Information on soil and land resources is a prerequisite for informed decisions on land use and management. Procedures for acquiring and using this information are introduced and  emphasis is given to a balanced approach with elements of mapping, modelling and monitoring within the broader context of environmental change. The conceptual basis for a range of approaches to survey is introduced along with an assessment of strengths and weaknesses. A framework for dealing with scale in measurement and prediction is then introduced.

Австралийские протерозойские месторождения железо-оксид-медь-золотых м-й: обзор с новыми металлогеническими и геологоразведочными данными из района Клонкарри, Северо-Западный Квинсленд.

Enigmatic hydrothermal vein/breccia/replacement Cu-Au deposits with magnetite and/or hematite are well-represented in Australian 1850 Ma to 1500 Ma terrains and associated with different-aged synorogenic intrusions in the Tennant Creek Block (ca. 1850 Ma); the Gawler-Curnamona region (1640 Ma to 1590 Ma); and the Cloncurry district (Mount Isa Eastern Fold Belt, 1540 Ma to 1500 Ma with a possible earlier event at ca. 1600 Ma). No deposits are known to be coeval with various 1780 Ma to 1610 Ma anorogenic intrusions. Deposits are hosted by many different rock-types with varying metamorphic grade including granites and various supracrustal rocks. Depth of mineralization varied from many kilometers in semiductile crust (e.g., Cloncurry deposits) to very shallow (e.g., Olympic Dam).

The deposits exploited in Australian open pit gold mines are often small and of low grade with highly variable gold distributions. Consequently, they require detailed grade control. The nature of these grade control programmes is outlined together with a description of the various computational methods used. Particular attention is given to geological input into the various stages of the grade control program so as to ensure the reliability of sampling; to aid the production of bench extraction outlines; and to predict and minimize dilution and ore loss. The application of geostatistical techniques in this respect is also critically examined.

Effectiveness of ore grade control at operating mines depends on both the quality and quantity of the samples used. Therefore, optimisation of grade control procedures requires analysis of sample quality and their spatial distribution. This approach, implying quantitative estimation of both these factors and quantification of their contribution to the grade control errors, was used for comparing two different grade control procedures at the Yandicoogina (Yandi) iron-ore open pit mine, located in the eastern part of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. At Yandi, pisolitic iron oxide mineralisation is distributed within a meandering palaeoriver channel, characterised by abundant clay pods that contain the deleterious components; in particular Al2O3 and SiO2.

Economics, and the economic way of thinking, have had an important influence on business and government affairs for at least the last two centuries. The Scottish author Adam Smith espoused the foundations of modern economic thought in 1776 (Smith, 1976 [1776]). His famous volume – The Wealth of Nations1 – ushered in a revolution in economic thinking. His ideas formed the basis of the new academic field of political economy, which writers such as William Stanley Jevons renamed as economics some 100 years later.

The Kapai Slate is a continuous, pyrite-rich carbonaceous shale horizon within the St. Ives Au district that is spatially related to high-grade Au mineralization. In situ laser ablation-inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) trace element analyses, in situ sensitive high resolution ion microprobe, stable isotope (SHRIMPSI) S isotope analyses, and optical microscopy pyrite texture analyses were used to examine the different pyrite types in the Kapai Slate and Au deposits. These data were also used to confirm that the trace element signature of sedimentary pyrite can be preserved in rocks that underwent upper to mid-greenschist facies metamorphism and significant hydrothermal overprint. The data were further utilized to gain a more detailed understanding of the ocean conditions during deposition of the Kapai Slate and determine whether some of the Au and S in the St. Ives district could have been sourced from the Kapai Slate.

Secular Variation in the Composition of Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle: Geophysical and Geodynamic Implications
Hypotheses Relevanto Crustal Growth
Upper Mantle Structure beneath Australia from Portable Array Deployments
Mapping of Geophysical Domains in the Australian Continental Crust Using Gravity and Magnetic Anomalies
Complex Anisotropy in the Australian Lithosphere from Shear-wave Splitting in Broad-band SKS Records
A Brief Review of Differences in Lithosphere Seismic Properties Under Western and Eastern Australia Stimulated by Seismograms from the Marryat Creek Earthquakes of 1986

At first ‘sustainable mining’ could be perceived as a paradox—minerals are widely held to be finite resources with rising consumption causing pressure on known resources. The true sustainability of mineral resources, however, is a much more complex picture and involves exploration, technology, economics, social and environmental issues, and advancing scientific knowledge—predicting future sustainability is therefore not a simple task.

The Cleo gold deposit, 55 km south of Laverton in the Eastern Goldfields Province of Western Australia, is characterised by banded iron-formation (BIF)-hosted ore zones in the gently dipping Sunrise Shear Zone and high-grade vein-hosted ore in the Western Lodes. There is evidence that gold mineralisation in the Western Lodes (which occurred at ca 2655 Ma) post-dates the majority of displacement along the Sunrise Shear Zone, but it remains uncertain if the ore in both structures formed simultaneously or separately.