Northern Australia leads in world-class mineral deposits' is a
bold statement. First there must be a starting point. Land north of
the Tropic of Capricorn (23 26' 5") will be regarded as Northern
Australia covering nearly 40 per cent of the land surface of
Australia. As opposed to land south of the Tropic of Capricorn, it
should be regarded as Tropical Northern Australia and for the
sake of brevity, (TNA) Refer Figure 1. Apart from the tyranny of distance from centres of power and
population in the temperate zone, it suffered in the past from the
belief that the tropics are unsuited for European workers and from
the lack of infrastructure. Outstanding mineral deposits of iron, base metals, gold and
diamonds, discovered and developed in the past three decades,
provided the substance for the title. There are many world-class mines producing and there are
mineral deposits neutralised through Government policy. TNA
can maintain its lead in world-class mineral deposits provided
Government policy will stop partitioning the land and decreasing
that available for exploration. Let's look at what we have that is world-class. In Western
TNA iron ore deposits at Paraburdoo, Mt Tom Price, Marandoo,
gold at Telfer, diamonds at Argyle. In central TNA uranium at
Ranger and Jabiluka, lead-zinc-silver at McArthur River, gold at
the Tanami, manganese at Groote Eylandt and bauxite at Gove. In eastern TNA Mt Isa, Hilton, Century zinc-lead, bauxite at
Weipa, gold at Kidston, Mt Leyshon, magnesite at Yamba and
coal mines in the Bowen Basin. Those mines or deposits stand out yet are only an indication of
the numerous lesser mines and of mineral deposits depending for
development on market demand and/or changes in Government
policy, eg 'The Three Mines' policy. Very large areas of mineral rich structures in the western,
central and eastern parts of TNA are concealed below flat lying
comparatively young unmineralised sediments. The Great
Artisan basin sediments in eastern TNA can and do host oil shale
and non metallic minerals. Nearly 40 per cent of western TNA is covered by the Great
Sandy Desert. The Canning Track, with a series of 54 wells, was
constructed by surveyor Alfred Canning in 1908 - 1910 with
great difficulty. It extends 1700 kilometres from Halls Creek in
the north to the gold town of Wiluna in the south, through the
Great and Little Sandy Deserts. Gold explorers are following
favourable structures extending to the north east below the
sediments and sand hills covering the track. Half of central TNA's mineral structures are concealed by the
Tanami desert and the Cretaceous sediments covering the pastoral
regions of the Barkly Tableland and the Daly Waters to Top
Springs pastoral areas. The Georgina Basin in the south eastern
section is part of the concealment.