Broken Hill Exploration Initiative (BHEI)
Background
The Broken Hill Exploration Initiative (BHEI) is a collaborative arrangement between Industry and Investment NSW, Minerals, Primary Industries and Resources SA and the Commonwealth Government. Total investment in this initiative has exceeded $15 million since 1994.The NSW government supports exploration investment at Broken Hill through its New Frontiers initiative. This initiative aims to provide the best possible knowledge and information base for mineral and petroleum exploration investment in western parts of the state. Broken Hill and environs will benefit from the application of new technologies and exploration methodologies to enhance knowledge of the geological controls of mineral deposit systems.
Links to BHEI pages of collaborative organisations
Curnamona Province geology
The Curnamona Province centres about the Curnamona Craton which, in New South Wales, forms the consolidated basement and outcrops as inliers (the Broken Hill and Euriowie blocks) within the Adelaide Fold Belt and Koonenberry Belt. The cratonic units consist of strongly deformed and metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks of Palaeoproterozoic age, termed Willyama Supergroup. They host the famous super-giant silver lead and zinc deposits at Broken Hill.
Mantling the Broken Hill Block and Euriowie block is the Adelaide Fold Belt, which was formed by deformation of sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Neoproterozoic (Adelaidean) to Cambrian age during early Palaeozoic time. These rocks accumulated within, or on the edge of, the Proterozoic Australian Craton in continental (including glacial) to shelf marine environments. Rocks of the Kanmantoo Fold Belt define the edge of the Curnamona Craton, extending from South Australia to north of Tibooburra. In New South Wales, the outcropping rocks are termed the Koonenberry Belt. This belt includes Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic deep water sedimentary rocks and less abundant volcanic and shallow marine to continental sedimentary rocks. During the Middle Cambrian to Early Ordovician, the Delamerian Orogeny caused folding and metamorphism. Sedimentation and volcanism associated with the development of the adjacent Lachlan Orogen subsequently affected this region.
World class mineral deposits
The Curnamona Province is host to many and diverse mineral deposit styles. It is most famous as the host to the spectacular Broken Hill ore body. Other deposit styles present within the province include Cu-Au of the Tennant Creek/Ernest Henry type, high-grade platinum and palladium, and lode gold. Geochronology is elucidating possible links to Mount Isa Cu, Pb and Zn mineralising environments within the province. This potential was highlighted at the 2003 BHEI conference held in July 2003 at Broken Hill (see Minfo 79 article BHEI 2003: Curnamona Province - realising the potential).
The Broken Hill ore bodies are arguably the world's largest natural accumulations of base metals. An estimated 280 Mt of ore containing better than 30% combined metal existed prior to mining and the ore currently mined has grades ranging from 2.5 to 15% Pb, 20 to 300g/t Ag and 5 to 20% Zn. The oxidised portions of the Broken Hill ore zones contain exceptional lead and silver grades and a diverse range of spectacular secondary minerals.
The presence of the giant Broken Hill silver-lead-zinc deposit has led to a strong focus of modern exploration effort on this style of mineral deposit. Due to this, exploration for other commodities in the domain remains immature, despite the fact that the region has an extensive mining infrastructure and a strong, supportive mining culture. The geological setting and history, presence of favourable source and host rocks, and evidence of the occurrence of appropriate mineralising processes all indicate high prospectivity for copper and gold in the Curnamona Province and in its south eastern component, the Broken Hill Block. Proven potential exists for the presence of Fe oxide-Cu-Au class of deposits (eg, Olympic Dam, Tennant Creek, and Cloncurry District). Sediment-hosted copper (eg Mt Isa) and porphyry-skarn Cu-Au styles are also considered to be attractive exploration targets in the Broken Hill Block.
BHEI projects & products
Geological mapping
- Broken Hill Interpretive Mapping Project
- Koonenberry Geological Mapping Project
- Darling Basin geology, petroleum potential
Geophysics and remote sensing
- Broken Hill Airborne Gravity Gradiometry
- Broken Hill Airborne Hyperspectral Survey
- Koonenberry seismic line geological interpretation (GS2004/185 in DIGS®)
- Reprocessed Broken Hill radioelement data
- Thorndale gravity modelling project
Mineral deposit studies
- A critical review of the Broken Hill ore system (CSIRO report 1160R)
- Cu/Au and Au prospectivity report (GS2003/265 in DIGS®)
- NSW Mineral Exploration Database (MetIndEx) - Broken Hill deposits
- Pb-Zn systems - comparative studies Mt Isa/ Curnamona (GS2002/236 in DIGS®)
Special geology projects
- Amphibolite geochemistry and petrology - collaborative project with the Centre for Ore Deposit Research (CODES SRC University of Tasmania)
- 190 000 point field portable XRF data set
- Broken Hill sedimentology project (GS2005/020 in DIGS®)
- Curnamona audit and gaps analysis (GS2004/200 in DIGS®)
- Geochronology SHRIMP U-Pb project - collaborative study with ANU, PIRSA
- Pb Isotopes study - a collaborative project with CSIRO
- Wholerock geochemistry database
- Regolith, landform mapping and geochemistry - CRC LEME collaborative projects
Data releases
BHEI2009 conference product release
The following datasets were released at the BHEI2009 conference.
- Preliminary 1:100 000 interpretive map of the Broken Hill Proterozoic available as a high resolution rectified JPEG
- 190 000 point NITON field portable XRF dataset
- Reprocessed HyMap hyperspectral data over Broken Hill
- Reprocessed Broken Hill radioelement data. In 1995, Geoscience Australia acquired and released 160 000 line kms of airborne radioelement data over the Broken Hill Block. GSNSW reprocessed the raw spectral data using recently available radiometric data processing techniques such as spectral smoothing. This has significantly improved the sharpness and clarity of the imaged data.
- 25 m grid of the airborne magnetic data
- 2 km gridded gravity data
BHEI talks, field trip notes and products listed above are available on request from: BHEI.info@industry.nsw.gov.au
Koonenberry talks and field trip notes for BHEI2009 are available from:
Phil Gilmore, Senior Geologist, phil.gilmore@industry.nsw.gov.au, 02 4931 6533Geoscience data packages
- Eromanga-Thomson Airborne Geophysical Survey DVD (May 2006)
- Darling Basin Petroleum Data Package (September 2004)
- Broken Hill Airborne Gravity Gradiometry (July 2003)
- Broken Hill Airborne Hyperspectral Survey (May 2002)
- Darling Basin SEEBASE Report (December 2003)
- Potential for Cu-Au Systems in the Broken Hill Block CD ROM (September 2002). See GS2000/085 & GS2001/520 in DIGS®
- Broken Hill Geoscience Database (June 2002)
- Koonenberry Geoscience Database (January 2002)
Publications
- Abstracts BHEI 2009 (GA 2009/028)
- Abstracts BHEI 2006 (GA 2006/21).
- Abstracts BHEI 2003 (GA 2003/013).
- Cu-Au and Au prospectivity report (GS2003/265 in DIGS®)
- Industrial mineral opportunities in New South Wales (Geology Bulletin 33)
- Guidebook for Mineral Exploration in the Broken Hill Region (GS2002/372 in DIGS®) It is also available on mini CD - for a free copy contact: geoscience.products@industry.nsw.gov.au
- Loch Lilly-Kars belt geophysical-geological interpretation map
- Metallogenic studies of the Broken Hill and Euriowie Blocks, New South Wales - Bulletin 32 (Place Bulletin 32 in the Report Number field in DIGS®)
- Mineral Systems and Processes in New South Wales: a project to enhance understanding and assist exploration (Quarterly Notes, Issue No. 128)
- Potential for sediment hosted Pb-Zn in the Broken Hill region (GS2002/236 in DIGS®)
- The Willyama Supergroup in the Nardoo and Mount Woowoolahra Inliers (Quarterly Notes, Issue No. 119)
- Volcanic textures in the Palaeoproterozoic Hores Gneiss (Place QN113 in Report Number field in DIGS®)
BHEI Minfo articles
The following Minfo articles can be downloaded from DIGS®. To search in DIGS®, type "Minfo" into the "Report No." field followed by the edition number, and then click the "Search" button.
- BHEI 2006 - Minfo 83, 2006
- New drill core facility opened at Broken Hill - Minfo 83, 2006
- New mineral potential at Broken Hill - Minfo 79, 2003
- New exploration breakthroughs at Broken Hill - Minfo 79, 2003
- BHEI 2003: Curnamona Province - realising the potential - Minfo 79, 2003
- High copper-gold prospectivity in the Broken Hill Block - Minfo 72, 2001
- Broken Hill to benefit from new funding initiatives - Minfo 72, 2001
- New Regolith Maps for Broken Hill, an aid to exploration - Minfo 72, 2001
- The Grasmere 1:100 000 Sheet. Home to a few surprises - Minfo 70, 2001
- Recent advances in mapping and understanding of the Koonenberry Belt - Minfo 68, 2000
Contact details
Broken Hill office
Geological Survey of NSW
Industry & Investment NSW, Minerals
Level 2, 32 Sulphide Street
(PO Box 459)
Broken Hill NSW 2880Phone: (08) 8088 9300
Fax: (08) 8087 8005BHEI enquiries
Phil Blevin
Research Scientist, Minerals
Geological Survey of NSW
Industry & Investment NSW, Minerals
516 High St, Maitland, NSW 2320Phone: 02 4931 6585
Fax: 02 4931 6726
Email: BHEI.info@industry.nsw.gov.auProduct information