The Woomera prohibited area. Image: Department of Defence.

New gravity data obtained in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia have been released.

The geophysical survey was carried out over the northern part of the Gawler Craton, adjacent to a number of known highly mineralised areas, including the giant copper -uranium-gold deposit at Olympic Dam, the Challenger gold mine, the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine, and Peculiar Knob high grade iron ore mine.

The chief of Geoscience Australia’s Minerals and Natural Hazards Division, Dr Andy Barnicoat, said that preliminary analysis of the data indicated the Woomera area has significant potential for a range of mineralisation styles including Olympic Dam-type iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineral systems.

“This new pre-competitive data over a largely under-explored area will provide important information for mining and exploration companies, researchers and others to determine the mineral potential in the area,” Dr Barnicoat said.

“The new gravity data for the Woomera region creates fresh opportunities to expand Australia’s resource industry and heightens the opportunity to discover world class mineral resources in this prospective region of Australia,” he said.

The gravity data was collected by Geoscience Australia on behalf of the Geological Survey of South Australia through the State government’s PACE 2020: Plan for accelerating exploration (2010–2014) exploration initiative.

The Woomera gravity dataset comprises measurements from 34,541 new gravity stations of which 33,132 stations are spaced one kilometre apart and 1,409 were surveyed on a regular two kilometre grid, covering an area of approximately 42,500 square kilometres. These data can be downloaded via the Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System.