Minerals and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Minister for Resources and Northern Australia: Senator the Hon Matthew Canavan Secretary: Dr Heather Smith PSM Geoscience Australia Chief Executive Officer: Dr James Johnson This paper is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018

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ISBN 978-1-925848-31-1 eCat 124203

Bibliographic reference: Geoscience Australia. 2018. Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018. Professional Opinion 2018/08. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/9781925848311

Version: 1801

ii Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Executive summary

The current coexistence framework for the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) was established in 2014; it seeks to balance the interests of all users in the Area. Under this framework, the Department of Defence is the primary user of the WPA for the testing of weaponry and related war materiel. Access to the WPA by a range of non-Defence users, including Aboriginal groups, the resources sector, pastoralists and tourists, is also provided for. The coexistence framework is being reviewed in August 2018.

As part of this 2018 WPA Review, Geoscience Australia, together with the Office of the Chief Economist, has undertaken the following tasks:

 Updated the current understanding of the region’s geology;  assessed the known Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) and potentially undiscovered mineral and petroleum resources (including critical commodities) and groundwater;  documented resource exploration activities in the WPA; and  provided an economic assessment of the known mineral resources and possible future mine developments in the WPA.

Modelling of the economic impact of possible new mine developments was carried out for high-value commodities with high potential for discovery in the WPA. The commodities included in the possible future mine scenarios are gold, copper, silver, uranium, iron, titanium and zirconium. Two scenarios were modelled, conservative and optimistic.

The Net Present Value of Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $5.9 billion. The Net Present Value of possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $6.4 billion and $19 billion. Annual direct employment across the future possible mines ranges from 150 people to 1350 people per mine, with secondary employment between 70 people and 1250 people. Annual value-add across the future possible mines ranges between $8 million per mine to $920 million per mine. This 2018 assessment differs substantially in its treatment of the potential for discovery and development of a uranium mine in the WPA as compared to the 2010 assessment. Whereas the 2010 assessment included a scenario assuming that an iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit of the grade and tonnage of Olympic Dam might be discovered and developed within the WPA, the present study has excluded this possibility. This is because grade-tonnage data for IOCG deposits in the WPA region, and elsewhere in the world indicate that the Olympic Dam deposit is an extreme outlier, thus it is extremely unlikely that another Olympic Dam-sized IOCG deposit would be discovered and developed within the WPA. The WPA covers an area of approximately 122 191 km2 in South Australia and is characterised by very sparse population, an arid landscape of sandy and rocky plains, and a semi-desert climate. Buried beneath the surface, however, lie sedimentary basins and underlying basement rock sequences of the Gawler Craton, which is one of Australia’s most highly endowed mineral provinces. Twenty eight mineral deposits and over 150 mineral occurrences have been identified by explorers to date in the WPA (Figure 1). The major known mineral commodities in the WPA are copper, gold, iron, titanium, zirconium and silver. Key deposits in the WPA include the Prominent Hill copper gold and silver deposit, which also contains (currently subeconomic) resources of uranium; the Challenger gold and silver deposit; the Giffen Well and other magnetite iron deposits; the Peculiar Knob mixed hematite and magnetite iron deposit; and the Lake Phillipson and Penrhyn coal deposits. In addition to the major commodities listed above, there are a wide range of other resource occurrences, including lead, nickel, zinc, and petroleum. ‘Critical commodities’ are those that are recognised globally as metals and minerals of high economic importance but are subject to high risk of supply disruption. The Barton West heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposit contains the bulk of the titanium and zirconium (critical commodity) resources in the WPA. Other critical commodities identified in the WPA include the rare-earth elements (REE), platinum-group elements (PGE), potash, chromium and tungsten. None of the critical commodity resources in the WPA are currently being produced.

Two mines are currently operating in the WPA: the Prominent Hill copper-gold and silver mine and the Challenger gold and silver mine. Additionally, the Cairn Hill iron and copper mine and the Peculiar Knob iron mine, are currently under care and maintenance (Figure 1). At present, there are over 50 mineral and petroleum exploration companies holding 143 mineral exploration and 54 petroleum or sequestration exploration licenses. In 2017, $5.3 million were spent on mineral and petroleum exploration within the WPA. This is a significant reduction from the peak expenditure in 2012, when over $90 million was spent on exploration in the WPA. This follows similar national mineral and petroleum exploration expenditure trends; the total exploration expenditure throughout Australia was $2178.2 million in 2017, and in 2012, $4678.9 million.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 iii

Figure 1 Mineral occurrences, deposits and operating mines, and petroleum wells in the WPA.

An assessment of the potential for undiscovered mineral and petroleum resources has been conducted by considering the results of Geoscience Australia’s 2010 WPA assessment and by updating those findings as far as practicable within the available time of the present Review. Overall, this assessment confirms the results of the 2010 assessment and shows that many parts of the WPA have moderate to high potential for the discovery of new mineral and petroleum resources (Figure 2). Analysis of new data by this 2018 assessment has also identified additional areas with potential for groundwater resources in the WPA.

There is high potential for the discovery of new deposits, similar to those already known, especially of copper, gold, silver, iron, titanium and zirconium and uranium. Some of these deposits may contain economic REE and other critical commodities.

iv Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 2 Combined resource potential in the WPA (including mineral, coal and petroleum resources).

Using Geoscience Australia’s geological data and knowledge, the Office of the Chief Economist has conducted economic assessments of the current known gold, copper, silver, iron ore and coal resources in the WPA, and possible future mine developments. These values have been estimated using projected commodity prices and the best available data on costs. These valuations are based on a range of assumptions, and should be read in conjunction with the commentary in Sections 2.3 and Appendix A.2, and in the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018) report.

Although new geoscientific data and information have become available for the WPA since 2010, and would be expected to impact assessments of prospectivity of the WPA, it has only been possible to consider a limited number of these new datasets in the current assessment. To provide a more robust assessment of the undiscovered resource potential in the WPA than has been possible in this 2018 assessment, a number of recommendations are made to ensure a sufficient evidence base is available for future reviews of the WPA coexistence framework.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 v

Contents

Executive summary ...... iii Contents ...... vi Acronyms ...... viii 1 Introduction ...... 9 1.1 Geology ...... 9 1.1.1 Key changes to datasets since 2010 ...... 10 1.2 Exploration ...... 12 1.2.1 Mineral exploration ...... 12 1.2.2 Petroleum exploration ...... 14 1.2.3 Factors influencing exploration ...... 17 2 Methodology ...... 22 2.1 Resource quantification and exploration ...... 22 2.1.1 Data ...... 22 2.1.2 Resource classification ...... 23 2.1.3 Additional terminology ...... 23 2.2 Undiscovered resources ...... 24 2.3 Economic value of mineral resources ...... 25 2.3.1 ‘Known’ mineral resource valuations ...... 25 2.3.2 Valuing possible future mine developments...... 25 2.3.3 Economic impact of possible future mine developments ...... 27 3 Commodities in the WPA ...... 28 3.1 Major mineral commodities...... 28 3.1.1 Copper ...... 28 3.1.2 Gold ...... 32 3.1.3 Iron ...... 36 3.1.4 Uranium ...... 41 3.2 Critical commodities ...... 44 3.2.1 Rare earth elements ...... 45 3.2.2 Platinum-group elements ...... 47 3.2.3 Titanium, zirconium ...... 49 3.2.4 Potash ...... 51 3.2.5 Chromium ...... 52 3.3 Other mineral commodities ...... 53 3.3.1 Silver ...... 53 3.3.2 Lead and zinc ...... 56 3.3.3 Nickel ...... 58 3.4 Coal and petroleum ...... 61 3.4.1 Coal ...... 61 3.4.2 Petroleum...... 65 4 Potential economic impact of modelled mineral resource development in the WPA ...... 69 Conclusion ...... 70 References ...... 72 Appendix A Assessment methodology ...... 74 A.1 Resource classification ...... 74 vi Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 A.2 Economics method ...... 75 A.2.1 Valuing mineral resources ...... 75 A.2.2 Economic impacts ...... 79 Appendix B Mineral resource potential maps ...... 81 B.1 Copper ...... 81 B.2 Gold ...... 83 B.3 Iron ...... 86 B.4 Uranium ...... 88 B.5 Rare earth elements ...... 92 B.6 Petroleum ...... 94 Appendix C Occurrences, deposits, mines and petroleum wells ...... 97 Appendix D Exploration licenses in the WPA ...... 108

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 vii

Acronyms

Table 1 Acronyms used in this report.

Acronym Definition AERA Australian Energy Resources Assessment ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics AME Australian Mineral Economics Group ASX Australian Securities Exchange BIF Banded iron formation CFR Cost and Freight CGE Computable General Equilibrium CIP Carbon in pulp CSG Coal seam gas EDR Economic Demonstrated Resource EL Exploration lease FOB Free on Board GA Geoscience Australia GAB Great Artesian Basin GDP Gross Domestic Product GSP Gross State Product HMS Heavy mineral sands I-O Input-Output IOGC Iron oxide-copper-gold JORC Joint Ore Reserve Committee LBMA London Bullion Market Association LME London Metals Exchange LNG Liquid natural gas NPV Net Present Value OBPR Office of Best Practise Regulation OCE Office of the Chief Economist PACE Plan for Accelerating Exploration PGE Platinum-group element PEPR Program for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation PRMS Petroleum Resources Management System REE Rare earth element SARIG South Australian Resources Information Gateway SEEA System of Environmental-Economic Accounting SNA System of National Accounts TMI Total magnetic intensity USGS United States Geological Survey WPA Woomera Prohibited Area

viii Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 1 Introduction

The WPA lies approximately 450 km northwest of Adelaide in central South Australia and covers an area of approximately 122 191 km2. The WPA is a military testing range and a key asset in Australia’s defence capability development. It is also an area of potential economic importance in terms of its natural resources, home to Aboriginal communities and pastoralists, and is increasingly an asset as a tourism destination.

In May 2010, the Australian Government announced the Woomera Review to examine the short- and long-term (20–30 years) national security and economic interests in the WPA. The 2010 Review led to the establishment of a coexistence framework that balances the interests of all users in the area. The implementation of the 2018 Review of the Woomera Prohibited Area is a recommendation of the 2010 WPA Review. The current Review seeks to ensure the coexistence framework is contemporary and appropriately supports the operational requirements of the Department of Defence, and the needs of non-defence users, consistent with Australia’s national security requirements.

Geoscience Australia has undertaken a review of, and where appropriate updated, Geoscience Australia’s report to the 2010 Review (Geoscience Australia, 2010) in order to provide an improved understanding of the geology, of current and future resources (including critical commodities), and of exploration activities in the WPA. New geological mapping in support of this assessment is limited to incorporating new datasets key to understanding the critical commodity (platinum-group elements and potash), nickel, copper, and groundwater potential in the area. Although a number of additional major new geoscientific datasets have been acquired since the 2010 Review, due to time constraints, the current assessments of undiscovered resource potential of most of the mineral and petroleum commodities did not include these new data. In conjunction with the Office of the Chief Economist, this revised geological and resource information has been used to inform a robust analysis of the current economic value of the known mineral resources in the WPA, and also the value of possible future mines in the WPA.

1.1 Geology

The generalised geology of the WPA is presented in Figure 3. The maps shows the distribution of the Eromanga, Arckaringa, Officer, Arrowie and Warburton sedimentary basins (Figure 3a) that overlie the Archean (~3000 million year age (Ma)) to Neoproterozoic (~542 Ma) basement rocks (Figure 3b).

In the southern half of the WPA, basement rocks of the Gawler Craton are overlain by a thin cover of younger sedimentary rocks. The Gawler Craton hosts the world-class Olympic Dam iron-oxide-copper-gold-uranium deposit just outside the eastern edge of the WPA, and also the Prominent Hill copper-gold-uranium-silver deposit, the Carrapateena copper-gold deposit in the northern and eastern parts of the Gawler Craton, respectively, and numerous gold prospects in the central Gawler gold province.

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Figure 3 Geology of the WPA showing (a) sedimentary basins of differing age, and (b) distribution of basement rocks of the Gawler Craton. Source: Government of South Australia Department of State Development (2018); Geoscience Australia.

1.1.1 Key changes to datasets since 2010

A number of key datasets have been, or are currently being acquired or revised in the WPA since the completion of Geoscience Australia’s 2010 assessment. The second edition of the Woomera Prohibited Area Atlas of Geoscience and Exploration Data is a new compilation of open file spatial mapping and exploration information within the WPA, published by the Geological Survey of

10 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 South Australia. It is scheduled for release in August 2018, and will include many of the datasets acquired since 2010 as shown in Table 2 below. The updates to the geological ‘domains’, cover thickness, geophysics (gravity, magnetic, radiometric, magnetotelluric), and newly interpreted solid geology datasets in particular may significantly revise the current understanding of resource potential in the WPA. This revised understanding, and the improved availability of geoscientific data will also assist companies in their exploration activities in the area.

With the exception of the PGEs, nickel and potash, the 2018 assessments of potential for undiscovered resources of the mineral and petroleum commodities did not include these new data due to time constraints. Assessments of the WPA mineral potential utilising the newly available datasets might deliver different results; however, without such analysis it is not possible to state which areas may show differing prospectivity.

Table 2 Updated and new datasets available for the WPA region since 2010.

Dataset / Initiative Reference (if known) Land access and administration

Pastoral Stations

Native Titles Major Mines and Advanced Projects Active Exploration Licences Geology Surface Geology Regolith Geology Sedimentary Basins Solid Geology Geophysics Gravity Residual Gravity Gravity Stations 2013 WPA Gravity Survey Stations Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI) WPA – TMI (RTP) 1st Vertical Derivative WPA – Gravity overlain by 1st Vertical Derivative of TMI (RTP) Pseudo Gravity of TMI Tilt of TMI Government Airborne Geophysical Surveys Company Airborne Geophysical Surveys Gawler Craton Airborne Surveys Airborne Geophysical Surveys with line spacing < 400m Radiometrics – Uranium Radiometrics – Thorium Radiometrics – Potassium Radiometrics – U2/Th Radiometrics – Total Count Magnetotelluric and Airborne Electromagnetic Survey coverage Drillholes and rock samples Depth to Basement – Crystalline Basement Intersecting Drillholes Drillholes with Stratigraphy PACE Co-funded drillholes

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Dataset / Initiative Reference (if known) Drillholes with HyLogger™ Data Historic exploration Mineral Deposits and Occurrences Interpretive datasets / key research papers Jaireth et al. (2012); Mernagh et al. Salt lakes prospective for potash – map and report (2013) Potential for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits in Australia – map and report Dulfer et al. (2016) The crustal geophysical signature of a world-class magmatic mineral system Heinson et al. (2018) Groundwater WASANT Palaeovalleys Bell et al. (2012) Great Artesian Basin (GAB) Atlas digital datasets Ransley et al. (2015) GAB 3D aquifer model Bureau of Meteorology (2018) Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Atlas Bureau of Meteorology (2017) GAB Springs digital dataset Fensham and Fairfax (2005)

Source: Modified from a summary table provided by the Geological Survey of South Australia, July 2018.

1.2 Exploration

Industry carries out exploration to search for new minerals or petroleum resources. Exploration may lead to the discovery of new resources providing a pipeline of projects that can be developed into new mines or wells for extraction.

More than $37,412 million were spent on mineral and onshore petroleum exploration in Australia between 2005 and 2017, averaging $2878 million per year, and peaking at $4679 million in 2012. Approximately 12 per cent of this was spent in South Australia and one per cent in the WPA. Total exploration expenditure in the WPA averaged $40.7 million between 2005 and 2017, reaching a peak of nearly $93 million in 2012. Nationally, the search for minerals accounted for three quarters of onshore exploration expenditure between 2005 and 2017, only falling below 75 per cent of total expenditure for three years between 2013 and 2015, when mineral exploration accounted for approximately 61 per cent of exploration expenditure nationally. In South Australia, the division of expenditure between minerals and petroleum exploration expenditure is almost equal, with mineral exploration accounting for approximately 52 per cent of total expenditure. In the WPA, exploration expenditure is even more heavily weighted towards mineral exploration with more than 98 per cent of exploration expenditure between 2005 and 2017 spent on mineral exploration.

1.2.1 Mineral exploration

Since 2005, there has been interest in exploring for a range of mineral commodities including, gold, copper, heavy mineral sands, Iron ore, coal, diamonds, nickel, tin, graphite, kaolin and uranium in the WPA. In 2017, the top three commodities by exploration expenditure in the WPA were gold, copper and Iron ore. There are currently 143 mineral exploration licences, held by over 40 companies within the WPA (Figure 4; Appendix Table D.1).

12 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 4 Mineral exploration licenses and drillholes in and near the WPA.

Total Australian mineral exploration expenditure, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, decreased by 0.8 per cent, to $1426.9 million in 2016, followed by a 2017 increase of 23 per cent to $1753.8 million (Figure 5). In 2017, exploration expenditure in the WPA amounted to $5.3 million which is 11 per cent of South Australia’s exploration expenditure of $46.2 million. When compared to the national exploration expenditure of $1753.8 million, South Australia accounted for 3 per cent of this national total and the WPA accounted for less than 1 per cent. In line with national exploration data, South Australia and the WPA experienced a rise in expenditure in 2007–08 and during the mining boom in 2011–12. However, since 2012, exploration has declined in South Australia and in the WPA.

The total of exploration drilling in the WPA amounted to 9000 metres over 457 drillholes in 2017. This represents 10 per cent of South Australia’s total exploration drilling of 97,200 metres drilled over 1434 drillholes (Figure 6). Mineral exploration drilling has been quite evenly distributed spatially across the WPA, apart from in the south eastern corner. Drilling completed since 2010 has been concentrated around the Golf Bore prospects in the centre of the WPA and the Sherrin and Paling Range heavy minerals sands prospects on the western edge of the WPA.

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Figure 5 Mineral exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Figure 6 Mineral exploration wells and metres drilled nationally, in WPA, South Australia and in the WPA, 2005–2017.

1.2.2 Petroleum exploration

Petroleum exploration has occurred only sporadically in the WPA between 2005 and 2017. Exploration targets included conventional and shale gas and oil, and coal seam gas and potential coal gasification projects. There are currently 54 petroleum or carbon sequestration exploration licenses held in the WPA by six companies (Figure 7; Appendix Table D.2).

14 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 7 Petroleum and carbon sequestration exploration licenses, and petroleum wells in and near the WPA.

Nationally, onshore petroleum exploration expenditure more than quadrupled since 2005 to reach a peak of $1433.2 million in 2014 (Figure 8). Between 2015 and 2016, expenditure declined dramatically to sub-2005 levels, before recovering slightly in 2017. Petroleum expenditure in South Australia has followed these trends nearly doubling between 2005 and 2014 to reach $297.1 million, before declining markedly in 2015–2016 to sub-2005 levels. Exploration expenditure recovered slightly in 2017 reaching $177.6 million. Between 2005–2008 and 2016–2017 there was zero petroleum expenditure in the WPA. In 2010–2011 petroleum expenditure in the WPA peaked, reaching approximately $5 million dollars and accounting for almost 8 per cent of the total petroleum expenditure in South Australia. Only three petroleum exploration wells were drilled inside the WPA in the period 2005–2017; this is less than 0.3 per cent of the 1085 petroleum wells drilled across South Australia in the same period (Figure 9). Petroleum exploration drilling is sparse across the WPA, but is most concentrated in the north western portion which covers parts of the Officer Basin, and over the Phillipson, Penrhyn, Wallira and Boorthanna troughs targeting coal- and gas-bearing shales. Approximately 0.06 per cent of the total petroleum exploration metres drilled in South Australia 2005–2017 were in the WPA. WPA petroleum exploration drilling meterage as a proportion of the State-wide metres drilled total peaked in 2010 at 1.4 per cent when William Creek 1 (914 m) was drilled.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 15

Figure 8 Onshore petroleum exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Figure 9 Onshore petroleum exploration wells and metres drilled in WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

16 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 1.2.3 Factors influencing exploration

A range of geological, economic and policy factors influence the quality and quantity of exploration and resource commercialisation. These factors include the geological nature of the target resource, availability of quality pre-competitive geoscience data, exploration technologies, land access, resource conflicts, commodity prices, the availability of appropriately skilled professionals and risk tolerant capital, and ready access to appropriate markets. Uncertainties and a lack of transparency associated with the resource development process, such as those around changing exploration and development governance frameworks, approval processes, access areas etc. are some of the key deterrents to explorers. In addition to the availability of data (discussed in Section 1.1.1) and the geological nature of the resources in the WPA (discussed in Section 3), this report has focussed on evaluating three key geological or spatial factors which will directly influence the discovery and development of resources in the WPA in the near term: depth of cover, groundwater and infrastructure.

Depth of cover

The degree of overburden or ‘cover’ explorers have to penetrate to explore through, or remove in order to extract resources, is a key factor affecting the economic viability of projects. What is classified as ‘cover’ depends on the resource being explored for; in simple terms cover includes all rocks above the resource an explorer is trying to extract. For true basement-hosted resources such as those present in rocks of the Gawler Craton in the WPA, the thickness of ‘cover’ can be significantly greater than for those resources (e.g. sedimentary hosted minerals, or petroleum) hosted in the shallower sedimentary basins overlying it. Figure 10 shows the depth of cover for basement-hosted resources in the WPA; the thickness of cover for these resources ranges from zero (where basement rocks crop out at the surface) to more than 3500 m beneath the Officer Basin in the northwest of the WPA. Petroleum exploration targets are found at a range of depths depending on the basin being explored, the formations being targeted, and local geological variations. Complex 3D models are required to map and image these exploration targets in detail, but compiled drillhole data can be used as an approximate guide where the 3D data are not available. For example, it is known that the Mount Toondina Formation, a key coal, coal seam gas and shale gas target in the WPA occurs at depths between 0 m and 713 m (Geoscience Australia, 2010). Generally, exploration targets in the youngest basin in the WPA, the Eromanga Basin, occur at depths between 1200–3000 m. In the Arckaringa Basin, exploration targets generally occur at depths between 300–1500 m, while in the underlying Arrowie Basin they occur at depths between <1000–1700 m. In the Warburton Basin exploration targets occur at depths between 1400–3600 m, while exploration targets in the oldest basin in the WPA, the Officer Basin generally occur at depths between 200–2000 m, but may be as deep as 3500 m in the WPA (Petroleum South Australia, 2018a, b, c, d, f).

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Figure 10 Depth of cover in the WPA (Source: Government of South Australia Department of State Development, 2017).

Groundwater

Groundwater is a key consideration in any exploration activity, both when evaluating any potential environmental impacts of a development, and as a critical resource required for the extraction and processing of mineral and petroleum resources. Groundwater is already used as the water supply for the Challenger, Prominent Hill, Jacinth-Ambrosia and Olympic Dam mining operations in the WPA region. Groundwater is also the principal water supply for nearby towns such as Roxby Downs.

Groundwater in the WPA is hosted in both palaeovalley aquifers and aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB; Figure 11); groundwater can also be accessed in the Arckaringa and Officer basins which are deeper, and geologically older than the GAB. Palaeovalleys within the area are variably saturated (Bell et al., 2012) and reach depths of up to 100 m. Palaeochannels provide the most readily accessible groundwater in the WPA. However, the nature and location of these ancient river systems results in a highly variable resource distribution. The GAB aquifers are present over much of the area and host significant groundwater resources. The GAB is either exposed at surface or overlain by a regional aquitard, in which case the top of the aquifer reaches depths of up to ~400 m (Ransley et al., 2015; Bureau of Meteorology, 2018). The Eucla Basin Coastal Barrier represents a series of high beach ridges that terminate or obscure most of the palaeovalley systems, and effectively marks the limit of the palaeovalleys in the southwest of the WPA.

Groundwater in the WPA is generally suitable for stock and domestic use, although concentrations of some ions may be high to extreme. A first-order estimate of the total groundwater resources of the palaeodrainage network throughout the region indicated that a saline groundwater resource of ~12 x 109 m3 may be available. Palaeovalley aquifers demonstrate a high

18 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 potential as saline groundwater resources, and may represent a viable long-term water resource (Lewis et al., 2013). Water quality generally ranges from about 5000–70,000 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS; high to extreme) (Magee, 2009), low alkalinity, and neutral to slightly acidic pH. Total dissolved solids are dominated by sodium and chloride, with high concentrations for most other ions, except fluoride (Ransley et al., 2015). As discussed in Section 3.1.4, palaeovalleys and some of the sandstone aquifers may host uranium mineralisation; uranium levels may also be high in groundwater. Palaeovalley aquifers are, in places, likely to be hydraulically connected to underlying fractured and weathered bedrock aquifers (Lewis et al., 2013) including the GAB.

Figure 11 Key groundwater system components within the WPA.

Studies undertaken since the previous WPA assessment verify and expand upon the work presented at that time. The WASANT Palaeovalley Map (Bell et al., 2012) has extended the mapped distribution of palaeovalleys, and incorporates previously mapped palaeochannels within the broader palaeovalley system. As a result, the potential resource area for groundwater has increased. Palaeovalleys in this region act as water table drains, channelling groundwater from the GAB toward Kati – Thanda (Lake Eyre), the Officer Basin, or the Eucla Basin. Updated geological mapping (Keppel et al., 2013; Ransley et al., 2015) has also refined the extents of the GAB. Within the study area a significant portion of the GAB aquifer either outcrops or subcrops, forming a potential recharge area for the western GAB. To the northeast, a NW trending band marks the outcrop extent of the regional GAB aquitard overlying the main aquifer. This aquitard has been eroded further to the east, resulting in the aquifer being exposed at or near the surface. Where the aquitard is present, GAB groundwater will be confined and at depths of up to 400 m, making it more difficult to access than where the aquitard is not present. Other sources of groundwater in the WPA are the Arckaringa and Officer basins, with minor accessible

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 19

groundwater occurrences in basement rocks. Key aspects of the Arckaringa Basin groundwater system are summarised in Keppel et al. (2014) and Miles et al. (2015).

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems mapping (Bureau of Meteorology, 2016) highlights that ecological features in the WPA have a moderate to high dependence on groundwater. In addition, the north eastern part of the area contains numerous springs and waterholes that are associated with discharge from the GAB (Fensham and Fairfax, 2005; Gotch 2013; Gotch et al., 2016), including spring complexes that may be protected under South Australian and Commonwealth environmental legislation. See references and dataset links for more detailed information.

In order to gain a more complete understanding of groundwater, and the possible impacts of mineral and petroleum exploration (and other major development projects) on groundwater resources and groundwater-dependent ecosystems in the WPA, the datasets acquired since 2010 need to be interpreted collectively, and further detailed information on the distribution and interrelation of various components of the groundwater systems more fully collected to provide a more robust groundwater resource characterisation and water balance to be derived. Together this work would further de-risk exploration and resource use in the WPA.

Infrastructure

The distance an exploration company has to cover by building their own infrastructure, or transport ore in order to tap into key existing infrastructure networks (for example roads, railways, processing plants and pipelines etc.) can be the critical threshold between a project being economically viable or unviable. Figure 12 shows the major infrastructure within and surrounding the WPA.

Within the boundaries of the WPA there are two mineral processing plants. The Prominent Hill mine has a conventional crushing and flotation plant onsite, while the Challenger mine has a conventional crusher and a carbon-in-pulp plant (CIP). The Challenger plant also processes ore form the Tarcoola mine. The Peculiar Knob mine has a crusher and screener unit onsite but is currently in care and maintenance. The nearest processing outside the WPA is at Olympic Dam approximately 15 km east of the WPA; Olympic Dam also has a crushing plant on site. The crushing plant at the Tarcoola mine is approximately 8 km south of the WPA boundary (Figure 12).

The WPA has good rail infrastructure with the standard gauge Ghan and the Indian Pacific rail lines close to or within the WPA (Figure 12). The Ghan rail line runs from Adelaide to Darwin via Tarcoola, and bisects the WPA from Tarcoola in the south to near Coober Pedy in the north. The Indian Pacific rail line runs from Sydney to Perth via Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. The India Pacific line follows the southern boundary of the WPA from Woomera in the east, via Tarcoola near the centre of the WPA’s southern border, and on westward towards Western Australia. The township of Tarcoola is the location of the rail junction of the Ghan and the Indian Pacific rail lines.

Road infrastructure in the WPA is also good, with a major road running through the centre of the WPA (Figure 12). The Stuart Highway runs from Adelaide to Darwin via major centres of Alice Springs and Port Augusta. This sealed highway follows the south eastern edge of the WPA from the townships of Woomera to Glendambo. The highway then runs though the WPA north/south from Glendambo in the south to Coober Pedy in the north. A heavy-haulage capable-road runs up the eastern border of the WPA, connecting Woomera with Roxby Downs and Williams Creek on north eastern corner of the WPA, and also ultimately with Coober Pedy north of the WPA. A network of minor roads also criss-cross the WPA, but are unlikely to be suitable for heavy haulage.

In addition to road and rail access, there are also numerous airports and airfields are located within or near the WPA (Figure 12). There are two public airports located near the WPA region at Coober Pedy and Port Augusta. There is also a private airport at Olympic Dam that offers public services from Olympic Dam to Adelaide. The Prominent Hill and Challenger mine sites have dedicated private airfields which provide access to the mines for fly-in fly-out staff. Mains power to Woomera and Olympic Dam on the south-eastern corner of the WPA is initially supplied via 275 kV then via 132 kV transmission lines (Figure 12). Other regional towns and mine sites in and near the WPA (e.g. Tarcoola and Coober Pedy) are supplied via local power generation from diesel generation plants.

The closest oil pipeline to the WPA is the Moomba to Port Bonython liquids pipeline which is approximately 140 km south east of the WPA at its closest point (Figure 12). The closest trunk gas pipeline is the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline which runs 240 km east of the WPA at its closest point. These two pipelines transport gas and oil from producing fields in the Cooper Basin nearly 400 km north east of the WPA to processing plants and the eastern Australia gas market. A 100 km long lateral gas pipeline

20 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 connects the Moomba to Adelaide gas pipeline with Whyalla; a second short gas lateral provides gas to the Four Mile mine approximately 270 km east of the WPA.

The Moomba processing facility and the Port Bonython processing and export facility are the closest petroleum processing plants to the WPA. The Moomba processing facility processes and stores oil and gas produced from the Cooper Basin. Liquids from Moomba are piped to the Port Bonython processing plant and export facility near Whyalla, and gas is ultimately delivered via a 790 km pipeline to Adelaide.

Figure 12 Infrastructure in and near the WPA.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 21

2 Methodology

This study describes the geology, known and undiscovered resources (including critical commodities and groundwater), and exploration activities within the WPA. In conjunction with the Office of the Chief Economist, the revised geological and resource information from this report has been used to inform an economic assessment of the ‘known’ mineral resources and possible future mine developments in the WPA. This section documents the methodological approaches, datasets used to complete the assessment, and limitations.

2.1 Resource quantification and exploration

2.1.1 Data

To document our understanding of the ‘known’ resource potential in the WPA, the deposits and occurrences in the area and numerical assessments of the mineral and petroleum resources (where available) are described in this report. In addition, a brief summary of the exploration activity and expenditure for each of the commodities evaluated is provided for the WPA, for South Australia and for Australia. The datasets used for these purposes are shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3 Commodity location, resource and exploration activity data used in this report.

Dataset Reference Notes Basic data Woomera Prohibited Area, SARIG, downloaded July outer boundary and access 2018 zones

All mines and mineral deposits SARIG, downloaded July  Includes mineral occurrences. Minor modifications to 2018 commodity assemblages, names, and deposit status by Geoscience Australia, July 2018. Australian Operating Mines Map Geoscience Australia 2017

Petroleum well header data PBEncom GPInfo and SARIG,  Petroleum wells data compiled from both sources by downloaded July 2018 Geoscience Australia, July 2018.

Petroleum shows PBEncom GPInfo,  Shows data partially revised by Geoscience Australia, July downloaded July 2018 2018. Resources data

Mineral resources data Geoscience Australia,  Resource data included in economic modelling current as at Australia's Identified Mineral 31 December 2016. Resources, 2017 Petroleum resources data Geoscience Australia, Australian Energy Resources Assessment, July 2018. Exploration activity data

Exploration licenses SARIG, downloaded July  The commodities sought in each exploration license are (mineral/opal); Applications, 2018 indicative only at the time of application. exploration license  Only current exploration licenses have been included in the (mineral/opal); Exploration commodity specific statistics in text. release areas  ‘Primary exploration companies’ in the WPA are currently defined using only the number of exploration licenses held in this report due to time constraints.

22 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Dataset Reference Notes

Petroleum, geothermal, PBEncom GPInfo,  The commodities sought in each exploration license are sequestration exploration downloaded July 2018 indicative only. licenses  Only current exploration licenses have been included in the commodity specific statistics in text.  ‘Primary exploration companies’ in the WPA are currently defined using only the number of exploration licenses held in this report due to time constraints.

Gold, copper, silver, Iron ore AME Group; S&P Global  Historic production data for Cairn Hill, Peculiar Knob production data Market Intelligence (Southern), Prominent Hill and Challenger mines.

Coal production data Department of Industry,  South Australian black saleable coal data. Innovation and Science, Resources and Energy Quarterly Historical Data, June, 2018

State and WPA drilling statistics Compiled by the South  Includes number of holes drilled, and metres drilled statistics. 2005 – 2017 Australian Government (2018)  Petroleum exploration statistics include geothermal exploration activity.  WPA statistics include data from the Billa Kalina, Barton, Coober Pedy, Giles, Kingoonya, Tallaringa and Tarcoola map sheets.

State and WPA mineral Compiled by the South  WPA statistics include data from the Billa Kalina, Barton, exploration expenditure data Australian Government (2018) Coober Pedy, Giles, Kingoonya, Tallaringa and Tarcoola map 2005 – 2017 sheets.

State and WPA petroleum Compiled by the South  Petroleum exploration statistics include geothermal exploration expenditure data Australian Government (2018) exploration activity. 2005 – 2017  WPA statistics include data from the Billa Kalina, Barton, Coober Pedy, Giles, Kingoonya, Tallaringa and Tarcoola map sheets.

Mineral and Petroleum Australian Bureau of Statistics  National exploration expenditure and drilling activity dataset. Exploration dataset, 2017 datasets, downloaded July 2018

2.1.2 Resource classification

Minerals companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange report resource information according to the Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) Code categories. The JORC Code classifies resources according to the geological (un)certainty and the commercial readiness of the resource. In this report Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) are presented as the ‘known’ resources in the WPA. The Economic Demonstrated Resources category combines the JORC categories ‘Proved Reserves’, ‘Probable Reserves’, plus ‘Measured Resources’ and ‘Indicated Resources’ as shown in Appendix Figure A.1. Economic Demonstrated Resource is the highest category in the national inventory and is considered to provide a reasonable and objective estimate of what is likely to be available for mining in the long term. Inferred resources are a category of resources where the geological certainty is lower; for these resources the geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade (or quality) continuity. Refer to Australia's Identified Mineral Resources (2013) for further details on mineral resource classifications.

2.1.3 Additional terminology

Key additional terms used to describe resources in this report are:

 Undiscovered resource – Where there is evidence for a mineral or petroleum system in an area, but there has not yet been enough exploratory work completed in order to confirm that a ‘discovery’ has been made.  Deposit – Mineral deposits are naturally occurring accumulations or concentrations of metals or minerals of sufficient size and concentration that might, under favourable circumstances, have economic value.  Mineral system – A collective term for a set of geological processes that control the formation and preservation of mineral deposits. Mineral systems theory is commonly used to assist in understanding why deposits occur where they do, and to provide a predictive geological framework for exploration.  Occurrence – A location where a particular mineral, mineral assemblage or commodity is observed to be present is called an ‘occurrence’. The term occurrence does not have any resource or economic implications.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 23

 Petroleum – Petroleum as used in this report refers to both gas and oil.

Similar to the JORC code, oil and gas resources in Australia are classified according to the level of geological and commercial readiness using the Petroleum Resources Management System, 2007 (PRMS; Appendix Figure A.2). The Reserves category represents the petroleum resources most likely to be commercially viable, and would represent the ‘known’ petroleum resource in the WPA if present. Contingent resources are less certain than reserves. These are resources that are potentially recoverable but not yet considered mature enough for commercial development due to technological or business hurdles. Prospective resources represent quantities of petroleum which are estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from oil and gas deposits identified on the basis of indirect evidence but which have not yet been drilled. This class represents a higher risk than contingent resources since the risk of discovery is also added. Prospective resources are the only petroleum resource type currently known to be present in the WPA.

2.2 Undiscovered resources

The study draws to a significant extent on the assessment undertaken in 2010 by Geoscience Australia (Geoscience Australia, 2010). The results of the 2010 assessment have been reviewed in light of changes in the types and quantities of new data covering the WPA, and also consider any exploration and discoveries of new resources in the WPA since 2010. For several commodities (nickel, copper, platinum-group elements, and potash) new mineral potential map data have become available since 2010 (for the Australian continent) and updated and/or new assessments of these commodities for the WPA have been included in the present report. In the case of several other commodities, uranium, copper and gold, detailed assessments of mineral potential were undertaken by Geoscience Australia covering the eastern third of the WPA (east of longitude 135° east) as part of a broader regional study (Huston and van der Wielen, 2011). The results of this study were also considered in the present assessment of the WPA.

It can be assumed that metals and other commodities of interest are concentrated within specific and characteristic rocks and geological settings (mineral systems). Thus, the potential for undiscovered resources in the WPA can be illustrated using maps of particular mineral systems. Maps of undiscovered resources in this report are, in most cases, the same as in GA’s 2010 assessment (Geoscience Australia, 2010). A revised map is presented for nickel, copper and platinum-group elements (PGEs), and a new map has been included for potash. The composite resource potential maps have been revised to incorporate these new data. Unlike in the 2010 assessment, groundwater potential has not been formally assessed as a commodity. However, new groundwater data have been presented in Figure 11. In this report, the potential for most commodities was assessed using a single method based on one developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as described in detail in the 2010 assessment (Geoscience Australia, 2010). However, two different methods were used in assessing the potential for nickel, copper, platinum-group elements (Dulfer et al., 2016) and potash (Jaireth et al., 2012; Mernagh et al., 2013). The three different methods used are not inconsistent, because all rely upon an understanding of the geology of the region of interest and on knowledge of how ore deposits form. Nevertheless, differences in the presentation of the results have necessitated some simplifications and generalisations, which are described briefly below.

The USGS-based method, utilised to assess the potential for undiscovered resources of most of the commodities in this report, involves the following steps:

 Assembling knowledge of how particular types of mineral deposits form within mineral provinces globally (mineral deposit models),  recognition in the area of interest (in this case, WPA) of the geological characteristics typically associated with particular types of mineral deposits world-wide,  selection of ‘tracts’ or sub-areas with geology judged qualitatively by a group of experts to be favourable for a particular type of mineral deposit, and  assignment of mineral potential (high, moderate or low) to the tracts based on qualitative assessment of available geoscientific data (geological, geochemical, geophysical). If there are insufficient data to classify the areas then the mineral resource potential is categorised as unknown.

The method used for mapping nickel and PGE mineral potential in the WPA was developed by Geoscience Australia for an assessment of the entire Australian continent for a particular globally significant deposit type containing nickel, copper and PGE (Dulfer et al., 2016). The mineral potential for the WPA is an excerpt of the national map and represents the prospectivity for

24 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 nickel, copper and PGE associated with rocks that originated in the mantle of the Earth. The method differs from that of the USGS in the way that the ‘ingredients’ of the ore-forming systems are conceptualised and mapped, and also in how geological, geochemical and geophysical map features are combined within the mapping software tool (Geographic Information System, or GIS). The resultant map of prospectivity (Dulfer et al., 2016) shows a continuous range of values from high to low mineral potential. For the purposes of this report, the results are placed into five categories, each representing one standard deviation in the range of prospectivity values in the original map of Dulfer et al. (2016). We have qualitatively assigned these five categories ‘high’, ‘medium-high’, ‘medium’, medium-low’ and ‘low’ mineral potential.

The potential of the Australian continent for potash, a potassium-bearing mineral that is critically important in the production of fertilisers, was assessed by Geoscience Australia in 2013 (Jaireth et al., 2012, 2013; Mernagh et al., 2013). The study focussed on the potential of salt lake systems to host potash, lithium and boron and uranium. For potash potential, salt lakes were classified into five categories based on the potassium concentrations of rocks and groundwater within the hydrogeological catchments of the lakes. In the present assessment of the WPA we have adopted the same five-fold classification as presented in the potash potential map of Jaireth et al. (2012) and we have then assigned each of the five categories with ‘high’, ‘medium-high’, ‘medium’, medium-low’ and ‘low’ mineral potential.

2.3 Economic value of mineral resources

As part of the 2018 WPA Review, the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) in the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, in conjunction with Geoscience Australia has conducted an economic assessment of mineral resources in the WPA. Three economic assessments have been completed:

 the value of the WPA’s ‘known’ mineral resources (Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR))  the value of additional possible future mine developments, including conservative and optimistic valuations  the direct and indirect economic impacts associated with possible future mine developments The economic assessments of current EDR, and possible future mine developments are underpinned by Geoscience Australia’s resource estimation methodology and data.

There are a wide range of factors and considerations that could affect the value or commercial viability of mining projects, investment decisions, and indirect economic impacts of mine development. Decision makers are strongly encouraged to read the accompanying commentary in this, and in the Office of the Chief Economists report (Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018), which is fundamental to gaining an understanding of the assumptions and broader context underpinning the empirical analysis.

2.3.1 ‘Known’ mineral resource valuations

Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) have been used as an indicator of the ‘known’ mineral resources in the WPA. Economic Demonstrated Resource is a collective term that includes the Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) Code categories of ‘Measured Mineral Resources’, ‘Indicated Mineral Resources’, ‘Proved Ore Reserves’ and ‘Probable Ore Reserves’. These are resources that are well understood geologically, and have been regarded as economically feasible to extract or produce with reasonable certainty; EDR are considered to provide a reasonable and objective estimate of what is likely to be available for mining in the long term. Economic Demonstrated Resources data in the WPA are from Geoscience Australia, and are current as at 31 December 2016.

A Net Present Value approach is used to estimate the current value of ‘known’ resources. This approach involves projecting the expected future net income generated by the mineral resource, and then discounting this value by an appropriate rate over the life of the resource to obtain a value in current value terms. This methodology is described further in Appendix A.2.

2.3.2 Valuing possible future mine developments

Geological scenario development

Modelling of the economic impacts of possible future mine developments in the WPA has been undertaken for two scenarios involving discovery and subsequent development of new undiscovered mineral resources in the present assessment. Only deposit types with a high likelihood of discovery and with potentially high-value grade-tonnage characteristics for major mineral commodities and key critical commodities have been considered in the two scenarios.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 25

In order to evaluate the possible future mine development scenarios, the assumption must be made that the ‘analogue deposits’ used in the evaluation are of a character (global resource size, grade, depth of overburden, etc.) that might reasonably be expected to be discovered in the WPA in the future. Wherever possible, the analogue deposits used in the possible future mine scenarios are based on actual deposits within the WPA (e.g. Prominent Hill). The analogue deposits chosen are shown in Table 4, the commodities included in these analogue deposits include: copper, gold, uranium, iron, silver, titanium and zirconium.

In almost all cases, the global resource for each analogue deposit (EDR + Inferred Resource + cumulative production) has been used to model the total size of the future hypothetical resource. For Giffen Well, where no production has occurred, the sum of the EDR and Inferred Resource has been used to model the total size of the future Iron ore resource.

The first, conservative, scenario assumes the discovery and development of the combined economic impact of a single additional deposit of the size and characteristics (global resource size, grade, depth of overburden, etc.) as listed in Table 4. The number of each of the analogue deposits included in the conservative scenario has been determined subjectively based on Geoscience Australia’s understanding of geology, known mineral resources distribution and undiscovered resource potential in the WPA. In particular, the total mapped areas of moderate- to high-potential within the WPA have been considered for each of the major and critical commodities, and a judgement has been made on the likely maximum number of deposits that could be discovered and developed within the WPA in the short to long term. See Sections 3 and Appendix B to view the commodity by commodity undiscovered resource potential maps.

Table 4 Analogue deposits used to conservatively and optimistically model possible future mine developments in the WPA.

Commodity Scenario 1: conservative Scenario 2: optimistic Gold 1 Prominent Hill 3 Prominent Hill 1 Challenger 3 Challenger Copper 1 Prominent Hill 3 Prominent Hill Silver 1 Prominent Hill 3 Prominent Hill 1 Challenger 3 Challenger Iron 1 Giffen Well 3 Giffen Well 1 Peculiar Knob (hematite only) 2 Peculiar Knob (hematite only) Uranium 1 Honeymoon 1 Four Mile + Beverley 1 Prominent Hill (using Carrapateena grades) 1 Prominent Hill (using Olympic Dam grades) Titanium and zirconium* 1 Jacinth-Ambrosia Note: these scenarios represent the possible future mines that may be developed in addition to the currently operating mines the WPA. *Only titanium and zirconium in heavy mineral sands were assessed.

In order to model the potential future value of Iron ore in the WPA, both the Giffen Well magnetite Iron ore and Peculiar Knob mixed hematite and magnetite Iron ore deposits were included to ensure the geological characteristics of Iron ore in the WPA were appropriately represented. Only the hematite content of Peculiar Knob was included in the valuation. In order to model the potential future value of uranium contributed by a Prominent Hill-sized deposit, the grade of uranium in the Carrapateena deposit (another iron oxide-copper- gold deposit of similar size in the region), has been assumed rather than the currently subeconomic grade of uranium in the Prominent Hill deposit.

This assessment differs substantially in its treatment of the potential for discovery and development of a uranium mine in the WPA as compared to the 2010 assessment (Geoscience Australia, 2010). Whereas the 2010 assessment included a scenario assuming that an iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit of the grade and tonnage of Olympic Dam might be discovered and developed within the WPA, the present study has excluded this possibility. This is because grade-tonnage data for IOCG deposits in the WPA region, and elsewhere in the world indicate that the Olympic Dam deposit is an extreme outlier, thus it is extremely unlikely that another Olympic Dam-sized IOCG deposit would be discovered and developed within the WPA (Porter, 2010).

Based on the fact that there are two other known IOCG deposits in southern Australia with sizes and grades within ~25 per cent of that of Prominent Hill (Carrapateena and Hillside; OZMinerals, 2017; Rex Minerals, 2018), the discovery and development of another Prominent Hill-sized IOCG deposit is assumed. In order to model the value of uranium contributed by a Prominent Hill- sized deposit, the grade of uranium in another IOCG deposit of similar size in the region, the Carrapateena copper-gold-uranium deposit, has been assumed rather than the (currently subeconomic) grade of uranium in the Prominent Hill deposit. This assumption is based on the observation that while uranium grades in IOCG deposits in the region are highly variable, the grade of

26 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 uranium in the Carrapateena deposit is intermediate within the range of grades in IOCG deposits, and is taken as representative of the uranium grade of a ‘typical’ IOCG deposit that might be discovered within the WPA.

The Honeymoon deposit was selected for modelling of uranium in the conservative scenario because there are no known uranium deposits of the ‘sandstone’ style within the WPA and so the Honeymoon deposit is taken as representative of the geological style and grade-tonnage characteristics of sandstone-hosted uranium-deposits likely to be discovered within the WPA.

A second, optimistic, scenario assumes that multiple additional analogue deposits as listed in Table 4 are discovered and developed. As in Scenario 1, the number of each of the analogue deposits included in the conservative scenario has been determined subjectively based on Geoscience Australia’s understanding of geology, known mineral resources distribution, and undiscovered resource potential in the WPA. In the optimistic scenario (and as with Scenario 1), Prominent Hill, Challenger, Giffen Well, and Peculiar Knob have been used as the analogue deposits for possible future gold, copper, silver and Iron ore developments. Three each of the Prominent Hill, Challenger and Giffen Well, and two Peculiar Knob-sized possible future developments have been included in the modelling. The Jacinth-Ambrosia heavy mineral sands deposit has been used as the analogue for a future titanium-zirconium mine. Jacinth-Ambrosia is situated in the same geological setting as the significantly smaller Barton West deposit within the WPA, and is located just 60 km south of the WPA. As such, based on Geoscience Australia’s understanding of the geology, known mineral resources distribution, and undiscovered resource potential in the WPA, it is reasonable to assume that a deposit of Jacinth-Ambrosia’s size and grade could be discovered and developed within the WPA. In the optimistic scenario, a Prominent Hill-sized deposit which has Olympic Dam uranium grades; plus, a single sandstone-hosted uranium deposit equivalent to the Four Mile plus Beverley uranium deposit have been used as analogue deposits. The latter two deposits are significantly larger than the Honeymoon deposit used in the conservative scenario, and are considered to be of a type and size that could be reasonably expected to occur within the WPA based on the known geology. Using the new geoscience data which have become available since the 2010 WPA Review, in a more detailed and lengthy assessment process, it would be possible to make more quantitative estimations of the value of undiscovered resources in the WPA. The economic modelling could also be improved through the use of a more statistically driven method (where appropriate) to define the size, location and number of possible future mines, and include additional constraints from grade-tonnage data representing mineral resources beyond the WPA (e.g. Australia and/or globally).

Economic modelling

A similar approach to that described briefly in 2.3.1 has also been used to estimate the current value of possible future mine developments in the WPA. See Appendix A.2 for further details.

2.3.3 Economic impact of possible future mine developments

The economic impact of possible future mine developments are estimated in this report using Input-Output (I-O) analysis. I-O analysis considers the impact that an initial stimulus can have on an economy through successive spending rounds by taking into account the relationships between various sectors of the economy in the short-term. The economic impact analysis assumes the discovery and development of mineral deposits of similar size and characteristics to each of the deposits considered in the scenarios. The annual economic impacts associated with the development of each of the deposits are estimated in terms of direct and indirect employment, royalties to the South Australian government and value add to the economy. This methodology is described further in Appendix A.2.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 27

3 Commodities in the WPA

This section presents an integrated summary of the ‘known’ resources (Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR)) and the potential for undiscovered resources, exploration activity and expenditure in the WPA by commodity. It also presents the Office of the Chief Economist’s modelled economic value of the known resources and possible future mines scenarios.

Net Present Values have been estimated at the deposit level here, and have been further disaggregated to the commodity level in order to be reported within the structure of this report. This approach has required an apportioning of costs to commodities that could be by-products of a mine’s main operation. For simplification, costs have been split according to the proportion that a commodity’s revenue contributes to a mining operation’s total revenue. This approach will tend to underestimate the Net Present Value of by-product commodities included in the scenarios, as it does not use the marginal cost of production. Further, the aggregation of Economic Demonstrated Resources and possible future mine scenarios assumes that enough capital, employees and other resources are available for multiple mine projects to be undertaken in the WPA. As such, care should be taken when interpreting results, as the values are a measure of potential. The original Net Present Value results by deposit and possible future mine are presented in Appendix Table A.2 and Appendix Table A.3.

The values estimated are Net Present Values and best reflect the net revenue that could be generated from a project perspective. They do not include wider economic impacts, which are discussed separately. See Section 2.3, or the Office of Chief Economist’s report (Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018) for more details.

3.1 Major mineral commodities

3.1.1 Copper

The global demand for copper is increasing as new markets including electric vehicle batteries and cabling, and renewable energy generation and storage drive demand. This, in addition to the continuing demand from regular copper consumers including infrastructure and transport projects in developing countries, ensures that demand for copper will remain high in the longer term. A copper supply shortfall is projected due to this increased demand and declining ore grades. The lack of new mine developments will become the industry’s focus in the near term, which will increase asset acquisitions as the industry seeks new economic ore bodies.

Australia’s national EDR of copper in 2016 was 87.78 million tonnes (Mt), slightly down from 2015 (88.75 Mt). South Australia has 66 per cent of the national total of EDR, mainly in the Olympic Dam deposit which contains 56 per cent of Australia’s EDR. New South Wales contains 15 per cent of the national copper EDR and Queensland 13 per cent. Australia’s EDR of copper is the second largest economic resource of copper globally (12 per cent) after Chile (29 per cent) and ahead of Peru (11 per cent). Australia is also a major copper producer and is ranked fifth in the world. Major mining and smelting operations are located at Olympic Dam in South Australia and Mount Isa in Queensland. Other significant production comes from the operations at Prominent Hill in South Australia; Northparkes, Cadia, Cobar and Tritton in New South Wales; Nifty, DeGrussa, Boddington, Telfer and Golden Grove in Western Australia; Ernest Henry, Mount Isa and Lady Annie in Queensland.

Copper in the WPA

Within the WPA there are two deposits that contain EDR, Cairn Hill and Prominent Hill. Both of these are iron oxide-copper-gold deposits that are hosted within the Gawler Craton: Prominent Hill is an operating mine as at July 2018. Cairn Hill is an Iron ore producing mine with a copper-gold resource; operations at Cairn Hill were suspended in 2017. There are also 33 occurrences of copper identified within the WPA. Figure 13 shows the localities of the copper mines, deposits and occurrences within the WPA.

28 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 13 Copper occurrences, deposits and mines in the WPA; and the Olympic Dam mine.

Economic demonstrated resources

As at 31 December 2016, the EDR of copper within the WPA is 1.09 Mt (Table 5) which accounts for 1.3 per cent of Australia’s copper EDR and approximately 2.3 per cent of South Australia’s copper EDR of 57.92 Mt.

Table 5 Copper deposits with EDR within the WPA.

Deposit Company EDR (t) Cairn Hill Cu-River Mining Australia Pty. Ltd 33,150 Prominent Hill OZ Minerals Ltd. 1,054,000

Source: Compiled by Geoscience Australia, 2018 Note: EDR = Economic Demonstrated Resource; t = tonnes

Production

The Prominent Hill copper-gold-silver mine is a medium-sized open-cut and underground mine in the eastern WPA. Mining and production commenced from the open-cut mine in February 2009 (Figure 14). The mine has produced 943,143 tonnes of copper since 2009. OZ Minerals continues to progress its mining and production of ore containing copper, gold and silver from the Prominent Hill Mine; the mine is expected to continue until approximately 2029. The Prominent Hill mine generates revenue from the sale of concentrate containing copper, gold and silver to customers in Asia, Europe and Australia.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 29

Figure 14 Copper production in the WPA, and copper price 2009–2017.

Exploration

There are currently five copper exploration licenses within the WPA and an additional 74 multi-commodity exploration licenses that include copper (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA copper is typically explored for in conjunction with gold, iron and uranium. BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd, Tasman Resources Ltd, Northernx Pty Ltd and Resource Holdings Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for copper in the WPA.

OZ Minerals actively conducts exploration within its Prominent Hill mine licenses. Some of the company’s exploration initiatives were in the form of collaborative joint venture projects with exploration entities such as Minotaur Exploration Ltd; each company in the joint venture contributed up to $1.5 million. The most recent exploration programs with Minotaur aimed to find base-metal mineralisation within the Prominent Hill mine area. This joint venture exploration work has since concluded after only limited shallow copper mineralisation intersections were discovered. Cu-River Mining Ltd has presently halted Cairn Hill’s mine operation activities (including production), and are waiting for the operations infrastructure expansion to be approved. The infrastructure expansion is required to support the operation’s planned future production increase.

Copper exploration expenditure within the WPA was $1.8 million in 2016 and $1.9 million in 2017. Copper exploration expenditure in the WPA peaked in 2007 at $29.4 million and again in 2011 at $49.1 million (Figure 15) echoing the South Australian and national copper expenditure trends. Exploration expenditure in South Australia reached a high of $195.9 million in 2007 and in 2017 it was $17.6 million. National copper exploration expenditure is on the rise again with expenditure of $135.7 million in 2016 and $155.8 million in 2017. Copper exploration expenditure within the WPA represented 35 per cent of South Australia’s copper exploration expenditure in 2017.

30 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 15 Copper exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for copper in the WPA

Figure 16 shows areas with potential for undiscovered copper-bearing mineral deposits in the WPA. The map is a composite of two deposit types, each of which is predicted to contain copper in combination with other commodities – iron oxide-copper-gold (±uranium; IOCG) deposits (Appendix Figure B.1), and mafic intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits (Appendix Figure B.2). Overall, the potential of the WPA for copper associated with IOCG deposits is considered to be high, particularly within the eastern third of the WPA in the vicinity of the Prominent Hill IOCG deposit and to the west and northwest of the giant Olympic Dam uranium-bearing IOCG deposit (Figure 13). The assessment of IOCG potential is equivalent to that presented in the 2010 WPA assessment, which is based upon Geoscience Australia’s earlier IOCG prospectivity map (Skirrow et al., 2006). A subsequent, more detailed, assessment of IOCG mineral potential for a large area of South Australia including the eastern third of the WPA (east of longitude 135°) yielded results that are broadly consistent with the 2006 map (Huston and van der Wielen, 2011). Based on these two previous assessments of IOCG prospectivity, and the limited time available for the present Review, the results contributed by IOCG deposits shown in Appendix Figure B.1 are unchanged from those of the 2010 assessment. However, a wide range of new data has been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could well influence assessments of IOCG prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new gravity data with improved spatial resolution, along with new magnetotelluric data, could possibly enhance IOCG prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data it is not possible to be more specific on the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

The potential for the second deposit type contributing to copper potential in Figure 16, mafic intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits (Appendix Figure B.2), has been assessed by Geoscience Australia for the entire Australian continent (Dulfer et al., 2016). This method of assessment is briefly described in Section 2.2, and is presented in detail by Dulfer et al. (2016). While several relatively small areas of high and moderate potential are present in the north eastern and central parts of the WPA, overall, the potential of the WPA for this type of nickel-copper-PGE deposit is considered to be moderate to low.

Economic value of copper in the WPA

The total Net Present Value of copper Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $1.5 billion. The Net Present Value of copper from possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $3.5 billion and $11 billion.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 31

Figure 16 Copper potential in the WPA.

3.1.2 Gold

The principal uses for gold are as an investment instrument for governments, central banks and private investors, and as jewellery. The main industrial use for gold is in the electronics industry, taking advantage of its high conductivity and corrosion-resistance properties. Small amounts of gold are present in most modern electronic devices. Gold is used in dentistry also because gold alloys are strong, resistant to tarnishing and easy to work. Australia’s national EDR of in 2016 was 9830 t; the United States Geological Survey’s figures for world gold resources are 57 000 t in 2016. Australia’s EDR is the largest gold resource by country with just less than 17 per cent of the global total, ahead of Russia (8000 t), South Africa (6000 t), the United States of America (3000 t) and Indonesia (3000 t). Australian gold production in 2016 was 288 t; this accounts for approximately 9 per cent of world production. Using USGS estimates of production by country, Australia is ranked second in the world for gold production behind China (455 t) and ahead of Russia (250 t), the United States of America (209 t) and Canada (170 t). Gold deposits can be grouped into a number of geological or metal-association types which have differing contributions to resources and production. In 2016, lode-gold deposits of Archean age yielded 182 t or 63 per cent of Australian gold production, more than double the next largest producing type, copper-gold deposits. Copper-gold deposits include porphyries and the iron oxide-copper-gold deposits (e.g., Olympic Dam). Gold output in 2016 from these deposits amounted to 86 t or 30 per cent of

32 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Australian gold production. Production for the year from polymetallic (9 t) and other deposits, including epithermal and antimony-gold deposits, was relatively minor, totalling 11 t.

Gold in the WPA

Within the WPA there are three deposits that contain EDR: Cairn Hill, Challenger, and Prominent Hill (Figure 17) all of which are located within the Gawler Craton. Challenger and Prominent Hill are operating mines; operations at Cairn Hill (an Iron ore producing mine with a copper-gold resource) were suspended in 2017. There are also seven additional gold deposits which are collectively part of the Jumbuck Project: Campfire Bore, Mainwood, Golf Bore, Golf Bore North, Greenewood, Typhoon and Monsoon deposits which have a combined inferred resource of 5.212 t of gold. In addition to the gold deposits, there are also 65 occurrences of gold within the WPA area. The Olympic Dam IOCG, and Tarcoola Mesoproterozoic orogenic or intrusion-related gold deposits and operating mines are located just outside the WPA boundary (Figure 17).

Figure 17 Gold occurrences, deposits and mines in the WPA; and the Tarcoola and Olympic Dam mines.

Economic demonstrated resources

In 2016 the EDR of gold within the WPA was 70.1 t which accounted for less than 1 per cent of Australia’s gold EDR and approximately 3 per cent of South Australia’s gold EDR (2457.5 t). Approximately 82 per cent of South Australia’s gold EDR are within the Olympic Dam deposit (2018 t gold), located outside the eastern boundary of the WPA. Table 6 shows the EDR resources for gold within the WPA by deposit.

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Table 6 Gold deposits with EDR within the WPA.

Deposit Company EDR gold (t) Cairn Hill Cu-River Mining Australia Pty. Ltd 0.99 Challenger WPG Resources Ltd. 6.45 Prominent Hill OZ Minerals Ltd. 62.66

Source: Compiled by Geoscience Australia, 2018 Note: EDR = Economic Demonstrated Resource; t = tonnes

Production

Within the WPA there are two operating mines producing gold, Prominent Hill and Challenger. Prominent Hill is a multi-commodity mine producing copper, gold and silver; the mine began production in 2009 and has produced a total of 1.2 million ounces of gold. The Prominent Hill mine produced nearly 200,000 ounces of gold at its peak in 2010, and 126,713 ounces of gold in 2017 (Figure 18). The Challenger mine is primarily a gold mine that also produces a small amount of silver. The Challenger mine began operating in 2002, and in the period from 2002 to 2017 the mine has produced just over 1.1 million ounces of gold.

Figure 18 Gold production in the WPA, and gold price 2005–2017.

Exploration

There are currently 66 gold exploration licenses within the WPA and an additional 62 multi-commodity exploration licenses that include gold (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA gold is typically explored for in conjunction with copper, uranium and Iron ore. OZ Exploration Pty Ltd, Marmota Limited and Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for gold in the WPA. Gold exploration expenditure within the WPA (Figure 19) was $7.1 million in 2016 and $2.8 million in 2017. Gold exploration expenditure peaked in 2012 at nearly $31 million. National exploration expenditure for gold increased by 29.8 per cent over the previous year to total $617.6 million in 2016, and by a further 21.4 per cent to $749.6 million in 2017. Nationally, gold has had the highest exploration expenditure of all commodities since 2015, ahead of Iron ore and copper reflecting the relatively strong gold price. Gold exploration expenditure represents 52 per cent of the total exploration expenditure in the WPA in 2017.

34 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 19 Gold exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for gold in the WPA

Figure 20 shows areas with potential for undiscovered gold-bearing mineral deposits in the WPA. The map is a composite of the potential for three mineral deposit types: iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium (Appendix Figure B.3), Archean lode gold (Appendix Figure B.4) and Proterozoic lode gold (Appendix Figure B.5). All three deposit types are known to exist within or very close to the WPA, and are represented by the Challenger gold deposit (likely a variation of the Archean lode gold deposit type, Tomkins et al., 2002), the Prominent Hill copper-gold deposit (an IOCG deposit; Belperio et al., 2007), and the Tarcoola gold deposit (a Proterozoic lode or intrusion-related gold deposit; Budd and Skirrow, 2007). The principal areas of high potential are within the eastern third of the WPA (related to IOCG prospectivity) and in the central-southern WPA (related to lode-gold type deposits).

The results shown in Figure 20 are unchanged from those of the 2010 assessment. However, a wide range of new data has been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could well influence assessments of gold prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new aeromagnetic and gravity data with improved spatial resolution could possibly enhance the understanding of gold prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data, it is not possible to specifically delineate the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 35

Figure 20 Gold potential in the WPA.

Economic value of gold in the WPA

The total Net Present Value of gold Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $822 million. The Net Present Value of gold from possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $1.1 billion and $3.3 billion.

3.1.3 Iron

Hematite and magnetite are the two iron oxide mineral ores mined and utilised for global steel production. Pure hematite contains 69.9 per cent iron by weight and has been the dominant Iron ore mined. Approximately 96 per cent of Australia's Iron ore exports are high-grade hematite, most of which has been mined from deposits in the Hamersley Province of the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Magnetite contains 72.4 per cent iron. While this is higher than hematite, the presence of impurities usually results in magnetite ores having lower ore grade (generally 20–30 per cent iron) than hematite ores. Although production costs can be higher, a higher grade concentrate can be produced, which commands a higher price. Magnetite mining is an emerging industry in Australia with deposits occurring throughout Australia. Hematite is the dominant deposit-style in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, while magnetite deposits dominate South Australian Iron ore deposits, including those in the WPA. Australia’s national EDR of Iron ore was 49 588 Mt, with the EDR of contained iron estimated at 23 771 Mt in 2016. Magnetite EDR accounts for approximately 36 per cent of Iron ore EDR, decreasing 16 per cent to reach 17 845 Mt in 2016. Australia has the

36 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 world’s largest (29 per cent) Iron ore EDR, followed by Russia (15 per cent), Brazil (14 per cent) and China (12 per cent). Australia ranks number one in the world for Iron ore production.

Iron in the WPA

There are five Iron ore deposits within the WPA which contain EDR, and nine other Iron ore deposits (Figure 21). There are two types of Iron ore deposits found in the WPA. The first of these are the Gawler Craton hosted banded iron formation (BIF) deposits; examples of this type of deposit include Hawks Nest and Giffen Well. Hydrothermal Iron ore deposits are also found in the WPA; Cairn Hill and Peculiar Knob are examples of this type of Iron ore deposit. These deposits are called ‘hydrothermal’ because geological information suggests that hydrothermal fluids associated with the Hiltaba Suite granites could have played an important role in their formation. The presence of rock units containing banded iron formation in the area provides an additional constraint because it has been suggested that hydrothermal fluids associated with the granites could have remobilised iron from the banded iron formation to form magnetite-rich ores. In addition to the iron deposits with EDR (Table 7), there are two deposits with inferred resources (Bulgunnia and Snaefell), seven other deposits without resources, and approximately 54 mineral occurrences where iron is considered the primary commodity (Figure 21). Note that iron also occurs as a minor element with other commodities, including uranium and vanadium. For example White Hill South was identified primarily as a vanadium occurrence, but also iron and titanium as minor commodities.

Figure 21 Iron ore occurrences, deposits and mines in the WPA.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 37

Economic demonstrated resources

In 2016, South Australia’s total EDR of hematite and magnetite was 2588.72 Mt, which accounts for approximately 5 per cent of Australia’s total EDR; the State’s EDR of contained iron was 791 Mt. South Australia’s magnetite ore EDR in 2016 was 2437 Mt, representing 94 per cent of the State’s EDR of Iron ore. As at 31 December 2016, all Iron ore deposits within the WPA area are magnetite deposits. Collectively they have an EDR of approximately 471 Mt (Table 7; 196 Mt contained iron), which represents approximately 18 per cent of South Australia’s Iron ore EDR, and 1 per cent of Australia’s total EDR of Iron ore.

Table 7 Iron ore deposits with EDR in the WPA.

Deposit Company EDR iron (Mt)* Giffen Well Maosen Australia Pty. Ltd 133 Kestrel Arrium Ltd. 37 Commonwealth Hill (Sequoia) Apollo Minerals Ltd’s 5.37 Cairn Hill Cu-River Mining Australia Pty. Ltd 5.98 Peculiar Knob Arrium Ltd. 14.8

Source: Compiled by Geoscience Australia, 2018 Note: EDR = Economic Demonstrated Resource; Mt = million tonnes. *EDR values given represent contained iron resources.

Production

The Peculiar Knob (Southern) Iron ore mine is presently under care and maintenance. The mine operated from 2013 to 2015 producing 10 Mt of Iron ore. Cairn Hill mine which is now closed operated from 2010 to 2014. Some limited processing of ore was undertaken in 2016 and 2017. Figure 22 shows the production of Iron ore in the WPA from 2010.

Figure 22 Iron ore production in the WPA, and Iron ore price 2010–2017.

Exploration

There are 18 Iron ore exploration licenses within the WPA and an additional 25 multi-commodity exploration licenses that include iron (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA iron is typically explored for in conjunction with gold and copper. Companies Southern Iron

38 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Pty Ltd, Quasar Resources Pty Ltd, and Southern Exploration Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for iron in the WPA. Note that, apart from Central Iron Pty Ltd, the majority of these exploration licenses are prospective for other commodities, including copper, gold and nickel. Maosen Australia Pty Ltd’s Giffen Well magnetite deposit has the largest EDR of contained iron at 133 Mt. Maosen Australia has proposed a development to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) products for export either at a plant near Tarcoola, or the deepwater Port Bonython near Whyalla. The company states that it proposes to produce 5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of hot briquetted iron via an integrated iron making complex, including an 8 Mtpa beneficiation plant and an 8 Mtpa pelletising plant.

The Cairn Hill iron-copper-gold mine is owned by Cu-River Mining Australia Pty. Ltd. (‘Cu-River’) who completed a $20 million upgrade of the mine between 2014 and 2016. Cu-River commenced production and export of Iron ore from Cairn Hill in June 2016 after operating for just over 12 months. The Cairn Hill mine has currently halted production while approvals are sought for a major infrastructure upgrade. The upgrade will enable increased iron production by Cu-River and facilitate the development of the nearby Snaefell magnetite deposit. Snaefell had an Inferred contained iron resource of 153 Mt as at 31 December 2016.

The Kestrel deposit is one of SIMEC Group resource assets; its future development may depend on the development of GFGAlliance’s Liberty Steel steelworks at Whyalla. The future development of Apollo Minerals Ltd’s greenfield Sequoia magnetite project may be subject to a more stable and improved Iron ore market price. The Australian Metals Group owned Bulgunnia iron deposit (EL5235) has an inferred contained iron resource of 152 Mt. In the 2016–17 financial year, a desktop pre-scoping study was completed to evaluate the economic potential of the deposit. Iron ore exploration expenditure within the WPA was $0.4 million in 2016 and $0.3 million in 2017, and peaked in 2013 at nearly $10.9 million (Figure 23). National exploration and South Australian expenditure on Iron ore exploration in 2017 was $290.5 million and $3.4 million respectively. Iron ore exploration in 2017 within the WPA accounted for nearly 9 per cent of South Australia’s exploration expenditure for this commodity.

The Iron ore price and exploration activity levels are still recovering from the major downturn in 2013 (Figure 23). In the WPA Southern Iron Pty Ltd’s Peculiar Knob hematite and magnetite project was put under care and maintenance in 2015 as a result of the market downturn. Resumption of Peculiar Knob’s mining operation will be dependent on SIMEC Group which acquired the deposit from Arrium in 2017.

Figure 23 Iron exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for iron in the WPA

Figure 24 shows areas of potential for undiscovered Iron ore mineral deposits in the WPA. The map is a composite of the potential for two mineral deposit types: Iron ore hosted by banded iron formation (Appendix Figure B.6), and hydrothermal Iron

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 39

ore, which is closely related to IOCG deposits (Appendix Figure B.7). These deposit types are different to, and generally orders of magnitude smaller than, the giant Iron ore deposits in the Hamersley Province in Western Australia. Both the BIF-hosted and hydrothermal deposit types are known to exist within the WPA and hence the overall potential for discovery of additional Iron ore resources within the WPA is considered to be high. In particular, parts of the central-eastern and central-southern WPA have high potential.

Figure 24 Iron potential in the WPA.

The results shown in Figure 24 are unchanged from those of the 2010 assessment. However, a wide range of new data has been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could significantly influence assessments of Iron ore prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of the undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new aeromagnetic and gravity data with improved spatial resolution could possibly enhance the understanding of Iron ore prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data it is not possible to be more specific on the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

Economic value of iron in the WPA

The total Net Present Value of iron Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $3.2 billion. Of this, the Net Present Value of magnetite deposits is estimated to be $3.1 billion, and the Net Present Value of the hematite deposit is estimated to be $77 million.

40 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 The Net Present Value of iron (both hematite and magnetite) from possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $0.8 billion and $2.1 billion.

3.1.4 Uranium

Uranium is used predominantly to fuel nuclear power reactors for electricity generation, to manufacture radioisotopes for medical applications and to measure neutron fluxes for nuclear science research. Worldwide, there are 453 operable nuclear power reactors in 31 countries that produce approximately 10.5 per cent of the world’s electricity (noting that 36 of Japan’s 42 plants are still offline following the Fukushima disaster of 2011). In addition, there are another 56 reactors under construction in 18 countries (World Nuclear Association, 2018).

At 31 December 2016, Australia’s national EDR of uranium were 1270 kt. EDR for uranium is equivalent to Reasonably Assured Resources that can be produced at costs of less than US$130/kg (Nuclear Energy Agency et al., 2016). Australia has the world’s largest EDR of uranium (29 per cent) followed by Kazakhstan (12 per cent), Russia (9 per cent) and Canada (8 per cent). Australia produced 10 per cent of uranium mined globally in 2016 (6.314 kt), ranking third behind Kazakhstan (39 per cent) and Canada (23 per cent). Uranium was produced from just three operating mines in Australia in 2016; Olympic Dam and Four Mile in South Australia, and Ranger in the Northern Territory.

Uranium in the WPA

Although there are no known uranium deposits within the WPA, there is high potential for uranium mineralisation within the area as evidenced by the sixteen uranium occurrences within the area (Figure 25). In addition, the world’s largest uranium deposit, Olympic Dam, sits just 15 km east of the WPA boundary. Eight of the uranium occurrences in the WPA can be classified as sandstone uranium deposits (Appendix Table C.2), and are found in the extensive network of Tertiary palaeochannels (Pidinga and Garford Formations), typically with roll front morphology and mineralisation along redox boundaries. In sandstone-hosted uranium deposits uranium mineralisation is contained in fluvial (river), lacustrine (lake) or estuarine (marginal-marine) sandstone. The sandstones provide a reducing environment enabling uranium to precipitate from low-temperature oxidising groundwater. Common reductants are pyrite and organic (plant) matter, but hydrogen sulphide and methane derived from underlying oil and gas horizons are also potential reductants (McKay and Miezitis, 2001). There is an abundance of uranium-bearing rocks in the Gawler Craton in the WPA, thus there is a ready source of leachable uranium for groundwater transportation into overlying and adjacent sediments. Sandstone-hosted uranium deposits are commonly of low to medium grade (0.05% to 0.4% U3O8) but the cumulative tonnage in a province or basin can be up to several hundred thousand tonnes (Dahlkamp, 1993). They can be mined by conventional pit or underground methods or by in situ or heap leaching (IAEA, 2009).

Hard-rock uranium mineralisation, and in particular the iron oxide-copper-gold style of mineralisation also occur within the WPA. This style is more correctly classified as a ‘hematite breccia complex’ in which uranium mineralisation is present in association with varying amounts of copper, gold, silver and rare earth elements (REEs; (IAEA, 2009). Olympic Dam and Carrapateena to the east of the WPA, and Prominent Hill within the WPA are well known examples of this type of deposit. Apart from Prominent Hill in which the uranium concentration is below economic values, four other IOCG occurrences with anomalously elevated uranium levels have been identified in the WPA. Very little is known about the geology of these four occurrences, nor of the remaining three hard-rock uranium occurrences in the WPA, which have been loosely classified as iron skarn, surficial and metamorphic related (Appendix Table C.2).

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 41

Figure 25 Uranium occurrences in the WPA, and the Olympic Dam mine.

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were 45 multi-commodity exploration licenses within the WPA in which uranium was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA uranium is typically explored for in conjunction with gold, rare earths and copper. BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd, FMG Resources Pty Ltd, and Marmota Limited are the primary companies exploring for uranium in the WPA.

Uranium exploration within the WPA was $0.1 million in 2017, and peaked in 2008 at $8.0 million (Figure 26). National and South Australian uranium exploration expenditure in 2017 was $19.8 million and $5.4 million respectively. Uranium exploration expenditure within the WPA accounted for nearly two per cent of South Australia’s exploration expenditure for this commodity in 2017.

42 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 26 Uranium exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for uranium in the WPA

Figure 27 shows areas of potential for undiscovered uranium mineral deposits in the WPA. The map is a composite of the potential for four uranium mineral deposit types: IOCG-hosted (Appendix Figure B.8), unconformity-related (Appendix Figure B.11), sandstone-hosted palaeochannel subtype (Appendix Figure B.10), and sandstone-hosted roll-front subtype (Appendix Figure B.9) deposits. This composite is different to that presented in the 2010 WPA assessment as it includes IOCG-related uranium potential in addition to unconformity-related and sandstone-hosted uranium potential.

Overall, the potential for undiscovered uranium deposits in the WPA is considered to be high. Given the known presence of uranium-bearing IOCG deposits at Prominent Hill in the WPA and the giant Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold-silver deposit in close proximity to the WPA (Figure 25), and the overall high potential for undiscovered IOCG deposits in the WPA, it seems very likely that additional uranium resources are present within the WPA, albeit at present undiscovered. Each uranium deposit type contributes to the prospectivity in different parts of the WPA. The potential for undiscovered uranium deposits in the eastern third of the WPA is related to IOCG mineralisation, while uranium potential in the southeastern quadrant is related to the unconformity-related mineralisation associated with the Mesoproterozoic Cariewerloo Basin. The uranium potential observed across much of the western half of the WPA is associated with sandstone-hosted deposits.

A wide range of new data have been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could significantly influence assessments of uranium prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new aeromagnetic, radiometric, gravity and palaeochannel data with improved spatial resolution could possibly enhance the understanding uranium prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data, it is not possible to be more specific on the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

Economic value of uranium in the WPA

The Net Present Value of uranium from possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $1 billion and $1.6 billion.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 43

Figure 27 Uranium potential in the WPA.

3.2 Critical commodities

Critical commodities are defined as metals, non-metals and minerals that are economically important globally but are currently subject to high risk of supply. Some of the causes of risk of supply include: concentration of supply within few countries or companies; limited opportunities for substitution or recycling; and limited development of deposits causing supply constraints. Of the known and potential commodities within the WPA those deemed to be ‘critical’ were defined using Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities (Skirrow et al., 2013). The Geoscience Australia list is based on compilations of ‘risk lists’ of critical commodities from some of Australia’s major trading partners (including United States of America, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan), is broadly consistent with the United States Geological Survey’s recently published critical minerals list. The main known deposits hosting critical commodities within the WPA (Figure 28) are the titanium-zirconium-rich heavy mineral sand deposit at Barton West and the REE-bearing Prominent Hill IOCG deposit. A number of other IOCG and hydrothermal Iron ore prospects are also known to contain anomalously elevated concentrations (but presently subeconomic) of light REE, including Acropolis, Cadi and Peculiar Knob. A few occurrences of titanium and vanadium are known to be associated with mafic and/or ultramafic intrusions (e.g. White Hill South), as are some of the PGE occurrences (e.g. Aristarchus) and chromium occurrences. Although the potential for mafic-ultramafic intrusion-hosted titanium, chromium and vanadium in the WPA has not been assessed in this study, the potential for PGE mineralisation in such rocks was assessed as part of a study of intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE potential by Geoscience Australia in 2016 (Dulfer et al., 2016). Other critical commodity occurrences in the WPA include two of molybdenum and one of tungsten (Figure 28).

44 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 28 Critical commodities occurrences within the WPA; and the Olympic Dam deposit.

3.2.1 Rare earth elements

The rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 metals that comprise the lanthanide series of elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium), plus scandium and yttrium, which show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.

The REEs have unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and luminescent properties. Their strategic importance is indicated by their increasing use in emerging and diverse technologies. Applications range from routine (e.g., lighter flints, glass polishing mediums, car alternators) to high technology (lasers, magnets, batteries, fibre-optic telecommunication cables) and those with futuristic purposes (high-temperature superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen and energy efficiency). Over the past two decades, the global demand for REEs has increased significantly in line with their increasing penetration into high-end technological and environmental applications (Hoatson et al., 2011).

Despite their name, the REEs are a relatively abundant group of elements in the Earth’s crust with only the unstable and radioactive promethium actually being scarce. Of the 16 ‘regular’ REEs, cerium is the 25th-most abundant element and lutetium, the least common, is the 61st-most abundant. It is rare, however, to find commercial quantities of REEs. As at December 2016, Australia has approximately three per cent of the world’s EDR of REEs with 3.43 Mt REO (rare earth oxides). China holds the greatest proportion of REE resources in the world (>36 per cent) and dominates production (>83 per cent). Australia is an important alternative supplier, providing 11 per cent of the world’s REEs from the Mount Weld deposit in Western Australia. Australia also has a number of new REE projects coming on line with development advancing at Dubbo (New South Wales), Nolans Bore (Northern Territory) and Browns Range and Yangibana (Western Australia).

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 45

REEs in the WPA

REEs commonly occur in association with IOCG deposits which are well known in the WPA and surrounding region. Within the WPA, REEs associated with IOCG mineralisation are found at the Prominent Hill deposit and the Cadi and Acropolis occurrences, but again, the REEs are not considered commercially recoverable at this time. The Olympic Dam deposit just outside the WPA (Figure 28) holds >29 Mt, or approximately fifty per cent of Australia’s total REEs (59 Mt) as well as being the world’s largest uranium deposit. Unfortunately, the mineralogy at Olympic Dam is such that this REE resource is currently subeconomic but a significant price rise or future technological breakthrough may change this (Huston and Brauhart, 2017).

Apart from the three IOCG occurrences, there are four other REE occurrences in the WPA of varying type (Figure 28; Appendix Table C.2). To date, REEs have not been recorded with any heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposits in the WPA but it is common for HMS deposits to contain REEs within the rare-earth phosphate mineral monazite. Jacinth-Ambrosia, one of the HMS deposits just outside the WPA, is such an example although its REE content is also subeconomic.

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were eight multi-commodity mineral exploration licenses within the WPA in which REEs were listed as commodities of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA REEs are typically explored for in conjunction with uranium, iron, gold and copper. FMG Resources Pty Ltd and Golden Cross Operations Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for REEs in the WPA.

Future potential for REEs in the WPA

Figure 29 shows areas of potential for undiscovered REE-bearing mineral deposits in the WPA. The map is a composite of the potential for two types of REE-bearing mineral deposits: IOCG (Appendix Figure B.13) and heavy mineral sand (Appendix Figure B.12) deposits. This map utilises the assessments for IOCG and heavy mineral sand deposits previously reported in the 2010 WPA assessment, but here the two are combined. The results show an overall high potential for undiscovered REE-bearing deposits in the WPA. However, the known issues around the economic viability of REE extraction from IOCG mineralisation or from HMS deposits, is a separate issue from the mapping of potential for REE-bearing deposits as presented herein.

A wide range of new data has been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could well influence assessments of REE prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new aeromagnetic, radiometric, gravity and satellite data with improved spatial resolution could possibly enhance REE prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data it is not possible to be more specific on the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

46 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 29 Rare earth element potential in the WPA.

3.2.2 Platinum-group elements

The platinum-group elements (PGEs) include the noble metals platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium. These highly valuable metals are widely used as catalysts in industrial processes and in automobiles (e.g. catalytic converters), in many other technologically advanced applications, and in jewellery. However, economically viable concentrations of the PGEs are geologically rare, and almost all of the world’s production is from South Africa and Russia. This geological rarity together with the production duopoly, qualify the PGEs as critical commodities.

Australia is currently a minor producer of PGEs, producing less than 1 per cent of the world’s annual production. Similarly, Australia holds less than 1 per cent of the world’s economic resources of PGEs. The major source of economic PGE resources are the large layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions (e.g. in South Africa, Bushveld Complex), though economic concentrations of PGEs may also occur within volcanic komatiite-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits (e.g. Western Australia) and mafic intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits (e.g. Voisey’s Bay deposit in Canada and Noril’sk deposit in Russia).

PGEs in the WPA

There are three occurrences of PGEs within the WPA (Figure 28; Appendix Table C.2) but no known deposits. It is possible that the lack of known PGE deposits in the WPA is related to the limited amount of exploration and also the concealment of prospective basement rocks by ‘cover’ materials, rather than a deficit in geological fertility for the PGEs.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 47

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were four multi-commodity mineral exploration licenses within the WPA in which platinum was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA platinum is typically explored for in conjunction with nickel, uranium and copper. Cu-River Mining Australia and Southern Exploration are the primary companies exploring for platinum in the WPA.

Future potential for PGEs

The potential for undiscovered resources of PGEs occurring within intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits in the WPA is shown Figure 30. The continental-scale assessment by Geoscience Australia (Dulfer et al., 2016) forms the basis for this assessment. This assessment does not include the potential for undiscovered resources of PGEs within large layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions (e.g. the Bushveld Complex in South Africa).

Overall, the potential for intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits of large size within the WPA is considered to be moderate to low. However, the results do show an area of relatively high prospectivity in the northeast of the area, as well as several smaller areas of high potential in the central, southern and eastern WPA. These areas broadly correspond to bodies of mafic and/or ultramafic rocks within favourable geological settings. Such bodies are favourable for hosting mineral deposits of PGEs together with nickel and copper, although the Dulfer et al. (2016) method is not able to predict the size or grade of any such undiscovered deposits. This method can however predict areas of enhanced mineral potential in regions where there are no previously known deposits and also in areas where prospective basement is concealed beneath cover. Further testing (e.g. by exploration companies) is required to validate the presence of any (currently undiscovered) mineralisation, and to determine the grade and tonnage of any new resources.

Figure 30 Platinum-group elements potential in the WPA.

48 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 3.2.3 Titanium, zirconium

Titanium is used in the production of lightweight metal alloys for the aerospace industry and titanium compounds are variously used in the manufacture of white pigments, smoke screens and polypropylene. Zirconium compounds are used in refractories, in the foundry industry and as opacifiers for glazes on ceramic tiles. Both titanium and zirconium are commonly found in heavy mineral sand deposits. The principal valuable components of mineral sand deposits are rutile, ilmenite and zircon. Heavy mineral sand deposits are found in every Australian State and the Northern Territory, and are predominantly associated with modern and ancient beaches and dunes. Australia is ranked first globally for rutile and zircon resources and second for ilmenite. Australia is also ranked first in the world for rutile and zircon production, and is ranked third for ilmenite production after South Africa and China.

Titanium and zirconium in the WPA

In South Australia, heavy mineral sand deposits are found mainly in the Eucla Basin, and represent around five per cent of Australia’s mineral sand resources. Barton West HMS is the only heavy mineral sand deposit within the WPA currently (Figure 28); it has an inferred resource of 2.6 Mt. Outside of the WPA, nine additional HMS deposits are found within 50 km of the WPA boundary. The combined economic resources of these ten deposits are approximately 15 Mt of ilmenite which represents approximately three per cent of the Australian total, 0.8 Mt of rutile (one per cent) and 6 Mt of zircon (four per cent).

Jacinth-Ambrosia, one of the deposits just outside the WPA, was one of Australia’s ten operating heavy mineral sand mines in 2017. It returned to service in 2017 in response to the increasing demand for heavy mineral commodities after 18 months on care and maintenance. Minor amounts of titanium (and iron) are also found in the hard-rock White Hill South vanadium occurrence.

Exploration

There are two exploration licenses within the WPA in which heavy mineral sands are listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA HMS, titanium and rutile are typically explored for in conjunction with gold. Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd and Minotaur Operations Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for HMS within the WPA.

Heavy mineral sands exploration within the WPA (Figure 31) was $0.1 million in 2017, and peaked at $19.4 million in 2006. National and South Australian exploration expenditure on heavy mineral sands exploration in 2017 was $20.8 million and $0.3 million respectively.

Figure 31 Heavy mineral sand exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 49

Future potential for titanium and zirconium

There is a close correlation between the Eucla Basin and South Australian mineral sand deposits. The Eucla Basin extends both seaward and up to 350 km inland of the Great Australian Bight, from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to Esperance in Western Australia. The Eucla Basin occurs in the southwestern corner of the WPA, and it is in this area that the known heavy mineral sand deposits in the WPA and within 50 km of its boundary are located. This correlation between the Eucla Basin and known deposits suggests the highest prospectivity for heavy mineral sands within the WPA is likely to be within its southwestern corner (Figure 32). The potential for undiscovered resources of titanium and zirconium in other styles of mineralisation has not been assessed in this report.

Figure 32 Titanium and zirconium potential in the WPA.

Economic value of titanium and zirconium in the WPA

The Net Present Value of titanium and zirconium from possible future mines in the WPA estimated in an optimistic scenario to be $1.4 billion.

50 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 3.2.4 Potash

Potash is a generic term covering a variety of potassium-bearing ores, minerals and refined products. It is the major source of the potassium used in fertilisers and is, therefore, critical for Australia’s agricultural industry. As at December 2016, Australia’s EDR of potash were 56 Mt K2O which is minor by world standards (two per cent). Potash is not yet mined in Australia, although several Western Australian projects are at an advanced stage, thus all of Australia’s potash must be imported. Industry estimates of Australia’s total potash imports are 345 Kt per annum (Australian Potash, 2017). Canada, Russia and Belarus are the leading suppliers of potash globally.

Nearly all of Australia’s known potash resources occur in Western Australia, with the exception of Karinga Lakes in the Northern Territory and Lake Mackay which occurs on the border between the two jurisdictions. The majority of Australia’s emerging potash projects are associated with salt lakes, although potash can also occur in association with greenstone sands and ultrapotassic lava flows.

Potash in the WPA

To date, there are no known potash deposits or occurrences within the WPA. The closest known potash deposit is located approximately ~300 km north of the WPA. As at July 2018, there were two multi-commodity mineral exploration licenses within the WPA in which potash was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). Potash is being explored for in conjunction with gold and copper by BMV Properties Pty Ltd in the WPA.

Future potential for potash in the WPA

The potential for undiscovered potash resources in the WPA was assessed using the Jaireth et al. (2012) and Mernagh et al. (2013) national map. This map shows salt lakes classified by predicted potassium concentrations which are based on the potassium levels in rocks and groundwater within the lake catchments (see Section 2.2, and Mernagh et al., 2013 for details). An excerpt from this national map covering the WPA shows only small salt lake systems within the area (Figure 33). Therefore, based on available data, the overall potential for major potash resources within the WPA is considered to be low, with only small areas of moderate potential. The assessment of undiscovered potash potential is very dependent upon the availability of geochemical data within the salt lake systems, and by knowledge of the groundwater hydrogeology (e.g. palaeochannel geology). It is possible that additional geochemical and hydrogeological data that may have become available since the national assessment in 2013 would change the assessment of potential for undiscovered potash resources in the WPA. However, as far as is known, there have been no major data updates that would significantly change the assessment of potash potential as determined by Jaireth et al. (2012) and Mernagh et al. (2013).

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 51

Figure 33 Potash potential in the WPA. Note: alternate symbology used in this image to avoid confusion with lake features.

3.2.5 Chromium

Chromium is used in the production of steel, stainless steel, metal alloys and superalloys for its hardness and corrosion resistance. It is also used as a pigment in glass, glazes and paint. Kazakhstan and South Africa together host approximately 85 per cent of the world’s chromium resources. South Africa is the leading chromium producer and is responsible for just less than 50 per cent of the total world production in 2017. China is the main influence on the chromium market as the leading consumer in support of its steel and stainless steel industries. Australia’s reported chromium resources are small by international standards with no production reported since 2014. Chromium is associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks which are derived from the Earth’s mantle and are spatially and volumetrically common in Australia. Australian chromium deposits with reported mineral resources are located primarily in Western Australia; New South Wales and Tasmania also host one deposit each. Numerous chromium occurrences of unreported grade and tonnage are found through much of Australia. Six chromium occurrences are found within the WPA (Figure 28; Appendix Table C.2). Further exploration will elucidate the prospectivity of these rocks particularly in areas where they underlie later rocks and regolith. The potential for undiscovered deposits of chromium has not been assessed in the current WPA assessment. Major chromium deposits are generally associated with large layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions such as the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. Although no intrusive complexes of the scale of the Bushveld Complex have been discovered within the WPA a number of small- to medium-sized mafic-ultramafic intrusions are known to be present in the WPA, of Archean and Proterozoic age (e.g. at Aristarchus, White Hill and Peculiar Knob; Figure 21). It is conceivable that parts of these or other undiscovered mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the WPA could contain significant resources of chromium; however, this potential is currently unknown.

52 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 3.3 Other mineral commodities

3.3.1 Silver

The relative scarcity, attractive appearance and malleability of silver make it suitable for use in jewellery, ornaments and household silverware and has been used extensively use in coins throughout history. In Australia, the 1966-issued 50 cent piece was the last coin in general use to contain silver (80 per cent silver, 20 per cent copper). Industrial uses of silver are varied and include electronics, such as batteries and solar panels, coatings for mirrors, catalysts, construction of high quality musical instruments, biocides in many different guises and many other applications. The use of silver as a biocide is growing and largely replacing the photographic industry as a major use. Silver can be used to prevent bacterial and fungal growth in plastic and textiles as well as an anti-bacterial agent in topical gels, the treatment of wounds and in water treatment.

Silver is typically mined and produced as a co-product or by-product of lead, zinc, copper and, to a lesser extent, gold production and is hence is economically dependent on those major commodities.

Australia's national silver EDR was approximately 88 Kt in 2016 which represents 15 per cent of world economic resources. In South Australia, approximately 69 per cent of the silver EDR is within the Olympic Dam deposit (7.31 Kt silver) located outside the eastern boundary of the WPA. Additional silver EDR are found at Carrapateena, Challenger and Prominent Hill.

Silver in the WPA

As at 31 December 2016, there are two deposits with silver EDR resources within the WPA: Prominent Hill and Challenger (Figure 34). In addition there are two known silver occurrences: Mirikata and Sloane Hill. Mirikata is a zinc-lead and silver multi-commodity occurrence with silver considered to be the minor mineral component. Initial geochemical tests at Sloane Hill indicated the presence of high silver grades, but these were later downgraded based on additional drilling data.

Economic demonstrated resources

The Prominent Hill and Challenger deposits host the entire 301.26 t of silver EDR within the WPA in 2016 (Table 8). This represents approximately three per cent of South Australia’s silver EDR (10580.0 t).

Table 8 Silver deposits with EDR in the WPA.

Deposit Company EDR silver (t)* Challenger WPG Resources Ltd. 0.26 Prominent Hill OZ Minerals Ltd. 301.00

Source: Compiled by Geoscience Australia, 2018 Note: EDR = Economic Demonstrated Resource; t = tonnes.

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Figure 34 Silver occurrences, deposits and mines in the WPA; and the Tarcoola and Olympic Dam mines.

Production

Silver production from Prominent Hill and Challenger are shown Figure 35. Prominent Hill is a multi-commodity mine producing copper, gold and silver; the mine began production in 2009 and has produced a total of 197 t of silver. The Prominent Hill mine produced nearly 26 t of silver at its peak in 2016, and 24 t of silver in 2017. The Challenger mine primarily produces gold, with silver being produced as a co-product. As at 2016, the Challenger mine has produced a total of 46.00 kg of silver.

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were nine multi-commodity mineral exploration licenses within the WPA for which silver was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA silver is typically explored for in conjunction with gold, copper and uranium. Southern Iron Pty Ltd, BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd, and Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for silver in the WPA. The future exploration and production of silver in the WPA will be largely determined by the continuing operation of the Prominent Hill and Challenger mines.

Only minor exploration for silver has occurred in the WPA with $1.1 million spent in 2007 (Figure 36). No other expenditure for silver exploration has occurred in the WPA since 2005. Expenditure for silver exploration in South Australia peaked at $10.8 million in 2013 and $3.4 million in 2014. National expenditure for silver is reported with zinc and lead exploration.

54 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 35 Silver production in the WPA, and silver price 2008–2017.

Figure 36 Silver exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for silver in the WPA

The largest known resources of silver within and near the WPA are the Prominent Hill and Olympic Dam IOCG deposits, respectively (Figure 36).The potential for significant undiscovered IOCG deposits in the WPA is considered to be high; given the known presence of economic silver in the IOCG deposits the potential for significant new silver resources in the WPA is therefore also assessed as high (Figure 37). The potential for undiscovered silver resources in the Archean and Proterozoic lode gold styles of mineralisation has not been assessed in this study. Although silver is present in these deposit-types (such as at Challenger and Tarcoola), the small resources of silver in these deposits can be taken to indicate that the potential for large undiscovered resources of silver in the WPA is low.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 55

A wide range of new data has been acquired across the WPA region since 2010 (Table 2), some of which could well influence assessments of silver prospectivity within the WPA if such data were to be included in new assessments of undiscovered mineral potential. For example, new aeromagnetic and gravity data with improved spatial resolution could possibly enhance IOCG and hence silver prospectivity in areas of the WPA. Without such revised assessments using new data it is not possible to be more specific on the locations of any changes in prospectivity.

Economic value of silver in the WPA

The total Net Present Value of silver Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $41 million. The Net Present Value of silver from possible future mines in the WPA is estimated to be between $70 million and $211 million.

Figure 37 Silver potential in the WPA.

3.3.2 Lead and zinc

Lead and zinc typically occur together in many mineral deposits because they have very similar geochemical behaviours in hydrothermal fluids. Silver also commonly occurs with zinc and lead for similar reasons, and also frequently occurs as a trace element in galena, the main ore mineral for lead. Zinc is the 23rd most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the 4th most common metal in use after iron, aluminium and copper. The construction, transport and appliance manufacturing industries use large amounts of zinc, mainly as anti-corrosion coatings (galvanising). The widespread occurrence of lead, its relatively simple

56 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 extraction process and a combination of desirable properties have made it useful to humans since at least 5000 BC. In deposits mined today, lead, mainly in the form of galena, is usually associated with zinc, silver and sometimes copper and is extracted as a co-product of those metals. Eighty per cent of modern lead usage is in vehicle batteries. The remaining 20 per cent of applications include weights and ballast, underwater cable sheathing, solder, casting alloys, chemical compounds, including PVC plastics and pigments, ammunition, glassware and radiation protection. Uses for lead could increase in the future in large-storage batteries used for load-levelling of electrical power and in electric vehicles. Australia’s economic resources for both lead and zinc are the world’s largest at 40 per cent and 28 per cent of the world resource respectively. Australia is a major producer of lead and zinc and is ranked number two and three in the world respectively for these elements.

Lead and zinc in the WPA

Figure 38 shows the locations of the eleven lead and zinc occurrences within the WPA.

Figure 38 Lead and zinc occurrences in the WPA.

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were 12 mineral exploration licenses within the WPA in which lead or zinc was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA lead and zinc are typically explored for in conjunction with silver and copper. Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd and Southern Iron Pty Ltd are the primary companies exploring for lead and zinc in the WPA. There was no recorded lead and zinc exploration expenditure in 2016 or 2017 within the WPA (Figure 39). Expenditure within the WPA peaked in 2008 at $0.7 million. South Australia recorded expenditure of $2.3 million in 2016 and $0.9 million in 2017.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 57

National exploration expenditure for lead and zinc was $86.2 million in 2017, and peaked in 2007 at $187.4 million and $133.1 million in the following year.

Figure 39 Zinc and lead exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for lead and zinc in the WPA

At least one of 11 known occurrences is associated with possible IOCG-type mineralisation (Cadi, Figure 38), there is limited information on the remaining resources but a wide range of geological settings may be present in the WPA. The potential for undiscovered resources was not considered in the 2010 assessment; nor has it been assessed in the current assessment.

3.3.3 Nickel

Nickel is a major industrial metal widely used in the manufacture of steel and in many other technological applications such as nickel-metal hydride batteries. Australia is ranked number one in the world for nickel resources followed by Brazil, Russia and Cuba, and is ranked fifth in the world for nickel production following Indonesia, the Philippines and Canada. Australia’s nickel resources are contained within three principal types of deposits: komatiite-hosted nickel-copper-PGE, mafic-ultramafic intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE, and lateritic nickel.

Nickel in the WPA

Although the geology of parts of the WPA is favourable for mineral deposits of nickel (see Figure 42) there are no known deposits and only a five occurrences of nickel in the area (Figure 40; Appendix Table C.3). It is possible that the lack of known deposits is related to the limited amount of exploration and also the concealment of prospective basement rocks by sedimentary and regolith ‘cover’ materials, rather than a deficit in geological fertility for nickel.

58 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 40 Nickel occurrences in the WPA.

Exploration

As at July 2018, there were 13 mineral exploration licenses within the WPA in which nickel was listed as a commodity of interest (Appendix Table D.1). In the WPA nickel is typically explored for in conjunction with copper and gold. Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd, Cartwheel Minerals Pty Ltd, and Marmota Limited are the primary companies exploring for nickel in the WPA. Nickel exploration within the WPA has been sporadic (Figure 41) with zero expenditure recorded in 2017. Expenditure peaked in 2007 at $1.0 million. National and South Australian exploration expenditure on nickel exploration in 2017 was $139.0 million and $0.8 million respectively.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 59

Figure 41 Nickel exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for nickel in the WPA

The potential for undiscovered resources of nickel occurring within intrusion-related nickel-copper-PGE deposits is shown for Australia in Figure 42. As noted in the Section 2.2, the Dulfer et al. (2016) continental-scale assessment forms the basis for the WPA nickel assessment shown in Figure 42. Overall, the potential for intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE deposits of large size within the WPA is considered to be moderate to low. However, the results do show an area of relatively high prospectivity in the northeast of the area, as well as several smaller areas of high potential in the central, southern and eastern WPA. These areas broadly correspond to bodies of mafic and/or ultramafic rocks within favourable geological settings. Such bodies are favourable for hosting mineral deposits of PGEs together with nickel and copper, although the Dulfer et al. (2016) method is not able to predict the size or grade of any such undiscovered deposits. This method can however predict areas of enhanced mineral potential in regions where there are no previously known deposits and also in areas where prospective basement is concealed beneath cover. Further testing (e.g. by exploration companies) is required to validate the presence of any (currently undiscovered) mineralisation, and to determine the grade and tonnage of any new resources.

60 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 42 Nickel potential in the WPA.

3.4 Coal and petroleum

3.4.1 Coal

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed predominantly from plant material that has been deposited in ancient marshy environments. Through burial over long periods of geological time, the plant material is transformed by microbial action, pressure and heat into coal. In Australia, the term ‘black coal’ includes anthracite, bituminous coal and sub-bituminous coal. Black coal is predominantly used in either electricity generation (thermal coals) or to produce coke for the iron and steel making industry (metallurgical or coking coals). Black coal is also used in cement manufacturing, alumina refining, paper manufacturing and several other industrial applications.

Australia is ranked number one in the world for coal exports, is the fourth largest producer and is ranked fourth globally in terms of resources. In 2016, Australia ranked fourth overall for coal production, behind China, the United States of America and India. Australia was the sixth largest thermal coal producer, and the largest coking coal producer. South Australia has EDR and sub-economic Demonstrated Resources of black and brown coal. Geoscience Australia’s estimate of South Australia’s sub-economic Demonstrated Resources is 3752 Mt of black coal and 3065 Mt of brown coal.

Coal in the WPA

The WPA contains substantial amounts of sub-bituminous black coal in the Mount Toondina Formation, some of which may also be suitable for coal gasification or coal seam gas production (see Section 3.4.2). There are two identified coal deposits within the WPA: Lake Phillipson and Penrhyn, both of which contain EDR (Figure 43; Table 9). There are also eight occurrences of coal within

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 61

the WPA. The WPA does not contain any brown coal EDR. However previous drilling programs have intersected brown coal in the area suggesting the potential of a brown coal resource.

The Lake Phillipson deposit is located within the Phillipson Trough in the southern Arckaringa Basin. Lake Phillipson is owned by South Australian Coal Pty Ltd, and is within EL 5719. Precursory exploration activity within the exploration area has noted there is also potential for copper, gold, lead, zinc, uranium and Iron ore.

The Penrhyn Deposit is located within the Penrhyn Trough in the southern portion of the Arckaringa Basin, and is owned by WPG Resources Ltd, via its subsidiary Southern Coal Holdings Ltd. The deposit is within EL 5718 and is adjacent to EL 5994 and EL 5995, which are also owned by Southern Coal Holdings Ltd. WPG Resources Ltd have previously reported that the coal from the Penrhyn deposit could feed a 90–100 MW domestic power station and identified an exploration target of 200–300 Mt of coal in addition to the Measured and Indicated Resources in EL 5718.

Figure 43 Coal occurrences and deposits in the WPA.

Economic demonstrated resources

Black coal EDR within the WPA is found in the Lake Phillipson and Penrhyn deposits, and totals 623.07 Mt (Table 9). EDR of black coal within the WPA is equivalent to less than 1 per cent (623 Mt) of Australia’s total recoverable black coal EDR (70 927 Mt). However, recoverable black coal EDR within the WPA represents 66 per cent of South Australia’s recoverable EDR (948 Mt).

62 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Table 9 Black coal deposits with EDR in the WPA.

Deposit Company EDR Coal (Mt) Lake Phillipson South Australian Coal Pty Ltd 320.67 Penrhyn WPG Resources Ltd 302.40

Source: Compiled by Geoscience Australia, 2018 Note: EDR = Economic Demonstrated Resource; Mt= million tonnes

Production

At present, there are no operational coal mines in the WPA, or in South Australia. Leigh Creek is located to the east of the WPA and operated until its closure in 2015 as a feedstock for a domestic power station (Figure 44).

Figure 44 Coal production in South Australia, and coal price 2005–2017.

Exploration

In total there is one coal exploration license and a further three multi-commodity exploration licenses where coal is a commodity of interest in the WPA (Appendix Table D.1). These four exploration licenses are leased by Southern Coal Holdings and South Australian Coal Pty Ltd. In the WPA coal is explored for in conjunction with uranium, Iron ore, gold, and copper.

Coal exploration expenditure has been falling in Australia, and within the WPA. Spending on coal exploration within the WPA has declined from a high of nearly $4.5 million in 2011 to zero in 2017 (Figure 45). Australian coal exploration expenditure reached a high of $757 million in 2011, but has been rapidly declining. A year on year decline of 58 per cent occurred between 2015 and 2016 ($213 million and $124 million respectively). Coal exploration expenditure occurs almost exclusively in Queensland (67.1 per cent) and New South Wales (28.8 per cent). Lower exploration expenditure may be related (in part) to a shift from investment to production in the mining boom.

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Figure 45 Coal exploration expenditure in the WPA, South Australia and nationally 2005–2017.

Future potential for coal in the WPA

Figure 46 shows areas of future potential for undiscovered coal resources (and coal-to-liquid, underground coal gasification, and coal seam gas by association) in the WPA. Areas of highest potential include those around the known coal deposits which are hosted in the early Permian Mount Toondina Formation (Arckaringa Basin). Within the WPA these deposits are concentrated in the Phillipson (e.g. Lake Phillipson deposit), Penrhyn (e.g. Penrhyn deposit) and Wallira troughs in the northern and central WPA. Just to the northeast of the WPA the Westfield, Wintinna, Murloocoppie and Weedina coal deposits are found in the Mount Toondina Formation in the Boorthanna Trough. Undiscovered coal resources may also potentially be found in the southern extension of the Boorthanna Trough in the extreme north eastern corner of the WPA. Whether these future coal discoveries will ever become economically viable for development will hinge on finding a market for the coal resources. This in turn will be significantly impacted by the discovery of other, more favourably sited and cheaper to extract coal resources, coal prices, and any future policy settings governing carbon-intensive energy sources.

Economic value of coal in the WPA

The total Net Present Value of coal Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $315 million.

64 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Figure 46 Coal potential in the WPA.

3.4.2 Petroleum

Petroleum as used in this report refers to both gas and oil. Gas is Australia’s third largest energy resource after coal and uranium. Approximately 95 per cent of Australia’s conventional gas resources are found offshore, and while they have been historically developed for both domestic use and export, increasingly they are being developed exclusively for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export. Australia also has significant unconventional gas resource potential onshore, including coal seam gas (CSG), shale gas and tight gas, but most of these resources are still in the early stages of development. Coal seam gas resources are the most advanced of the unconventional petroleum resources development-wise; CSG resources have already been developed for LNG export and domestic use in eastern Australia. Oil is an important source of energy, supplying most of Australia’s transport needs. However, Australia has limited domestic supplies of oil, and most of our declining oil production has come from only a few major offshore fields. Currently Australia imports most of its crude oil and refined petroleum liquids. Australia has potentially significant unconventional oil resources, including shale oil and oil shale.

In 2014, Australia accounted for just 0.2 per cent of world oil reserves and was ranked 25th in the world. Australia was ranked 14th for gas production in 2015. While additional conventional oil and gas resources are still likely to be discovered on- and offshore in Australia, onshore unconventional gas resources, including CSG, shale gas and tight gas are likely to be the largest (volumetrically) resources found in the future (Geoscience Australia, 2018).

Petroleum in the WPA

There are five basins which may potentially contain conventional or unconventional petroleum resources in the WPA. These include the Eromanga and the overlying Arckaringa basins which together extend across the northern two thirds of the WPA, the

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 65

Officer which occurs in the northwest corner of the WPA, the Arrowie in the eastern WPA, and the Warburton Basin in the northeastern WPA underneath the Arckaringa Basin (Figure 3).

The first petroleum well drilled in the WPA was Lake Phillipson Bore 1 in 1905. Since then exploration has been sporadic, with 30 petroleum wells now drilled in total (Figure 47). The majority of these wells have been drilled in the Officer Basin (nine) and the Eromanga/Arckaringa basins (14). The few petroleum occurrences in the WPA are located in the west and north of the WPA. The oil show with trace gas at Ungoolya 1 (Officer Basin) is the most significant of these occurrences. There are also traces of oil and gas observed at Karlaya 1, and three trace oil shows in Karari 1, Karari 2A and Observatory Hill 1. Just to the north east of the WPA traces of oil and gas are observed at Karlaya 1 and Pata 1.

There are no petroleum reserves or contingent resources defined within the WPA as at July 2018. Less geologically and commercially well-defined prospective resource estimates have been completed for the entire Arckaringa Basin and the western Eromanga Basin. The Arckaringa Basin has been estimated to contain a 19,010 million barrel (mmbbl) shale oil prospective resource (Geoscience Australia, 2018), while the western Eromanga Basin may contain a 15.1 mmbbl undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources (Petroleum South Australia, 2018c).

Figure 47 Petroleum wells and shows within, and near the WPA.

There are currently 16 conventional, 16 ‘conventional and coal seam gas’, one coal seam gas, and 23 sequestration exploration licenses issued that are materially within the WPA (Figure 7). Of these, the majority (seven) of conventional exploration licenses

66 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 are within the Arckaringa Basin, followed by five in the Officer Basin. All, except one, of the conventional and coal seam gas licenses, and the only coal seam gas exploration license are in the Arckaringa Basin. Petroleum exploration licenses in the WPA are held by Ahava Energy, SAPEX, Leigh Creek Operations, Marmota, Menzel, Petroshale, Rodinia Oil and ARP TriEnergy (Appendix Table D.2). Coal seam gas exploration licenses are held by Ahava Energy, Menzel, and SAPEX. All sequestration exploration licenses are held by Ahava Energy. Of these companies, SAPEX and PetroShale Inc. are the only international companies currently working in the WPA. The most active petroleum explorer in the WPA currently is SAPEX, who have plans to drill three wells (Spinifex 1, Moonlight 1 and Williams 1) to further evaluate the size and commerciality of oil and gas resources within the shales of the Arckaringa Basin. SAPEX have proposed using fracture stimulation techniques in two of its ten exploration licenses in the WPA to achieve this. The South Australian Government have been seeking public comment on the Environmental Impact Report and proposed draft Statement of Environmental Objectives relating to the SAPEX fracture stimulation activities proposal for PEL 122 and PEL 123, which closed on the 4th June 2018 (Petroleum South Australia, 2018e). White Energy, owner of licensee South Australian Coal Pty Ltd, reported as of March 2018 that works related to coal gasification potential and preparation for future exploration activities continued within EL 5719. These Lake Phillipson coals have been previously confirmed as being suitable for gasification. To the east of the WPA, Leigh Creek has recently been approved for a pre-commercial in-situ gasification trial.

Future potential for petroleum in the WPA

The composite petroleum potential map (Figure 48) includes conventional (Appendix Figure B.14), coal-related (Appendix Figure B.15) and oil shale (Appendix Figure B.16) potential maps, and has not been revised since the 2010 assessment was completed. While two new petroleum wells have been drilled post-2010 (Fox 1 and William Creek 1) within the WPA, our understanding of these systems at a regional level is largely unchanged.

While petroleum exploration in the WPA has been quite limited to date, there are indications that the basins present within the WPA may yield petroleum if the exploration results from these basins elsewhere in South Australia can be replicated. Taken collectively, exploration results from the Arckaringa, Eromanga, Officer, Arrowie and Warburton basins and the assessment presented in Figure 48 suggest that, provided similar geological conditions exist in the WPA, the WPA may contain coal seam gas (and coal gasification), and conventional oil and gas plays as indicated in the 2010 assessment, and in addition could potentially contain oil shale, shale gas, tight gas plays. However, significant additional exploration work is required to geologically understand these additional unconventional plays, before the undiscovered petroleum resource potential within the WPA can be re-mapped.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 67

Figure 48 Petroleum potential in the WPA.

68 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 4 Potential economic impact of modelled mineral resource development in the WPA

The economic impact of the hypothetical development of each possible future mine project outlined in the Table 4 scenarios is explored. The analysis is based on the Geoscience Australia assumption that mineral deposits of similar size and characteristics to each project could be discovered and developed.

Large mineral developments, such as modelled for the Prominent Hill future potential mine, have the potential to have large employment and value add effects. The economic impacts of the other future potential mines are relatively smaller, but would still have the potential to materially increase employment opportunities and economic activity.

Table 10 presents the results of the estimated economic effects of each possible future mine project. The results in Table 10 below represent the wider economic impacts of a single additional possible future mine for each of the seven analogue deposits; they have not been aggregated. Aggregation of the projects into the lower and upper bound scenarios in Table 4 would require consideration of economy-wide effects of the projects occurring simultaneously.

Table 10 Annual average economic impact of possible future mine projects.

Future possible mine Value of output Cost of output Direct Secondary Value add Royalties ($ million) ($ million) employment no.) employment (no.) ($ million) ($ million)

Challenger 153 84 250 150 110 3

Prominent Hill — No Uranium 1,151 302 1,350 840 620 42 — Conservative Uranium 1,337 347 1,370 1,150 840 50 — Optimistic Uranium 1,399 347 1,380 1,250 920 53 Peculiar Knob 254 209 150 70 8 3

Giffen 529 347 550 120 14 13

Honeymoon 137 81 150 230 170 3.5

Jacinth-Ambrosia a 428 206 na na na 15

Four Mile and Beverley 167 97 150 280 200 3.5

Notes: a Secondary employment and value add cannot be estimated for Jacinth-Ambrosia due to data limitations. Scenarios are based upon current mine projects in proximity of the WPA. Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science – Resources and Energy Quarterly (June 2018), Company reports.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 69

Conclusion

The Woomera Prohibited Area is known to contain economic deposits of copper, gold, iron, uranium, silver, titanium, and zirconium, with mining occurring at Prominent Hill (copper, gold, silver) and Challenger (gold, silver). Other resources which are known to occur, but their size and economics have yet to be demonstrated, include the critical commodities: platinum-group elements, rare earth elements, titanium, zirconium, potash and chromium; as well as uranium, nickel, zinc, and lead, coal, and petroleum. The WPA is mostly under- explored and accounts for less than one per cent of the national exploration expenditure. The Net Present Value of currently-known Economic Demonstrated Resources in the WPA is estimated to be $5.9 billion (Table 11). Using the upper and lower bound scenarios provided by Geoscience Australia, possible future mines yet to be discovered in the WPA are estimated to have a Net Present Value between $6.4 billion and $19 billion. From the Economic Demonstrated Resources calculations, the iron deposits contribute the most value with an estimated Net Present Value of $3.2 billion. For future possible mines, the Net Present Value of copper, as part of the Prominent Hill-like deposit, is the highest value commodity with an estimated value between $3.5 billion and $11 billion. In terms of economic impacts, large mineral developments, such as that modelled for the Prominent Hill future potential mine, have the capacity to provide significant employment opportunities and large value-add effects. The economic impacts of the other future potential mines are relatively smaller effects, but would still have the potential to materially increase employment and economic activity. Annual direct employment across the future possible mines ranges from 150 people to 1350 people per mine, with secondary employment between 70 people and 1250 people. Annual value-add across the future possible mines ranges between $8 million to $920 million per mine.

Table 11 Summary of Net Present Values by commodity.

Commodity Economic Economic Conservative Conservative Optimistic Optimistic Demonstrated Demonstrated possible future possible future possible future future possible Resource Resource value mines mines values mines mines value ($ million)a production ($ million)a production ($ million)a Gold 70 t Au 822 106 t Au 1089 318 t Au 3268 Copper 1087 kt Au 1543 2222 kt Cu 3541 6666 kt Cu 10,623 Uranium na na 43 kt U 951 75 kt U 1571 Iron 6189 Mt Fe 3169 210 Mt 745 585 Mt 2116 Silver 297 t Ag 41 402 t Ag 70 1207 t Ag 211 Coal 623 Mt 315 na na na na Titanium, na na na na 7836 kt 1362 zirconiumb Total na 5,889 na 6397 na 19,152

Notes: Metal symbols that follow quantities indicate that the resource is measured in metal content terms a All values are in real 2018 Australian dollars. The Net Present Value broken down to a commodity basis requires an apportioning of costs to commodities that could be by-products of a mine’s main operation. For simplification, costs have been split according to the proportion that a commodity’s revenue contributes to a mining operation’s total revenue. This will tend to underestimate the Net Present Value of by-product commodities included in the scenarios, as it does not use the marginal cost of production. b Titanium and zirconium resources are associated only with Heavy Mineral Sands, which includes zircon, rutile and ilmenite, na Economic Demonstrated Resource or future potential mine scenarios have not be provided by Geoscience Australia for commodities. Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018. While every endeavour has been made to deliver a robust and complete analysis of the geological resource potential and its economic value in this report, the following actions are recommended for a future assessment to better understand the undiscovered resources within the WPA, and the economic and environmental implications associated with developing those potential resources.

 A re-assessment of the WPA utilising the entire catalogue of recently available geoscientific data and information using updated assessment methods be undertaken. It is likely that such assessments will show different and more detailed patterns of prospectivity as compared to the generalised results presented herein for most commodities, groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

70 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018  The collection of further detailed information on the distribution and interrelation of various components of the groundwater systems would provide a more robust groundwater resource characterisation and water balance to be derived, and would further de-risk exploration and resource use in the WPA.  Further economic modelling of the potential economic impacts of possible future mining developments, utilising the results of the more comprehensive mineral and petroleum potential mapping studies is also recommended.  The proposed additional economic modelling should be based on a more statistically-driven geological method (where appropriate) and include constraints from grade-tonnage data representing mineral resources beyond the WPA (e.g. Australia and/or globally).  Finally, it is recommended that the results of desktop assessments of mineral and petroleum potential of the WPA are tested in the field, with follow-up geoscientific surveys and, importantly, with drilling.

These actions would support a strong evidence-base to inform future changes to the WPA coexistence framework.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 71

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Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 73

Appendix A Assessment methodology

A.1 Resource classification

Appendix Figure A.1 General relationship between exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves (Geoscience Australia).

Appendix Figure A.2 Petroleum resources classification framework (Geoscience Australia, 2018).

74 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 A.2 Economics method

The following is modified from the Office of the Chief Economist’s Report (Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018).

A.2.1 Valuing mineral resources

The value of ‘known’ mineral resources and possible future mine developments in the WPA are estimated based on data and scenarios provided by Geoscience Australia, using a Net Present Value approach. The deposits and mines used in the economic modelling process are shown below in Appendix Figure A.3.

Appendix Figure A.3 Deposits and operating mines used in the economic modelling process, and major projects in South Australia.

Net Present Values

The use of Net Present Values to value mineral resources is recommended by the United Nations’ System of National Accounts 1 and System of Environmental-Economic Accounting . This approach is adopted by most countries around the world, including

1 United Nations (UN) (2014) System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 — Central Framework, UN, New York, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seeaRev/SEEA_CF_Final_en.pdf

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 75

2 Australia . The application of the Net Present Value approach to valuing mineral resources is underpinned by the guidance contained in the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Framework.

The Net Present Value approach involves projecting the expected future net income generated by the mineral resource, and then discounting this value by an appropriate rate over the life of the resource. Net Present Values are calculated using the equation below: 푇 (푃 − 퐶)푄 푁푃푉 = ∑ 1 + 푟푡 푡=0 The key variables are summarised in Appendix Table A.1 and described in the following sections.

In compiling the supporting data and information, the following principles have been followed to ensure that the analysis is robust and that the underpinning assumptions provide a grounded reflection of current and expected capital costs, operating costs, market conditions and other considerations. Where possible, data and information have been sourced on a site-by-site basis (including for deposits, undeveloped projects or mines in operation or on ‘care and maintenance’), from the latest available company reports (such as annual reports, scoping studies, feasibility studies, and ASX announcements), or from a private data provider (AME Group). Where there have been data constraints on specific deposits, projects or mines, the closest approximations have been used based on advice from Geoscience Australia on sites with similar specifications in terms of geological similarity, location, size, depth and/or grades.

Appendix Table A.1 Key variables, inputs and assumptions underpinning the Net Present Value calculations.

Variable Details Sources NPV = Net Present Value The present value of the mineral resource Derived

P = Commodity prices Price per unit of saleable production Department of Industry, Innovation and Science; AME Group; Consensus Economics C = Cost per unit Cost per unit of production Company reports; AME Group Q = Production Quantity of the mineral resource produced in Company reports; AME Group year t T = Resource life Resource life = Size of mineral Derived. Size of mineral resource (Economic resource/Production rate Demonstrated Resources or global resource) provided by Geoscience Australia r = Discount rate 7 per cent, with 3 per cent and 10 per cent used Office of Best Practise Regulation for sensitivity analysis t = year Each year of production

Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018); AME Group (2018); Company reports, Prime Minister and Cabinet (2016).

Commodity prices and exchange rates

To estimate the flow of revenue from mineral production, projections of future commodity prices are required. Price indices for each of the commodities considered in this report are shown in Appendix Figure A.4. Projections are constructed for benchmark commodity prices (i.e. London Metal Bullion Association (LMBA) spot prices for gold and silver, London Metal Exchange (LME) spot prices for Base metals, the Iron ore 62 per cent fines Free on Board Australia price, and the thermal coal Newcastle 6000 kcal spot price). Projections are also constructed for alternative commodity price series to best reflect the revenue that would be generated given the quality of the saleable product from the resource. For example, the black coal deposits in the WPA have an energy content of 20 GJ/t to 24 GJ/t (4,777 to 5,732 kcal/kg), so a discount based on historical differences was applied to the benchmark Newcastle 6000 kcal spot price to reflect the lower energy content. Similarly, a discount/premium was applied to the benchmark Iron ore price to reflect lower/high iron content of the saleable product for each Iron ore deposit.

2 The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) uses the Net Present Value approach to provide estimates of the value of mineral resources in the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0, table 62)

76 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure A.4 Commodity price projections. Notes: All series are based on benchmark prices. The mineral sands series is an index comprised of projected zircon, rutile and ilmenite prices. Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018), AME Group (2018), Consensus Economics (2018).

In the short to medium term, price projections are compiled using forecasts from the June 2018 edition of the Resources and Energy Quarterly for the period to 2020, and the March 2018 edition of the Resources and Energy Quarterly for the period from 2021 to 2023. The forecasts in the Resources and Energy Quarterly3 are based on an assessment of market fundamentals, economic conditions and changes to government policies with the potential to impact on supply or demand. The publication has been produced for 30 years and contains the Office of the Chief Economist’s forecasts for the value, volume and price of Australia’s major resources and energy commodity exports. Beyond 2023, price projections are drawn from the AME Group, as published in the June 2018 edition of the Strategic Study4 reports. AME Group’s long-term price projections are based on the long-term costs of production, the required return on capital to justify new investment, economic development cycles and structural economic changes in the long term. Where AME price projections are unavailable, the average of Consensus Economics’ long-term forecasts is used, as published in the June 2018 5 edition of the Consensus Economics forecasts . Where production continues beyond the published forecasts of AME and Consensus Economics, a continuation of the price pattern is assumed. Commodity price assumptions are made in US dollars, and exchange rate assumptions are required to establish the Australian dollar value of production. For the period to 2020, the Australian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate is assumed to follow the assumptions published in the June 2018 edition of the Resources and Energy Quarterly of US$/A$ 0.78. For the period from 2020 onwards, the exchange rate is assumed to average US$/A$ 0.80.

Costs

To determine whether a project is economically viable, the financial (i.e. capital costs and depreciation) and operating costs of the site must be considered. Where available, cost data and other information are used from company reports (including annual reports, scoping studies, feasibility studies, and ASX announcements) or data provided by AME Group. Where there are data constraints, costs are approximated based on sites with similar specifications in terms of location, size, depth and/or quality.

Production and resource life

Annual production volumes are based on company reports or data provided by AME Group. In any year, the resource life in terms of years to depletion is equal to the size of the resource (Economic Demonstrated Resources or global resource) at that time divided by the future expected annual production rate. Economic Demonstrated Resources and global resource sizes were provided by Geoscience Australia.

3 Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018) Resources and Energy Quarterly, Office of the Chief Economist, Canberra, https://industry.gov.au/req 4 AME Group (2018) June 2018 Strategic Studies. 5 Consensus Economics (2018) June 2018 energy and metals consensus forecasts, London.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 77

Discount rate

The discount rate is applied to cash flows to determine the present value of future cash flows. This is used to account for the opportunity cost of investment and for the time value of money, that is, the preference for current consumption over consumption in the future. The discount rate used in the analysis to determine the Net Present Value of resources is 7 per cent. A 6 sensitivity analysis is conducted with 3 and 10 per cent discount rates, consistent with OBPR.

Other considerations

The Net Present Value approach is subject to considerable uncertainty and, as a result, possible revision in the future as more data and information comes to light. The uncertainty surrounding the estimates of Net Present Values means that the results should be viewed with some caution, and considered alongside the accompanying commentary and geological assessment from Geoscience Australia. Commodity prices can be volatile, and the projections used in this report are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties. As such, the impacts of a 10 per cent increase/decrease in commodity prices on the estimated value of mineral resources are considered in a sensitivity analysis. There is also uncertainty regarding technological developments or further exploration activity which will occur during the life of the mine, which could reduce operation costs or increase the life of the mine.

Results

The original, disaggregated economic modelling results are presented below. Appendix Table A.2 provides a summary of the estimated Net Present Value of Economic Demonstrated Resources by deposit. Appendix Table A.3 provides a summary of the estimated Net Present Value for each of the modelled possible future mines. See the full economic report (Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2018) for further discussion using these results.

6 Prime Minister and Cabinet (2016) Cost benefit analysis guidance note, Canberra, https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/cosst- benefit-analysis.docx

78 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Appendix Table A.2 Value of Economic Demonstrated Resources by mine or deposit in the WPA.

Deposit Status Commodity Economic Demonstrated Value ($ million) Resource Challenger Operating mine Gold 6.5 t Au 238 Silver 0.5 t Ag Prominent Hill Operating mine Silver 0.3 kt Ag 2110 Copper 1054 kt Cu Gold 0.1 kt Au Cairn Hill Operating mine (production Iron (magnetite) 5982 kt Fe 181 on hold) Copper 33 kt Cu Gold 0.001 kt Au Peculiar Knob Care and maintenance Iron ore (hematite) 24 Mt 77

Giffen Well Deposit Iron (magnetite) 133 Mt Fe 1761

Hawks Nest Deposit Iron (magnetite) 54 Mt Fe 1188

Commonwealth Hill Deposit Iron (magnetite) 5.4 Mt Fe 19

Lake Phillipson Deposit Black coal 320.7 Mt 98

Penrhyn Deposit Black coal 302.3 Mt 216

Total 5889

Notes: Values are in real 2018 Australian dollars. Metal symbols in the last column indicate that the resource is measured in metal content terms. Economic Demonstrate Resource values current as at 31 December 2016. Source: Geoscience Australia (2018); Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018).

Appendix Table A.3 Quantities and Net Present value of future possible mines.

Future possible mine Commodity Assumed total production over Net Present Valueb a mine life $m 2018, discount rate 7 per cent Challenger Gold 37.1 t Au 354 Silver 1.5 t Ag Prominent Hill Copper 2222 kt Cu 4347 c Gold 0.1 kt Au 5235 d Silver 0.4 kt Ag 5628 e Uranium Conservative 33.3 kt U Uranium Optimistic 44.4 kt U Peculiar Knob Iron ore 44 Mt 119 Giffen Well Iron ore 166 Mt Fe 626 Honeymoon Uranium 10 kt U 64 Jacinth-Ambrosia Zircon 5075 kt 1362 Rutile 541 kt Ilmenite 2233 kt Four Mile and Beverley Uranium 30 kt U 290

Notes: Metal symbols in the last column indicate that the resource is measured in metal content terms a The assumed total production over mine life is based on Global Resource estimates from Geoscience Australia and per annum capacity of individual mining operations, b Net Present Value for the total scenario; c Prominent Hill Net Present Value without added Uranium; d Prominent Hill Net Present Value with Conservative grades of Uranium; e Prominent Hill Net Present Value with Optimistic grades of Uranium. Source: Geoscience Australia (2018); Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2018).

A.2.2 Economic impacts

The economic impact of possible future mine developments are estimated in this report. The analysis does not consider the economic impact of ‘known’ resources, and assumes the discovery and development of mineral deposits of similar size and characteristics to each of the deposits considered in the scenario. The annual economic impacts associated with the development of each of the deposits are estimated in terms of direct and indirect employment, royalties to the South Australian government, and value add to the economy.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 79

Input-Output tables

Mining operations can generate substantial economic activity in both upstream and downstream industries. Input-Output (I-O) analysis is used to estimate the effect of mining developments on indirect employment and value add to the economy, based on 7 tables from the ABS . I-O analysis considers the impact that an initial stimulus can have on an economy through successive spending rounds by taking into account the relationships between various sectors of the economy in the short-term. The key advantage of using I-O analysis relates to its simplicity and transparency. However, as the analysis assumes fixed relationships, the results tend to overstate impacts on employment and economic activity. As a result, estimates of economic impacts in this report should be considered an upper-bound estimate. More complex modelling, such Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are required to overcome the limitations of I-O analysis, however, these models take far longer to generate, and have their own issues with relationships between variables.

7 ABS 5209.0.55.001 Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables – 2015-16

80 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Appendix B Mineral resource potential maps

Where commodities are found in multiple geological systems, their mineral or petroleum resource potential is first mapped by these individual systems, before being combined into a single commodity potential map as seen in the main body of the report. The individual system-level resource potential maps are included here to provide a complete record of the resource potential assessment.

B.1 Copper

Appendix Figure B.1 Copper potential in the iron oxide-copper gold-uranium mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 81

Appendix Figure B.2 Copper potential in the mafic intrusion-hosted nickel-copper-PGE mineral system.

82 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 B.2 Gold

Appendix Figure B.3 Gold potential in the iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 83

Appendix Figure B.4 Gold potential in the Archean lode gold mineral system.

84 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.5 Gold potential in the Proterozoic lode gold mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 85

B.3 Iron

Appendix Figure B.6 Iron potential in the banded iron formation mineral system.

86 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.7 Iron potential in the hydrothermal Iron ore mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 87

B.4 Uranium

Appendix Figure B.8 Uranium potential in the iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium mineral system.

88 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.9 Uranium potential in the rollfront-type sandstone-hosted uranium mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 89

Appendix Figure B.10 Uranium potential in the palaeochannel-type sandstone-hosted uranium mineral system.

90 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.11 Uranium potential in the unconformity-related uranium mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 91

B.5 Rare earth elements

Appendix Figure B.12 Rare earth elements potential in the heavy mineral sands mineral system.

92 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.13 Rare earth elements potential in the iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium mineral system.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 93

B.6 Petroleum

Appendix Figure B.14 Conventional petroleum potential in the WPA.

94 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018

Appendix Figure B.15 Coal-related gas potential in the WPA.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 95

Appendix Figure B.16 Oil shale potential in the WPA.

96 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Appendix C Occurrences, deposits, mines and petroleum wells

Appendix Table C.1 Deposits in the WPA; and relevant deposits outside the WPA.

Name Latitude Longitude Major commodity Status EDR Inferred Total resources Unit Notes Lake Phillipson -29.3986 134.4987 Coal Deposit 320.7 696.8 1017.5 Mt

Penrhyn -29.3684 134.6639 Coal Deposit 302.4 14.9 317.3 Mt

Cairn Hill -29.2962 135.1169 Copper Closed Mine 0.0 0.0 0.0 Mt

Olympic Dam -30.4403 136.8894 Copper Operating Mine 49.5 29.3 78.8 Mt For mapping purposes only Prominent Hill -29.7163 135.5749 Copper Operating Mine 1.1 0.6 1.7 Mt

Cairn Hill -29.2962 135.1169 Gold Closed Mine 1.0 0.1 1.0 t

Challenger -29.8778 133.5872 Gold Operating Mine 6.5 1.7 8.2 t

Golf Bore -29.5854 134.0175 Gold Deposit 0.0 3.2 3.2 t

For mapping purposes only, not included in Olympic Dam -30.4403 136.8894 Gold Operating Mine 2019.0 988.8 3007.8 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Campfire Bore -29.6203 133.7825 Gold Deposit 0.0 3.3 3.3 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Golf Bore North -29.5796 134.0256 Gold Deposit 0.0 0.3 0.3 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Greenewood -29.6298 133.7342 Gold Deposit 0.0 0.1 0.1 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Mainwood -29.6351 133.7266 Gold Deposit 0.0 0.4 0.4 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Monsoon -30.2098 133.4434 Gold Deposit 0.0 0.5 0.5 t valuations Prominent Hill 135.5749 -29.7163 Gold Operating Mine 71.3 40.9 112.2 t

For mapping purposes only, not included in Tarcoola 134.5286 -30.6986 Gold Operating Mine 2.9 t valuations Values post-date 2016 data cutoff, not included in Typhoon 133.428 -30.2019 Gold Deposit 0.0 0.5 0.5 t valuations Barton West HMS 132.3946 -30.3398 HMS (Ti/Zr) Deposit 0.0 2.6 2.6 Mt

Bulgunnia 134.7097 -30.3235 Iron ore Deposit 0.0 152.0 152.0 Mt

These resources are amalgamated into the Buzzard 135.1509 -29.9987 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 97

Name Latitude Longitude Major commodity Status EDR Inferred Total resources Unit Notes Cairn Hill 135.1169 -29.2962 Iron ore Closed Mine 6.0 2.4 8.4 Mt

These resources are amalgamated into the Eagle 135.0614 -30.0049 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR These resources are amalgamated into the Falcon 135.0558 -30.0288 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR Giffen Well 134.7611 -30.3056 Iron ore Deposit 133.3 79.6 212.9 Mt

These resources are amalgamated into the Goshawk 135.1112 -30.0056 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR These resources are amalgamated into the Harrier 135.1178 -30.0137 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR Includes Kite, Kestrel, Harrier, Goshawk, Falcon, Hawks Nest 135.1511 -30.0106 Iron ore Deposit 37.0 35.6 72.6 Mt Buzzard and Eagle These resources are amalgamated into the Kestrel 135.1215 -29.9965 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR These resources are amalgamated into the Kite 135.0677 -30.0275 Iron ore Deposit Hawkes Nest EDR Peculiar Knob Care and 135.3825 -29.5867 Iron ore 14.8 6.1 20.9 Mt (Southern) Maintenance Commonwealth Hill 134.4208 -29.8299 Iron ore Deposit 5.4 13.3 18.7 Mt

Snaefell 135.0782 -29.3809 Iron ore Deposit 0.0 153.2 153.2 Mt

For mapping purposes only, not included in Olympic Dam 136.8894 -30.4403 REEs Deposit 0.0 0.0 49.5 Mt valuations Company has advised that silver production is Challenger 133.5872 -29.8778 Silver Operating Mine 0.3 0.1 0.3 t approx 4% of gold production For mapping purposes only, not included in Olympic Dam 136.8894 -30.4403 Silver Operating Mine 7.3 4.1 11.4 kt valuations Prominent Hill 135.5749 -29.7163 Silver Operating Mine 0.3 0.1 0.4 Kt

For mapping purposes only, not included in Tarcoola 134.5286 -30.6986 Silver Operating Mine 0.12 t valuations For mapping purposes only, not included in Olympic Dam 136.8894 -30.4403 Uranium Operating Mine 916.0 637.6 1553.6 kt valuations

98 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Appendix Table C.2 Occurrences by major and minor commodity in the WPA.

Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Barton 1 132.513 -30.3575 Chromium Chromium

Barton 2 132.5348 -30.3334 Chromium Chromium

Garford Outstation 133.4624 -29.5529 Chromium Nickel

Lake Bring 132.7815 -30.1843 Chromium Chromium

Ross Springs 133.9299 -29.7352 Chromium Chromium

Wynbring 133.3798 -30.4778 Chromium Chromium

Burdunga 132.0883 -30.1022 Coal Coal

Carl Dour 133.1824 -29.6404 Coal Coal

Company Well Coal 134.8969 -30.6862 Coal Coal

Ingomar 134.7318 -29.6381 Coal Coal

Lake Anthony 133.2331 -29.9723 Coal Coal

Lake Bring Coal 132.9701 -30.2157 Coal Coal

Tarcoola Coal 134.1013 -30.5825 Coal Coal

Wilkinson Lakes 132.9903 -29.5458 Coal Coal

Acacia East 134.1105 -29.9033 Copper Copper

Acropolis 136.7486 -30.6207 Copper Copper

Bellatrix 135.5975 -29.6357 Copper Copper

Black Hills 135.1237 -29.4514 Copper Copper

Blaze 135.7045 -29.6021 Copper Copper

Blue Duck 135.5234 -29.7039 Copper Copper

Bundi 134.4354 -29.9105 Copper Copper

Cadi 135.3604 -28.9124 Copper Copper

Caliban IOCG 135.5956 -29.7282 Copper Copper

Cocky Swamp 136.8438 -30.9455 Copper Copper

Cressida 135.4459 -29.7109 Copper Copper

Danae Hill 135.9307 -29.7432 Copper Zinc

Dingo 135.0126 -29.0722 Copper Zinc

Durkin 133.735 -30.347 Copper Copper

Endor 133.5827 -29.61 Copper Copper

Halifax Hill 135.8416 -29.6833 Copper Copper

Injabreck 134.6191 -29.2147 Copper Copper

Joes Dam 135.4553 -29.6869 Copper Iron

Jupiter Iscg 135.5695 -29.4367 Copper Copper

Larissa 135.6749 -29.7237 Copper Copper

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 99

Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Manxman A1 135.392 -29.67 Copper Iron

Manxman A2 135.392 -29.6879 Copper Copper

Manxman A4 135.4002 -29.6572 Copper Copper

Maverick 135.4477 -29.5574 Copper Copper

Mb 134.7378 -30.6607 Copper Copper

Meramangye 132.2758 -28.368 Copper Copper

Mount Brady 135.0442 -29.1624 Copper Iron

Neptune 135.6376 -29.7443 Copper Copper

Peculiar Knob North 135.3909 -29.5654 Copper Copper

Proteus 135.6337 -29.7297 Copper Copper

St Andrews 134.2556 -29.9371 Copper Iron

Taurus 135.6163 -29.6514 Copper Copper

Triton 135.6298 -29.7468 Copper Copper

Acropolis 136.7486 -30.6207 Gold Copper

Atlantis 133.5483 -29.8904 Gold Gold

Aurora Tank 134.0918 -29.6864 Gold Gold

Bell Bird 134.9605 -30.6858 Gold Gold

Birdie 134.0255 -29.5402 Gold Gold

Birthday 133.9211 -29.9186 Gold Gold

Black Hills 135.1237 -29.4514 Gold Copper

Black Knight 133.5512 -30.2663 Gold Gold

Breakaway Bore 133.8566 -29.833 Gold Gold

Brickies North 133.2136 -30.1917 Gold Gold

Brickies South 133.1873 -30.2144 Gold Gold

Car Gold 134.1416 -30.3099 Gold Gold

Challenger 2 133.5928 -29.8839 Gold Gold

Challenger 3 133.5974 -29.8736 Gold Gold

Christie Corner 133.5099 -30.2432 Gold Gold

Cockatoo Ridge 133.7624 -29.75 Gold Gold

Comet 134.4018 -29.7011 Gold Gold

Company Well 134.9613 -30.6845 Gold Gold

Coopers Tank 133.5371 -29.8768 Gold Gold

Dingo Well 134.0688 -30.3142 Gold Gold

Eaglehawk 134.1033 -29.9847 Gold Gold

Eaglehawk North 134.0893 -29.9612 Gold Gold

100 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Endor 133.5827 -29.61 Gold Copper

Et 133.3235 -30.3899 Gold Gold

Flintoft Gold 135.0613 -30.0145 Gold Gold

Geisha 133.4906 -30.2173 Gold Gold

Halls Tank 134.2459 -30.5992 Gold Gold

Heartbreak North 134.5551 -30.5628 Gold Gold

Hilga South 133.6664 -30.1784 Gold Gold

Ibis 133.6664 -30.1784 Gold Iron

Indooroopilly Bore 133.4658 -29.7352 Gold Gold

Isolation 133.8686 -29.9772 Gold Gold

Javelin 133.8724 -29.622 Gold Gold

Jolly Swagman 133.7177 -29.9088 Gold Gold

Jumbuck 133.8566 -29.833 Gold Gold

Konkaby 134.5551 -30.5628 Gold Gold

Lake Labyrinth 134.9667 -30.6685 Gold Gold

Malbooma 134.1387 -30.2166 Gold Gold

Manxman A1 135.392 -29.67 Gold Iron

Manxman A2 135.392 -29.6879 Gold Copper

Mars 134.087 -29.7012 Gold Gold

Minos 134.9517 -30.6609 Gold Gold

Monsoon 133.4434 -30.2098 Gold Gold

Mystery Bore 133.6208 -29.819 Gold Gold

Neptune 135.6376 -29.7443 Gold Copper

Neverfail 133.961 -29.943 Gold Gold

North Hill 135.0888 -30.7064 Gold Gold

Notrab 132.3516 -30.3905 Gold Gold

Paso 133.3645 -30.3656 Gold Gold

Port 133.5353 -30.281 Gold Gold

Proteus 135.6337 -29.7297 Gold Copper

Satellite 134.2642 -29.9243 Gold Gold

Skye 134.0641 -29.5627 Gold Gold

Spiker 134.5556 -30.3853 Gold Gold

Sunset 134.6447 -30.3432 Gold Gold

Sunshine 134.258 -30.5495 Gold Gold

Tallaringa Gst 133.1723 -29.013 Gold Gold

Target 14 134.4139 -29.7971 Gold Gold

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 101

Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

The Glade 133.6309 -29.9112 Gold Gold

Tomahawk Gold 133.3862 -29.7992 Gold Gold

Top Tank 133.8477 -30.0318 Gold Gold

Triton 135.6298 -29.7468 Gold Copper

Typhoon 133.428 -30.2019 Gold Gold

West Well Gold 133.7534 -30.1758 Gold Gold

Woomera Tank 133.5823 -30.1245 Gold Gold

Paling Range 132.0897 -29.885 Heavy Mineral Sand Heavy Mineral Sand (Ti/Zr) (Ti/Zr) Sherrin HMS 132.0521 -29.6758 Heavy Mineral Sand Heavy Mineral Sand (Ti/Zr) (Ti/Zr) Acropolis 136.7486 -30.6207 Iron Copper

Baseline 10 135.2218 -29.3639 Iron Iron

Big Tank 135.1708 -30.7246 Iron Iron

Blackfellow Hill 133.5382 -30.3237 Iron Iron

Boomer 133.45 -30.3076 Iron Iron

Boys Well 134.0957 -30.1442 Iron Iron

Bumblebee 135.0808 -29.4188 Iron Iron

Claude Hill 133.5594 -30.3341 Iron Iron

Commonwealth Hill 134.4474 -29.9081 Iron Iron

Corkscrew Bore 133.8754 -29.0379 Iron Iron

Durkin Iron 133.6699 -30.3253 Iron Iron

Eagles 135.4409 -29.4344 Iron Zinc

Fingerpost Hill 133.5066 -30.2897 Iron Iron

Fingerpost Hill 133.4992 -30.2847 Iron Iron North Fitzgerald Dam 134.8179 -29.4142 Iron Iron

George Hill 133.5476 -30.3254 Iron Iron

George Hill South 133.535 -30.3593 Iron Iron

Ibis 133.9319 -29.8747 Iron Iron

Joes Dam 135.4553 -29.6869 Iron Iron

Joes Dam West 135.4361 -29.6655 Iron Iron

Lady Isabella 134.2378 -29.2351 Iron Iron

Lady Isabella East 134.2524 -29.2112 Iron Iron

Lake Anthony South 133.0875 -30.0692 Iron Iron

Little Hill 133.5116 -30.2918 Iron Iron

Manxman A1 135.392 -29.67 Iron Iron

102 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Manxman A3 135.3771 -29.6548 Iron Iron

Manxman B 135.4311 -29.6337 Iron Iron

Mount Brady 135.0442 -29.1624 Iron Iron

Mount Christie 133.5164 -30.305 Iron Iron

Mount Christie 133.5446 -30.2646 Iron Iron Extended Mount Penrhyn 135.001 -29.3828 Iron Iron North Mount Woods 135.3605 -29.3345 Iron Iron

Mount Woods South 135.3637 -29.3742 Iron Iron

NW Fingerpost Hill 133.5125 -30.2682 Iron Iron

One Oak Hill 133.4805 -30.2907 Iron Iron

Paragon Bore 133.9128 -28.8058 Iron Iron

Penrhyn 135.1359 -29.4137 Iron Iron

Phillipson 47 134.0995 -29.3269 Iron Iron

Ramsey 134.6357 -29.2348 Iron Iron

Skuse Hill 133.5522 -30.317 Iron Iron

Skylark South 135.2486 -29.5017 Iron Iron

St Andrews 134.2556 -29.9371 Iron Iron

Tait Bore 134.8037 -30.2441 Iron Iron

Tomahawk Iron 135.33 -29.4691 Iron Iron

Wallabyng Range 135.3607 -30.773 Iron Iron

West Well Iron 133.6516 -30.1528 Iron Iron

White Hill North 135.4844 -29.6229 Iron Iron

White Hill South 135.5271 -29.6494 Iron Vanadium

Wigetty 134.0859 -30.1659 Iron Titanium

Yerada 32 133.6971 -29.1126 Iron Iron

Cadi 135.3604 -28.9124 Lead Copper

Danae Hill 135.9307 -29.7432 Lead Zinc

Meramangye 132.2758 -28.368 Lead Copper

Merino 135.2852 -30.5424 Lead Zinc

Mirikata 135.191 -29.8312 Lead Zinc

No.17 Bore 134.6648 -30.3837 Lead Zinc

Playford 1 136.4566 -30.1564 Lead Lead

Quarry East 134.5433 -30.3302 Lead Lead

Merino 135.2852 -30.5424 Molybdenum Zinc

No.17 Bore 134.6648 -30.3837 Molybdenum Zinc

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 103

Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Aristarchus 133.6205 -30.4145 Nickel Nickel Mafic and Ultramafic intrusions. Outcropping ultramafic. Elevated Ni and Cr. Assays up to 1880 ppm Ni, 1980 ppm Cr and 230 ppb Pt. Aristarchus Tank 133.6173 -30.4195 Nickel Nickel

Durkin 133.735 -30.347 Nickel Copper

Garford Outstation 133.4624 -29.5529 Nickel Nickel

Ross Springs 133.9299 -29.7352 Nickel Chromium

Aristarchus 133.6205 -30.4145 Platinum-group Nickel Mafic and ultramafic intrusion. Elements Outcropping ultramafic. Elevated Ni and Cr. Assays up to 1880 ppm Ni, 1980 ppm Cr and 230 ppb Pt. Aristarchus Tank 133.6173 -30.4195 Platinum-group Nickel Elements Kangaroo Dam 134.9093 -29.3765 Platinum-group Platinum-group Mafic and ultramafic intrusion. Elements Elements Anomalous Pt and Pd in mafics beneath younger sediments. Values up to 0.95 g/t Pt+Pd+Au. Taurus 135.6163 -29.6514 Platinum-group Copper Polymetallic veins. Complicated Elements geology and multiple alteration events in the Mount Woods Complex. Assays up to 1 g/t Pt and 0.66 g/t Pd Acropolis 136.7486 -30.6207 Rare earth elements Copper Fe-Cu-U-Au mineralisation in magnetite-hematite veins and alteration zones in felsic Gawler Range Volcanics. Anomalous REE at 4490 ppm Ce. Cadi 135.3604 -28.9124 Rare earth elements Copper IOCG style. Magnetite- amphibole-pyroxene rock in Oolgelima Intrusive Complex. Anomalous REE (Ca+La to 2.55%). Muckanippie 134.1916 -30.1306 Rare earth elements Rare earth elements Anorthosite Ti style. Magnetite- quartz-biotite gabbro in Muckanippie Anorthosite Complex. Anomalous Ce (1500 ppm), Nb (1350 ppm)

and P2O5 (4.25%). Peculiar Knob 135.3827 -29.5897 Rare earth elements Iron Polymetallic replacement deposit. Hematite and magnetite hosted by granitoid of the Mount Woods Complex. Active mine to end 2014 for recovery ~7Mt at 62%Fe. Minor REE noted but no values recorded. Peculiar Knob North 135.3909 -29.5654 Rare earth elements Copper Thin interval of weakly anomalous P and REE (Ce and La) to 0.15%. Mount Woods Complex.

104 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Peppercorn 134.8985 -29.1886 Rare earth elements Thorium Polymetallic veins style. Felsic- magnetite gneiss with breccia bands, probable monazite host. Anomalous U (10 ppm), Th (523 ppm), Ce (777 ppm) and La (446 ppm). Prominent Hill 135.5749 -29.7163 Rare earth elements Copper Producing Cu-Ag-Au deposit in the Mount Woods Complex. REEs occur in association with phosphate and La and Ce are enriched throughout ranging from 0.2% to 0.6%. Mirikata 135.191 -29.8312 Silver Zinc

No.17 Bore 134.6648 -30.3837 Silver Zinc

Skye 134.0641 -29.5627 Silver Gold

Sloane Hill 135.6696 -29.9732 Silver Silver

White Hill South 135.5271 -29.6494 Titanium Vanadium

Wigetty 134.0859 -30.1659 Titanium Titanium

Moonbi 133.2271 -29.7689 Tungsten Tungsten

Acropolis 136.7486 -30.6207 Uranium Copper IOCG style. Fe-Cu-U-Au mineralisation in magnetite- hematite veins and alteration zones in felsic Gawler Range Volcanics. Uranium, and to a lesser extent REE mineralisation is mostly found within the iron rich core zone.

Best assay 35 ppm U3O8. Challenger Uranium 133.559 -29.8619 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Minor U mineralisation in reduced paleochannel sediments, up to 43 ppm U. Ealbara 134.5271 -30.4072 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Minor roll front U mineralisation, assays up to 120 ppm U. Selenium, arsenic, molybdenum and vanadium also enriched at redox boundary. Engenina Creek 135.1266 -29.308 Uranium Uranium Surficial. Mount Woods Inlier. Granitic gneiss with 130 ppm U and sandy carbonate with

1450 ppm U. Anomalous P2O5 and F. Epsilon 135.49 -29.7091 Uranium Uranium IOCG style. Values up to

633 ppm U3O8. Associated Cu mineralisation. Mount Woods Inlier. Half Moon Lake 133.5909 -30.0115 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Minor roll front U mineralisation at shallow depth, readings up to 141 cps. Indooroopilly South 133.2941 -29.9065 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Minor roll front U mineralisation at shallow depth, readings up to 316 cps.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 105

Name Longitude Latitude Minor commodity Major commodity Note

Long Creek 134.4703 -29.2507 Uranium Uranium Metamorphic. Values from 93– Uranium 158 ppm. Arckaringa Basin, Coober Pedy Ridge. Manxman A1 135.392 -29.67 Uranium Iron Iron skarn style. Fe-Cu-U-Au mineralisation in altered magnetite-rich breccias in the Mound Woods Inlier. Mount Igy 133.1541 -29.4773 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Elevated U values at redox boundary up to 66.8 ppm U. Neptune 135.6376 -29.7443 Uranium Copper IOCG style. Hematite breccia. Mount Woods Inlier. Anomalous Cu-Au mineralisation. Up to

238 ppm U3O8 Peela Swamp 134.7461 -30.6091 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. 16–26 ppm U. Prominent Hill 135.5829 -29.7163 Uranium Copper IOCG style. Producing Cu-Ag- Au deposit. Weak U mineralisation at 103 ppm U. Mount Woods Inlier. Pundinya 133.7433 -30.4164 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Redox front with U values up to

3200 ppm U3O8. Tallaringa 133.2051 -29.3341 Uranium Uranium Sandstone, paleochannel style. Minor U and thorium mineralisation at redox boundary, up to 84 ppm U. Triton 135.6298 -29.7468 Uranium Copper IOCG style. Mount Woods Inlier. Associated Cu-Au mineralisation. U up to 106 ppm

U3O8. White Hill South 135.5271 -29.6494 Vanadium Vanadium

Cadi 135.3604 -28.9124 Zinc Copper

Danae Hill 135.9307 -29.7432 Zinc Zinc

Dingo 135.0126 -29.0722 Zinc Zinc

Eagles 135.4409 -29.4344 Zinc Zinc

Meramangye 132.2758 -28.368 Zinc Copper

Mirikata 135.191 -29.8312 Zinc Zinc

No.17 Bore 134.6648 -30.3837 Zinc Zinc

Torch 135.8028 -29.7305 Zinc Zinc

Appendix Table C.3 Petroleum wells and oil shale occurrences within the WPA as at July 2018.

Well / occurrence Operator Resource Result Date drilled Latitude Longitude

Arkeeta 1 CRA Exploration Conventional Dry Hole 23/12/1986 -29.52542 134.60563

Boorthanna 1 Occidental Conventional Dry Hole 27/01/1970 -28.93089 135.75602

Emu 1 Exoil P/L Conventional Dry Hole 30/10/1963 -28.63108 132.23022

Fox 1 Linc Energy Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 18/11/2014 -28.92959 135.94701

106 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 Well / occurrence Operator Resource Result Date drilled Latitude Longitude

Garford Oil Shale Oil shale Occurrence -29.5126286 134.2777310

Giles 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 25/10/1985 -28.43174 132.38679

Howard Hill 1 Linc Energy Ltd Coal Seam Dry Hole 15/10/2009 -29.33445 134.62116 Gas Karari 1 Unknown Conventional Trace oil 19/09/1982 -30.28192 132.10137

Karari 2A Unknown Conventional Trace oil 10/10/1982 -30.23192 132.0347

Karkaro 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 1/06/1969 -28.598 133.77549 Department Karlaya 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Trace oil & 7/07/1987 -28.15731 132.0841 gas Lairu 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 1/09/1987 -28.16318 132.14816

Lake Phillipson 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 1/01/1905 -29.49439 134.61604 Department Manya 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Water Well 24/09/1974 -27.87328 133.67381 Department Manya 2 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 7/12/1980 -27.93278 133.71548 Department Manya 3 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 3/04/1981 -27.87328 133.67381 Department Manya 4 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 19/05/1981 -28.03495 133.78909 Department Meramangye 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 11/10/1984 -28.36802 132.27577

Moonlight 1 SAPEX Ltd -28.6768720 135.6488170

Muddy Tank 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 10/03/1971 -29.60356 134.75743 Department Munta 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 1/12/1987 -28.35608 131.89911

Murnaroo 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 7/12/1976 -29.02219 132.02773 Department Nuba 1 Linc Energy Ltd Coal Seam 7/10/2009 -28.9121170 134.3602330 Gas Observatory Hill 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Trace oil 30/06/1986 -28.97033 132.00028 Department Spinifex 1 SAPEX Ltd -29.2839890 136.1070060

Ungoolya 1 Comalco Aluminium Ltd Conventional Oil show & 2/01/1986 -28.14264 132.18876 Trace gas Wallira 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 9/08/1969 -29.44939 134.07661 Department Wallira 2 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 23/08/1969 -29.33913 133.82966 Department Wallira West 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 24/03/1971 -29.4944 133.25216 Department Wilkinson 1 South Australian Mines Conventional Dry Hole 17/08/1978 -29.8658 132.56662 Department William Creek 1 Linc Energy Ltd Conventional Dry Hole 18/08/2011 -28.92102 136.06391

Williams 1 SAPEX Ltd -29.0204550 135.8467400

Woomera 1 Clarence River Basin Oil Conventional Dry Hole 30/05/1958 -31.18188 136.85132

Source: Well locations are from PBEncom GPInfo petroleum information service accessed 20 June 2018, and SARIG accessed July 2018. Note: Results data modified by Geoscience Australia, July 2018.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 107

Appendix D Exploration licenses in the WPA

Appendix Table D.1 Mineral and opal exploration licenses materially within the WPA as at July 2018.

License Operator (Licensee) Commodity Term Expiry number EL 6178 TRK Resources Pty Ltd All minerals 5 years 2019 EL 5619 Tarcoola Metals Pty Ltd Base metals, Iron ore, Zinc, Copper, Lead 5 years 2018 EL 5719 South Australian Coal Pty Ltd Coal 5 years 2020 EL 5461 Resource Holdings Pty Ltd Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5499 Tasman Resources Ltd Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5982 Northernx Pty Ltd Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5983 Northernx Pty Ltd Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6157 Rifle Resources Pty Ltd Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5256 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5280 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5282 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5283 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5284 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5285 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5425 Australian Metals Group Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5460 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5510 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5526 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5551 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5579 Havilah Resources Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5589 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5661 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5680 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5720 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5732 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd, Gold 5 years 2020 Coombedown Resources Pty Ltd; (Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd (90%), Coombedown Resources Pty Ltd (10%)) EL 5759 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2021 EL 5767 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2021 EL 5772 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2021 EL 5799 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2021 EL 5817 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5818 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5819 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5820 Half Moon Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2018 EL 5998 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd; Gold 5 years 2019 (Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd (90%), Coombedown Resources Pty Ltd (10%))

108 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 License Operator (Licensee) Commodity Term Expiry number EL 6002 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6003 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6004 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6005 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6012 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6040 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6082 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6083 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6084 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6097 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6123 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6166 Marmota Limited Gold 5 years 2020 EL 6171 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5779 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Gold, All metals 5 years 2021 EL 5439 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5554 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5573 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5698 Yunnan International Mining Investment Corp Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 Pty Ltd EL 5750 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2017 EL 5827 Maudray International Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5830 Marmosa Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5835 OZ Exploration Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5854 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5884 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5890 Riversgold (Australia) Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5912 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5975 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6010 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6025 OZ Exploration Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6135 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2021 EL 6149 OZ Minerals Prominent Hill Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Copper 5 years 2021 EL 6153 Montejinni Resources Pty Ltd Gold, Copper, All minerals 5 years 2020 EL 5468 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Gold, Nickel 5 years 2019 EL 5645 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Gold, Nickel, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5858 Fatjack Pty Ltd Gold, Nickel, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6095 Cartwheel Minerals Pty Ltd Gold, Nickel, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5930 Marmota Limited Gold, Nickel, Zinc, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6144 Minotaur Operations Pty Ltd Gold, Palygorskite 5 years 2020 EL 5885 BMV Properties Pty Ltd Gold, Potash, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5911 BMV Properties Pty Ltd Gold, Potash, Copper 5 years 2019

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 109

License Operator (Licensee) Commodity Term Expiry number EL 5450 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Heavy mineral sands, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5399 Central Iron Pty Ltd* Iron 5 years 2019 EL 5332 Resource Holdings Pty Ltd Iron ore - Magnetite 5 years 2018 EL 5886 Resource Holdings Pty Ltd Iron ore - Magnetite 5 years 2018 EL 5595 Australian Metals Group Limited Iron ore, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5424 Australian Metals Group Limited Iron ore, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6173 Challenger Gold Operations Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold 5 years 2020 EL 5567 Southern Iron Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5775 Southern Iron Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5776 Southern Iron Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6069 Quasar Resources Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6071 Quasar Resources Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5718 Southern Coal Holdings Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Copper, Coal 5 years 2019 EL 5995 (Southern Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (100%)) Iron ore, Gold, Copper, Coal 5 years 2019 EL 6013 Southern Exploration Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Nickel, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5969 Southern Exploration Pty Ltd Iron ore, Gold, Nickel, Copper, Platinum 5 years 2019 EL 6085 Australian Metals Group Limited Iron ore, Hematite 5 years 2020 EL 5137 Maosen Australia Pty Ltd Iron, Base metals 5 years 2017 EL 6045 (Australian Metals Group Limited (100%)) Iron, Gold, Zinc, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5861 Marmota Limited Silver, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 6167 Tunkillia Gold Pty Ltd Silver, Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5516 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Silver, Gold, Nickel, Zinc, Copper, Lead 5 years 2019 EL 5355 Tarcoola Gold Pty Ltd Silver, Iron, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5914 Marmota Limited Tungsten, Base metals, Gold, Nickel, 5 years 2019 Rutile, Rare Earths, Zinc, Copper, Titanium, Tin EL 5986 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6053 Cu-River Mining Australia Pty Limited Uranium, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5377 Marmota Limited Uranium, Base metals, Iron ore, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5793 Cu-River Mining Australia Pty Limited Uranium, Base metals, Iron ore, Gold, 5 years 2021 Nickel, Copper, Platinum EL 6031 Cu-River Mining Australia Pty Limited Uranium, Base metals, Iron ore, Gold, 5 years 2019 Nickel, Copper, Platinum EL 5856 Renascor Resources Limited Uranium, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5116 Woomera Exploration Limited Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2017 EL 5231 GBE Exploration Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5451 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5467 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 5748 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5958 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5959 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5967 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019

110 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 License Operator (Licensee) Commodity Term Expiry number EL 5968 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5987 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5988 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6134 Woomera Exploration Limited Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2018 EL 6177 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6128 Minotaur Operations Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Industrial Minerals, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5572 Golden Cross Operations Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5594 Golden Cross Operations Pty Ltd Uranium, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5588 Southern Iron Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5994 Southern Coal Holdings Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron ore, Gold, Copper, Coal 5 years 2019 EL 5868 Cu-River Mining Australia Pty Limited Uranium, Iron ore, Gold, Copper, Platinum 5 years 2020 EL 6057 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6058 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6059 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6060 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6061 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6062 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6063 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 6098 Trafford Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Base metals, Gold 5 years 2019 EL 5527 Marmota Limited Uranium, Iron, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6050 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6051 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 6107 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6110 FMG Resources Pty Ltd Uranium, Iron, Gold, Rare Earths, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 6147 WPG Resources Ltd Uranium, Iron, Iron ore, Gold, Copper 5 years 2020 EL 5684 Marmota Limited Uranium, Nickel 5 years 2020 EL 5566 Southern Iron Pty Ltd Uranium, Silver, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5941 BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd Uranium, Silver, Gold, Copper 5 years 2019 EL 5716 Endeavour Copper Gold Pty Ltd Uranium, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Copper, Lead 5 years 2019 EL 5701 Southern Iron Pty Ltd* Uranium, Silver, Iron ore, Gold, Nickel, 5 years 2020 Rare Earths, Copper, Lead EL 5865 Boston Minerals Pty Ltd Uranium, Silver, Tungsten, Iron, Gold, 5 years 2018 Zinc, Copper, Lead, Tin

*Subject to Deed of Company Arrangement Source: SARIG Mineral and Opal Exploration Licence data. Downloaded July 2018.

Appendix Table D.2 Petroleum exploration and sequestration licenses materially within the WPA as at July 2018.

License Operator License type Basin PELA 511 Menzel P/L Coal Seam Gas Arckaringa PELA 140 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional Officer PELA 142 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional Arckaringa PEL 500 Ahava Wintinna Energy P/L Conventional Arckaringa

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 111

License Operator License type Basin PELA644 ARP TriEnergy Conventional Eromanga PELA 582 Leigh Creek Operations P/L Conventional Adelaide Fold Belrt PELA 644 Leigh Creek Operations P/L Conventional Eromanga PELA 485 Marmota Ltd Conventional Eromanga PELA 609 Menzel P/L Conventional Arckaringa PELA 580 Petroshale P/L Conventional Arckaringa PELA 581 Petroshale P/L Conventional Arckaringa PEL 81 Rodinia Oil (Australia) P/L Conventional Officer PELA 303 Rodinia Oil (Australia) P/L Conventional Officer PELA 635 SAPEX P/L Conventional Arckaringa PELA 635 SAPEX P/L Conventional Arckaringa PELA 517 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PELA 518 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PELA 518 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PELA 520 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Eucla PELA 521 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PELA 521 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PELA 521 Ahava Energy Ltd Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 118 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 118 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 119 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 119 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 121 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 122 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 123 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa PEL 124 SAPEX P/L Conventional and CSG Arckaringa GSELA 532 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 533 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 534 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 535 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 536 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 537 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 538 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 538 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 539 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 546 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eucla GSELA 547 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 548 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 549 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 549 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 549 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga

112 Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 License Operator License type Basin GSELA 592 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 593 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eucla GSELA 594 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eromanga GSELA 595 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Gawler Block GSELA 596 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Officer GSELA 597 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Eucla GSELA 598 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Officer GSELA 599 Ahava Energy Ltd Sequestration Officer GSEL 579 Ahava Niarrie Energy P/L Sequestration Officer

License data source: PBEncom GPInfo petroleum information service accessed 20 June 2018.

Mineral and petroleum resources and potential of the Woomera Prohibited Area, 2018 113