November 2002
28 November 2002
Australia's mineral resources identifiedCover of Australia's Identified Gold, nickel and mineral sands registered significant growth to reach record levels in economic demonstrated resources (EDR) for 2001. This growth is documented in Geoscience Australia's annual review of Australia's identified mineral resources, which provides information on the nation's future capacity to produce mineral resources. The Australia's Identified Mineral Resources Report 2002 [PDF 2MB] notes that the EDR of bauxite, copper, lead, magnesite, nickel, phosphate, PGM, tantalum, silver, vanadium and zinc rose, while those of black coal, diamonds, iron ore, lithium, manganese ore and uranium fell. The report also provides an overview of exploration activity in 2001. It is an important annual nation-wide assessment of Australia's ore reserves and mineral resources. "AIMR provides governments, industry, the investment sector and the general community with an informed understanding of Australia's known mineral endowment and level of exploration activity," said Chief Executive Officer, Dr Neil Williams. "One of the important objectives for Geoscience Australia is to monitor whether resources are being discovered and developed for production at rates sufficient to maintain Australia's position as a major supplier of mineral commodities." 26 November 2002
New Australian Antarctic Territory Coastline datasetLogo of the Highly accurate, detailed vector topographic data covering the entire extent of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is now available and can be downloaded free from the Antarctic Digital Database (ADD) . The new data is the result of a two year collaborative effort between Geoscience Australia and the Department of the Environment and Heritage's Australian Antarctic Division to establish a new determination of the coastline of the AAT. This new definition of the coastline was developed to provide a more accurate, consistent and detailed representation of the AAT between longitudes 45šE and 160šE, to replace existing inaccurate data. Although accurate and highly detailed coastline definitions existed for some areas, such as those in the vicinity of Australian Antarctic stations, none existed for the entire extent of the AAT. A number of remote sensing techniques were used to interpret, validate and map the AAT coastline. These included the digitising of the coastline from satellite imagery such as Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 4 and 5 TM, and Radarsat Synthetic Aperture Radar. More specialised analysis techniques were also required to assist in validating highly complex and uncertain areas, such as the boundary between where permanent ice is grounded and where it starts to float - also referred to as the Grounding Zone. Some of the techniques used included interferometric analysis of SAR imagery and analysis of signals obtained from aircraft-mounted ice radar. The new coastline data set was submitted to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in June 2001 for inclusion into Version 4.0 of the SCAR Antarctic Digital database which was released to the public in August 2002.
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