GEOTHERMAL POTENTIAL TO BE EXPLORED
Tasmania’s potential as a source of geothermal energy is to be investigated on the West Coast.
The Deputy Premier, Steven Kons, today said that Geothermal Energy Tasmania Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Allegiance Minerals NL, had applied for a Special Exploration Licence of 2792 square kilometres over western Tasmania.
“Geothermal Energy Tasmania is the second company to take up a large ground holding in the State to explore for this exciting source of green energy,” Mr Kons said.
“Geothermal Energy Tasmania has selected western Tasmania as a hot dry rocks target as the deep mines at Rosebery and Renison have well documented high heat flows emanating from the West Coast granites.
“The company intends to spend $150,000 on exploration over the first two years of the licence.
“The initial exploration will focus on a review of the current knowledge and data available on the area followed in later years by deep exploration wells if enough encouragement is obtained from the early work.”
Mr Kons also announced that the State Government intended to grant three new mineral exploration licences with the principal target of base metals in North and North-West Tasmania. A further licence in North-East Tasmania is for gold exploration.
Stonehenge Metals Ltd has applied for 80 square kilometres in the Interview River area, north-west of Corinna. The company will be exploring for tin and plans to spend $70,000 in the first two years of the project on geological mapping, rock sampling and drilling.
Goldstream Mining NL has applied for 165 square kilometres in the Salmon River area near Redpa in North-West Tasmania. Goldstream plans to carry out stream sediment and heavy mineral sampling and to use geophysical surveys to define copper, zinc and gold targets to be tested by drilling.
Red River Resources Ltd has applied for 103 square kilometres near Hampshire in Northern Tasmania. The company’s proposed program is focused on base metals and gold involving soil sampling, gravity measurements and drilling. The exploration licence will add to exploration properties already held by Red River Resources in the area.
Lefroy Resources Ltd has applied for 37 square kilometres in North-East Tasmania near Lisle The company holds other exploration properties in North-East Tasmania and will carry out soil sampling and drilling for gold.
“The total planned expenditure on the four licences is over $330,000,” Mr Kons said.
“This high commitment by these companies to Tasmania is more evidence of the strong mineral exploration industry in the state and further demonstrates the high prospectivity of different areas of the state.
“The State Government is showing its support for the sector through the $5 million TasExplore Project that will see a significant upgrade to the 3-D geological and resource model and the TIGER geological information system over the next four years to enable better targeting of exploration.”
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