A new vision for the future of exploration

This grant was offered on the back of pledge from a consortium of six mining companies and the South Australian State Government to contribute about A$21 million in cash and about $50 million in-kind from three research partners.
Joe Cucuzza, director project delivery, from AMIRA International told the Australian Journal of Mining, “The submission of the CRC bid was the culmination of almost two years’ work coordinated by AMIRA and involving financial support from industry and the CSIRO.
“The companies involved had a unique opportunity to define the challenges, identify the science and design the CRC to tackle the challenges.”
Cucuzza said the CRC will draw on Australia’s pre-eminent research talent and will provide the critical mass needed to conduct multi-pronged end-user focused research in a realistic time-frame.
Dr Paul Heithersay of the South Australian Government said, “The DET CRC has been designed from the ground up by industry to provide the best chance of disruptive technology to lead to new deep ore resources”
There is a view that Australia is maturing as a destination for exploration in comparison to other countries of the world. However, Australia offers an incredible opportunity by virtue of the fact that much of the country remains unexplored. Why? Because a large proportion of the country is blanketed by regolith and most mines that have been found are in areas of outcropping or shallow basement.
In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, brownfields exploration is increasingly directed towards discoveries at greater depth, looking for those deeper extensions, as well as in areas of deeper cover. However, in many existing mining operations the cost effectiveness of deep exploration drilling is becoming a barrier to effective future mine development. At the same time, greenfields exploration in general is becoming more expensive.
But what is required to expand the exploration search space? According to Dr Tom Whiting, chairman-elect of the Board of the new CRC, “Better, faster, cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly drilling technology is one answer.”
This technology when combined with improved deep targeting technologies and real time down-hole information to drive the drilling process will revolutionise how exploration is carried out in the future, he said.
The discovery history in the Gulf of Mexico provides an excellent example of how technological advances can lead to significant exploration success in the petroleum industry. An increase in the accessible search space made possible through improvements in drilling and 3D seismic technology increased production from the Gulf of Mexico from 80 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per year in 1961 to 1450 million BOE 40 years later.
An important part of the CRC will be the education and training program. This will encompass higher education as well as Vocational Education & Training (VET) through collaboration between the participating Universities, the TAFE sector, the Resource and Engineering Skills Alliance (RESA) and the Australian Drilling Industry Training Committee (ADITC), a Registered Training Organisation. It is expected that other Registered Training Organisations across the country will also be involved in the VET delivery.
The CRC will be an incorporated entity, driven by collaboration between mineral exploration end-users, industry service providers and equipment manufacturers and Australian researchers. The principal research institutions involved with the CRC are CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Curtin University of Technology and Adelaide University. Also the University of Western Australia and Geoscience Australia are collaborating institutions. The CRC will be open to collaboration with top international researchers who are working in the field and can contribute to achieving its aims.
The core industry partners of the CRC are Barrick Gold; BHP Billiton; Boart Longyear; Goldfields Australia; Newcrest; and Vale Exploration.
SA Government through PIRSA is also an important partner having pledged significant resources both in cash and in-kind.
Peter Kanck, director research and development, said Boart Longyear is excited to be a core partner of the DET CRC. “Participation in AMIRA International and the CRC, as a core partner, is consistent with our stated strategy of Technology Leadership in the exploration drilling industry and our commitment to innovation which leads to safer and more productive drilling solutions for the industry,” he said.
In addition to the above-stated companies and organisations, all the Australian State and Territories Geological Surveys will be participating as affiliate partners of the CRC.
Dr Graham Carr, Chief Scientist from CSIRO and core research partner of the CRC, said, “the affiliate partners will be a crucial resource for the CRC not only in providing an end-user perspective to the proposed research but also because they will provide multiple avenues for the commercialisation of the CRC technologies.”
Although each affiliate partner will be making a modest annual financial contribution, their most significant contribution will probably be in-kind, he said.
Globaltech Corporation, a Western Australian technology company specialising in the manufacture of Pathfinder Survey Instruments for the world-wide exploration and mining industry joined the DET CRC as an affiliate partner. Company director Gordon Stewart believes that the CRC is a boon for small companies wishing to access academia, government agencies and industry experts to help focus internal R&D plans to create high potential IP for commercialisation.
“The CRC is a high quality network and there are real opportunities to seize emerging technology that will have a clear and fast route to market via existing marketing channels established by small to medium enterprises” he said.
There is a real prospect of the CRC achieving ‘step change’ by capitalising on the different skills sets and capabilities of the various industry partners and researchers. Utilising embedded researchers will be an important element of this, according to Stewart.
The CRC’s aim is to build up the number of industry partners, both core and affiliate, prior to start up in early 2010.
“Drilling contractors, equipment manufacturers and junior mining companies are eligible to participate,” said Joe Cucuzza.

For more information contact:
Joe Cucuzza - director project delivery - AMIRA International: joe.cucuzza@amira.com.au
Graham Carr - chief scientist - CSIRO Exploration & Mining: graham.carr@csiro.au
Tom Whiting - chairman-elect of the DET CRC: twhiting@ozemail.com.au

Figure 1 - Depth to basement with operating mines - deposits. Coutesy of Geoscience Australia

Figure 2. The CRC partners will provide a strong path to industry adoption

Deep Exploration Technologies CRC: Objectives
Key strategic objectives of the CRC are:
. Significant reduction in time and improvement in effectiveness of drilling;
. Significant improvement in drilling safety and environmental impacts;
. Significant improvement in the quality and timeliness of downhole information;
. Cost effective discovery by developing tools for deeper targeting.
To achieve these objectives, the CRC will undertake research in three interrelated areas:
. Drilling Technology Program - the development of radical, new hard rock drilling technologies
. Data Fusion Program - down-hole and on-site surface technologies that enable data acquisition in real time
. Deep Targeting Program - improving imagery of the rock volume at depth

Deep Exploration Technologies CRC: Affiliate Partners
Minotaur Exploration Ltd
Air Drill Pty Ltd
Australian Drilling Solutions
Barminco Limited
Deepcore Drilling Pty Ltd
Globaltech Corporation Pty Ltd
ioGlobal Pty Ltd
Imdex Limited
Intrepid Geophysics
Mitchell Energy
Swick Mining
Sandvik
Teakle Composites