Broken Hill Exploration Initiative conference 2009
Field geologists are discussing structures in feldspathic gneisses
Purnamoota Road, north of Broken Hill, NSW
The development of recent mineral projects and new exploration opportunities was the focus of over 100 delegates who attended the Broken Hill Exploration Initiative (BHEI) conference held in Broken Hill between the 29th September and 1st October. BHEI is a collaboration between Industry & Investment NSW (I&I NSW), Primary Industries and Resources SA and the Australian Government.
One of the major products released at the conference was a new 1:100 000 scale Proterozoic Interpretive Geology Map covering all of the mineral-bearing rocks in the Broken Hill region including the Adelaidean sequences in NSW. The map uses existing knowledge, new age dates and modern geophysics to refine the interpretation of rock sequences. The new map was released in provisional form at the conference by I&I NSW.
At the conference, I&I NSW also released a major suite of new geological maps extending from Broken Hill to the Tibooburra area. The maps cover the Koonenberry belt, a region which is significantly under-explored but is known to contain gold, nickel, copper, silver, lead and opal. In recent years, NSW has granted large areas of exploration licences over the newly mapped areas.
The conference was punctuated by a series of excursions to significant geological and mining sites in South Australia near Olary and in the Broken Hill region. A mid-conference trip visited the open-cut at the Pinnacles mine near Broken Hill and a three day end of conference trip ran the length of the Koonenberry Belt from Tibooburra to White Cliffs. Core from regional prospects and the Line of Lode were also on view at the E.C. Andrews Drill Core Facility.
The data and interpretations presented at the conference along with input from delegates will help to boost exploration and encourage investment in the search for new deposits to replace those currently being mined.