Central VIC Branch – Digital Tech Talk: A New Gold Boom In Victoria – How Did We Get Here, And Where To Next?

Australian Institute of Geoscientists > Events > Central VIC Branch – Digital Tech Talk: A New Gold Boom In Victoria – How Did We Get Here, And Where To Next?

Central VIC Branch – Digital Tech Talk: A New Gold Boom In Victoria – How Did We Get Here, And Where To Next?


Date & Time

Tuesday 13th October 2020

Time

4:00pm – 5:00pm AEDT
3.00pm – 4:00pm AEST
3:30pm – 4:30pm ACST
1.00pm – 2:00pm AWST


Venue

Online 


Presenter

Ross Cayley, Senior Geologist at the Geological Survey of Victoria


Finding millions of ounces of world class, super-high grade orogenic gold hiding beneath a historically modest slate-belt goldfield, as happened at Fosterville in central Victoria in the last few years.


Talk Overview

This has reminded the whole world about exactly what it was that made the ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ of the 19th Century so ‘marvellous’: the quite stunning gold endowment of Victoria.

Millions of years of erosion and placer accumulation had put Victoria’s gold endowment ‘on display’ for the 19th Century miners. At that time no geological knowledge was required to strike it rich. Things are different today, with most yet-to-find gold either buried beneath younger cover or concealed at depth in structures that are largely blind-to-surface and in orientations and positions dictated by ancient stress-fields that were complex and dynamic and are now difficult to understand. For the latter half of the 20th Century these harsh realities mostly defeated gold explorers, who instead invested elsewhere in ‘easier’ geology.

Occasional successes, such as shoots discovered in the stunning ‘Poverty Reef’ discovery at Tarnagulla, were reminders of the latent potential.  But at the same time, a quiet revolution in geological research and technology was underway, gradually realising the long-held dream of geological systems analysis of sufficient sophistication and resolution to have predictive capability, including for cryptic orogenic gold systems such as those in Victoria.

A fantastic back-catalogue of orogenic gold systems geology was built through the late 1990’s to 2000’s, and the early signs of the power of this new data and knowledge were indicated by discoveries such as Hill 800 and Four Eagles. What was needed was a world class success to spark the imagination and attract the investment needed to fully capitalise.

That moment has arrived, and this talk steps through that process, with a number of key case studies.


About The Speaker

Ross Cayley, Senior Geologist at the Geological Survey of Victoria

Ross Cayley is a structural geologist, field-mapping specialist, and geological systems analyst who joined the Geological Survey of Victoria in 1990. Ross has nearly 3 decades in experience in field mapping, collaborative acquisition, geological interpretation, and integration of geological and geophysical datasets across SE Australia. The resulting geological models including the ‘Stavely Arc’ model (2018), and the ‘Lachlan Orocline’ model (2013-ongoing).


Cost

AusIMM/AIG Member – Free
Non Member – $20.00


Registration

To register for this event please click the link below:
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Please note: Registrants who cannot join the webinar at the scheduled time will receive a link to the recording to watch at a later time convenient to them.