Prospecting in 2020

The aim will be to carry out one field trip per month in 2020 (12 trips altogether). Access agreements have been signed and now the prospecting is underway. Camping will mostly be in public areas. Everything is simple. No wastes will be left behind.

Samples of soil and rocks will be collected with minimal disturbance. Hand auger and mattock will be used to collect soils, & pick for collecting rock samples. Areas will be restored before leaving.

Soil samples and rock samples will be placed in labelled bags at the site. These samples will be prepared for analyis then submitted to ALS Orange.

The targets are likely to be under the cover of serpentinite, shale and other country rock. The soil layer is thin and eroding rapidly. The exploration areas are very propspective for metals that are produced by orogenic processes (which formed the southern tip of the New England region). Metal deposits were formed in deep oceanic water many hundreds of millions of years ago. Since then they have been covered over and intruded by other deposits. Faulting and earth movements will have caused the transport of metal sulfides to shears and stress areas in faults. Perhaps some signs can be found in the soils and surface rocks. The immediate task is to look for metallic signatures for gold, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt and other metals. Also, the existing geophysics indicates the presence of magnetic anomalies. It will be used to narrow down the targets.

In 2020 we will be reporting the results of our prospecting. Also more details will be given in the Community Meeting which is planned for later in 2020 at the Nowendoc Memorial Hall.

Landowners have frequently expressed concern that if metals are discovered, then they will lose their farm. Our reply is as follows.

Metal deposits are rare and must be highly concentrated in order for a mine to be profitable. So if our prospecting does discover a deposit which can be mined, then it will normally occupy a small area of land relative to the area of cattle farms that exist today. In other words, maybe a surface area of 10 ha would be needed for a very profitable underground mine. The landowner would benefit by receiving royalties or shares in the mining company, but does not have to sell the farm. And it would be a way of diversifying the farming activities to provide an income stream (and independent relief from income losses due to drought). Mining for metals is different from mining for coal or coal-seam-gas. Metals are usually deposited in narrow veins or in finger-like vertical intrusions. They are not formed in basin-wide deposits, as occurs with coal. So metal deposits with a surface area of 200 metres by 200 metres could produce hundreds of millions of dollars which would flow through to the miner, the landowners and community. We envisage the opportunity for the local community and indigenous peoples to participate in the ownership and deveopment of a mine, if our prospecting is successful. Also, modern mining methods for metals require rehabilitation and restoration of the habitat - so if the community gets involved they can direct the improvements for people and wildlife.