Metadata

This page provides brief descriptions of data used in the atlas and links to full metadata sheets.

• Mines/Deposits Layers
  • Operating Mines/Mineral Deposits/Historic Mines
  • Mineral Occurrence
• Mineral Potential Layers
• Infrastructure and Topography Layers
  • New Mining Infrastructure Projects
  • Mineral Processing Centres
  • Ports
  • Power Stations
  • Airports and Airfields
  • Population Centres
  • Powerlines
  • Federal Electoral Boundaries
  • Regional Minerals Program - Project Zones
  • Reserves/Prohibited Ares
  • Road and Rail Infrastructure
  • Oil/Gas Fields
  • Oil/Gas Pipelines
  • Rivers and Streams
  • Inland Water Bodies
• Background Layers
  • Geological Regions (by Age)
  • Geology (by Rock Type)
  • Terrain
  • Gravity
  • Magnetics
  • Satellite Imagery
  • Topographic Map - 1:250,000

This data represents the OZMIN Oracle relational database containing geological and resource information for Australian mineral deposits. OZMIN has been compiled from published references and has been designed so that attribute information can be retrieved and analysed in relation to spatial data contained in geographic information systems. The national mineral deposits dataset contains data on over one thousand major and historically significant mineral deposits for 60 mineral commodities (including coal).

• View full metadata file.
• Download the Operating Mines dataset as a spreadsheet.

The mineral occurrence data has been compiled directly from State/Territory Geological Survey databases and aims to provide a national overview of mineral occurrences. It does not attempt to duplicate the complete set of attributes held by each State/Territory Survey but merely highlight an occurrence location with a name and set of commodities. The national overview is based upon an agreed set of attributes namely Occurrenceno - Unique Geoscience Australia Identifier, Sourceno - State/Territory Identifiers, Name of Occurrence, Project, Mining Centre or Group of Occurrences, Commodities - A List of significant commodity names, Class which describes whether it is an occurrence, deposit or mine, Location (Lat/Long, Easting/Northings), Accuracy in metres, and Source. Full attributes will be available by linking directly to the State/Territory databases online. To date all stakeholders have agreed to adopt a National commodity list, however naming conventions and class types have not yet been standardised.

• View full metadata file.
• Mineral Occurrences and Deposits in the Mines Atlas.

The Composite Mineral Potential Map shows the highest level of mineral potential out of all the significant types of deposits assessed for a particular geoprovince/ subprovince in Australia. Mineral potential assessments were made for 17 significant types of mineral deposits for selected geoprovinces/subprovinces. Where a particular geoprovince/subprovince contains potential for several types of mineral deposits, this geoprovince is assigned the highest level of potential of all the types of deposits assessed for the geoprovince. In this approach, the deposit type with the highest level of potential obscures the lower levels of potential for the other types of deposits in the geoprovince/subprovince. The levels of potential for different types of deposits combined in this way form a 'Composite Mineral Potential Map'. The map has been created by using Spatial Analyst of ArcView 3. Blank areas of map represent geoprovinces that did not have potential for any of the 17 different types of deposits or which were not assessed because of insufficient data.

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The coverage contains locations and other data such as weblinks, company names, capital expenditure and size of operation. The information regarding the major new mining projects was obtained fom a search of the web.

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• Download the Major New Mining Projects dataset as a spreadsheet.

The Mineral Processing Centre coverage contains locations and other data such as centre type, resource/commodity processed, weblinks, company names and general locations. Only the major processing centres were included not the minesite pre-processing plants.

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• Download the Mineral Processing Plants dataset as a spreadsheet.

The Ports coverage contains locations and other data such as weblinks commodities, tonnage of imports and exports and company names. The information regarding the ports was obtained fom a search of the WWW with the most informative site and organisation being the Association of Australian Ports and Marine Authorities (AAPMA). South Australia and Queensland also have state port authorities (Flinders Ports, SA; Ports Corporation of Queensland) which also have valuable information.

• View full metadata file.
• Download the Ports dataset as a spreadsheet (last updated December 2009)

This data set is a combination of the:

• View Power Stations - Fossil Fuels metadata file.
• View Power Stations - Renewable Energy metadata file.

The Global Map Australia 1M 2001 is a digital dataset covering the Australian landmass and island territories at 1:1 million scale. This is part of the Global Mapping Project managed by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). The ultimate intention of the project is to provide data for all land areas to assist global monitoring of environmental change. It consists of eight layers of information: four vector (administrative boundaries, drainage, transportation, and population centres) and four raster (atlas, vegetation, land cover and land use). Vector data was produced by generalising Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 1 data and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided the raster images.

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The Global Map Australia 1M 2001 is a digital dataset covering the Australian landmass and island territories at 1:1 million scale. This is part of the Global Mapping Project managed by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). The ultimate intention of the project is to provide data for all land areas to assist global monitoring of environmental change. It consists of eight layers of information: four vector (administrative boundaries, drainage, transportation, and population centres) and four raster (atlas, vegetation, land cover and land use). Vector data was produced by generalising Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 1 data and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided the raster images.

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Powerlines displayed in the Australian Mines Atlas are sourced from GEODATA TOPO 250K. Some work was done categorising powerlines by voltage capacity for use in the Australian Mines Atlas. For more detail please see the full GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 3 metadata.

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This dataset reflects the boundaries of the Commonwealth Electoral Divisions of Australia. The dataset is comprised of individual State and Territory datasets which are created following periodic redistribution of electoral boundaries as required. The individual datasets collectively form the Commonwealth Electoral Boundaries.

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The Regional Minerals Program (RMP) aims to achieve a coordinated approach by industry and governments to facilitate the regional development of mining and mineral processing activities (including petroleum), and to promote regional employment opportunities.The RMP was established by the Australian Government in 1996 and the last projects were approved in 2003. The RMP layer consists of a polygon for each RMP project. This is linked to a data table holding information on the project name, start and completion date and location information. Each polygon is linked back to the Industry, Tourism and Resources website, specifically to the executive summary for each RMP project.

• Read more about the RMP.

Contains a medium scale vector representation of the topography of Australia. The data includes the following themes: Hydrography - drainage networks including watercourses, lakes, wetlands, bores and offshore features; Infrastructure - constructed features to support road, rail and air transportation as well as built-up areas, localities and homesteads. Utilities, pipelines, fences and powerlines are also included; Relief - features depicting the terrain of the earth including 50 metre contours, spot heights, sand dunes, craters and cliffs; Vegetation - depicting forested areas, orchards, mangroves, pine plantations and rainforests; and Reserved Areas - areas reserved for special purposes including nature conservation reserves, aboriginal reserves, prohibited areas and water supply reserves.

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The Global Map Australia 1M 2001 is a digital dataset covering the Australian landmass and island territories at 1:1 million scale. This is part of the Global Mapping Project managed by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). The ultimate intention of the project is to provide data for all land areas to assist global monitoring of environmental change. It consists of eight layers of information: four vector (administrative boundaries, drainage, transportation, and population centres) and four raster (atlas, vegetation, land cover and land use). Vector data was produced by generalising Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 1 data and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided the raster images.

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The Oil Producing Regions layer is a subset of the Geoscience Sedimentary Basins dataset containing those basins where energy related resources (oil and gas) occur.

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The pipelines layer contains the major Australian oil and gas pipeline infrastructure. It includes existing, under construction and proposed pipelines. Each pipeline contains information such as Type, Owner, Regulator, Diameter, and Status. Web links to Owners and Regulators are provided where possible.

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The Global Map Australia 1M 2001 is a digital dataset covering the Australian landmass and island territories at 1:1 million scale. This is part of the Global Mapping Project managed by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). The ultimate intention of the project is to provide data for all land areas to assist global monitoring of environmental change. It consists of eight layers of information: four vector (administrative boundaries, drainage, transportation, and population centres) and four raster (atlas, vegetation, land cover and land use). Vector data was produced by generalising Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 1 data and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided the raster images.

• View full metadata file.

The Global Map Australia 1M 2001 is a digital dataset covering the Australian landmass and island territories at 1:1 million scale. This is part of the Global Mapping Project managed by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM). The ultimate intention of the project is to provide data for all land areas to assist global monitoring of environmental change. It consists of eight layers of information: four vector (administrative boundaries, drainage, transportation, and population centres) and four raster (atlas, vegetation, land cover and land use). Vector data was produced by generalising Geoscience Australia's GEODATA TOPO 250K Series 1 data and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) provided the raster images.

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This data set is a break up of the Australian continent into 2-dimensional regions. A geological region is a relatively large geographical area with a cohesive, albeit in some cases complex, geological assemblage (Bain & Draper 1997, AGSO Bulletin 240); significantly different in overall geology from the adjoining regions, and differs from geol. province in that it does not include depth/time dimensions.

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The Geology of Australia data set documents the distribution and age of major stratigraphic, intrusive and medium to high-grade metamorphic rock units of onshore Australia. It is an ongoing compilation, subject to periodic revision as additional data becomes available. The data set was compiled to use at scales between 1:2,500,000 and 1:5,000,000 inclusive. The units distinguished/mapped mainly represent stratigraphic supergroups, regional intrusive associations and regional metamorphic complexes. Groupings of Precambrian units in the time-space diagram are generally separated by major time breaks; Phanerozoic units are grouped according to stratigraphic age i.e. System/Period. The time-space diagram has the added benefit that it provides a summary of units currently included on the themes.

The method used to distinguish sedimentary and many volcanic units varies for each geological eon as follows:

• Cainozoic units are morphological units which emphasise t he relationship of the sedimentary fill to the landscape;
• Mesozoic units are regionally extensive to continent-wide time-rock units which emphasise the System of Period(s);
• Palaeozoic units are stratotectonic units that emphasise either the dominant System or Period(s) or the range of Periods;
• Proterozoic units are commonly regional stratotectonic units - separated by major time breaks and split into the Palaeoproterozoic; Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic Eras - which are generally unique to each cratonic region;
• Archaean units are regional lithological units grouped into broad time divisions;
• Metamorphic units are lithological units which emphasise the metamorphic facies and timing of the last major metamorphic event; and,
• Igneous units are regional units which emphasise the dominant lithology and are grouped into broad time divisions.

Note: This is a specialist product and most items in the data set do not comply with the current AGSO-Geoscience Australia GIS standards for digital data.

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These images are derived from the January 2002 edition of the "Australian Bathymetry and Topography Grid" (GEOMET Record : 4301). That grid is derived from data in Geoscience Australia databases including GA-Mardat and GA-Swath and represents over 900 surveys acquired since 1963 by GA, the Australian Hydrographic Service, oil exploration companies, and foreign institutions.

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These images are derived from the "Gravity Anomaly Grid of the Australian Region" (GEOMET record : 4341). That grid combines accurate onshore gravity measurements, a sub-sample of the levelled offshore marine gravity traverses with satellite data used in areas where there is no marine data. The cell values represent simple Bouguer anomalies at a density of 2.67 tm-³ onshore and free-air anomalies offshore. The grid cell size is 0.5 minutes of arc, which is equivalent to about 800 metres. The smallest wavelength contained in the grid is 1600 m.

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These images are derived from the "Magnetic Anomaly Grid of Australia" (GEOMET Record : 4381). That grid was compiled from about 9 million line-kilometres of TMI data held in the National Airborne Geophysics Database. The data were collected in surveys conducted by Geoscience Australia and by airborne geophysical companies operating under contracts to Geoscience Australia and State and Territory Geological Surveys, either separately or in joint projects. Data from a number of other surveys, carried out for private companies, were acquired by Geoscience Australia. That grid contains anomalies with wavelengths as small as 800 m.

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This is a complete coverage of processed satellite data available over the Australian landmass. It was derived from ACRES Landsat 7 Y2K Mosaic data produced by the Australian Greenhouse Office in 2000 as part of the National Carbon Accounting System. The imagery was acquired from July 1999 to September 2000 and is composed of 369 individual satellite scenes.

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The data have been derived from 1:250,000 scale NATMAPs. The NATMAPs were created from EPS files which are by-products of the map production process. Maps were then projected to latitude/longitude and joined together into one single image. Average resolution of the 1:250,000 scale mosaic is at 200 dpi and supplied in 24 bit (16 million) colour. The map images are available as a 2-CD set as ECW (Enhanced Compressed Wavelet) images. A 1:1,000,000 map image and a 50m satellite image are also included.

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