QGECE helping the Queensland Coastal Geothermal Energy Initiative

Thursday, 28 October

Yesterday, the Queensland Minister for Mines and Energy, Stephen Robertson, told the parliament about the Coastal Drilling Initiative to identify geothermal recourses closer to the populated areas of Queensland. Areas closer to the coast identified as having possible geothermal potential include near Roma, in the Tarong Basin, the Maryborough Basin South, the Duaringa Basin North and the Hillsborough Basin. The government funding of $5m will be spent in drilling 32 holes that are considered to have potential.

The amount of funding dictates that the wells drilled will be shallow wells. Therefore, the results will not be "proof" of the resource but should increase our knowledge of the geothermal potential in those areas. The QGECE researchers and students will be working closely with the Queensland Coastal Geothermal Initiative to maximise the returns from that investment. I should note here for the record that the QGECE input into the project is covered by the QGECE's own funds not the $5m that is expected to be spent mainly in drilling. The QGECE funding is of course part of the $15m grant give to the University of Queensland that led to the establishment of our Centre last year.

More information about this initiative can be found on the Coastal Geothermal Energy Initiative web site.

The QGECE input into the project will be in the geochemical analysis of the waters and the rock samples obtained during the project. This is going to be a good application of the QGECE methodology in using certain geochemical fingerprints in shallow sedimentary rocks as possible diagnostics for a deep granitic heat source. Alteration mineralogy is a widely used feature to explore for potential ore deposits; however, this method has not yet been deployed for identifying and characterising EGS. The QGECE is investigating alteration mineralogy of high heat producing granites, with particular emphasis on trace element and stable isotope geochemistry. If successful, this can offer an additional approach to geothermal exploration and resource characterisation. Those readers who would like to learn more about this topic may want to attend the following four presentations by the QGECE research team at the forthcoming Australian Geothermal Energy Conference in Adelaide:

Geothermal Prospection Using Existing Groundwater Geochemical and Thermal Datasets: Identifying Regions of Interest in Queensland from Government Well and Bore Data by McClarren, Gasparon and Uysal
Geochemistry of silica rocks in the Drummond Basin as a record of geothermal potential by Uysal, Middleton, Bolhar and Gasparon
Hydrothermal alteration aspects of high heat producing granites in Australia & Europe by Middleton, Uysal, Gasparon and Scott Bryan
Comparative petrology & geochemistry of high heat-producing granites in Australia & Europe by Marshall, Van Zyl, Bryan, Uysal, and Gasparon

Click here for the rest of the blog