey (February 2021)

Online information session – Cobar MinEx CRC airborne magnetic and radiometric (AMR) survey (May 2021)

Landholders and landholder interest groups who are directly impacted by MinEx CRC activities will also be consulted individually, either through face-to-face meetings or via telephone.

In August 2018, the Governor of NSW declared five Mineral Allocation Areas (MAAs) for Group 1 minerals in NSW – Dubbo, Mundi, Forbes, North Cobar and South Cobar.

These MAAs were revoked in January 2021 allowing companies to apply for ground (i.e. exploration licences) at any time.

New geochronology

• Sedimentary provenance and its control on mineralisation in the Cobar Basin (Yang et al. 2024 – AJES journal article)
• U-Pb (zircon) geochronology in MinEx focus areas in NSW (Clark et al. 2022 – GSNSW report)
• Ar/Ar (micas, feldspar) – thermal evolution and deformational history in western NSW (Reid et al. 2023 – GSNSW/GSSA report)

Mineral systems and drillhole data

• Cobar Basin legacy drillhole dataset (Folkes and Mahoney 2024 – GSNSW report and data). Data also available via MinView
• Rapid analysis of drill core data for detection of geological boundaries (Zekri et al. 2024 – Journal of Geochemical Exploration journal article)
• Updated mineral potential mapping of the Cobar Basin (Senanayake et al. 2023 – Remote Sensing journal article)
• Cobar Basin mineral systems model for Cu-Au-Pb-Zn-Ag systems (Fitzherbert and Downes 2020 – GSNSW report)
• HyLogger data (via the AuScope Data Portal)

Hydrogeochemistry

• Mundi-Curnamona hydrogeochemistry report (Reid et al. 2024 – Geoscience Australia extended abstract)
• Forbes hydrogeochemistry report (Thorne et al. 2022 – GSNSW/CSIRO report)
• Cobar hydrogeochemistry report (Reid et al. 2021 – GSNSW/CSIRO report)
• Hydrogeochemistry data (via MinView – also Tools > Data download > Hydrogeochemistry)

Geophysics and 3D models

• 2023 Cobar–Yathong Seismic Survey:

  – Seismic data (via MinView)

  – Interpretation of the 2023 Cobar–Yathong Seismic Survey (Mahoney et al. 2024 – Exploration in the House presentation)

• Mundi AEM Survey data (via MinView)
• Cobar AEM Survey interpretation report and data package (Folkes et al. 2022 – GSNSW report)
• Cobar AEM Survey data (via MinView)

• Cobar AEM infill (via MinView)

  – Company infill A data (via MinView)

  – Company infill D data (via MinView)

  – Company infill E data (via MinView)

  – Company infill F data (via MinView)

• Cobar AMR Survey data (via MinView)
• Cobar AMR company infill data (via MinView)
• 3D model reports of the North Cobar and South Cobar areas (The data is available in Minview)

Other reports and publications

• Paleolandscape report of the Cobar region, NSW
• Ultrafine+ soil geochemistry report in the Cobar Basin (Henne et al. 2022 – CSIRO report)
• GSNSW workplan report for the MinEx CRC focus areas
• Audit and gaps reports for the North Cobar, South Cobar, Mundi, Forbes and Dubbo focus areas