One of the largest-ever regional-scale airborne geophysics survey programs across Australia’s Top End, has begun.
The two major airborne magnetic and radiometric (AMR) geophysics surveys are funded through the Northern Territory Government’s Resourcing the Territory program and are being delivered by the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) in partnership with Geoscience Australia.
Together, the Pine Creek and Cape Scott AMR surveys will acquire modern, high-resolution data across almost 47,000 square kilometres, significantly improving magnetic and radiometric coverage to 200-metre line spacing across the western Top End.
The new datasets will enhance understanding of the region’s geology and provide explorers and researchers with publicly available geoscience information to support future exploration.
The NTGS South Georgina Ground Gravity Survey will also begin soon.
All three Northern Territory Government-funded geophysics surveys will be completed and released in 2026-27.
The two surveys
The two surveys will provide continuous high-resolution coverage across prospective areas, including the Bonaparte Basin, Fitzmaurice Basin, Carpentaria Basin, Victoria Basin, Daly Basin, Birrindudu Basin, Pine Creek Orogen and McArthur Basin.
Industry infill will increase the resolution to 100-metre line-spacing in selected areas.
Covering more than 22,000 square kilometres, the Pine Creek AMR Survey extends from Litchfield National Park in the west to Kakadu National Park in the east; and from Djukbinj National Park in the north to Katherine in the south.
The survey will deliver modern geophysical coverage across some of the Territory’s most prospective polymetallic terranes.
Covering almost 25,000 square kilometres the Cape Scott AMR Survey extends from the western coastline to Litchfield National Park; and from the Finniss River in the north to the Fitzmaurice River in the south.
This survey will provide new geophysical data across a largely underexplored region of the western Top End.
The following 1:250 000 map areas are to be fully or partially covered: Alligator River, Cape Scott, Darwin, Fergusson River, Fog Bay, Katherine, Mount Evelyn, Pine Creek and Port Keats.
