EIS-funded petrophysics

After a pilot project in 2020–21, the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) started a long-term program to measure the physical properties of rock samples (petrophysical data) from drill cores. These samples come from important mineral deposits, areas that haven’t been well explored, and key reference drillholes.

The goal of this program is to collect detailed information about the physical properties of rocks, such as different rock-types, changes caused by fluids or heat (alteration), and minerals linked to major mineral systems. Each year, the program plans to test 1000–2000 samples to better understand the geology of Western Australia.

The program is funded by the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS). It aims to help resource explorers, government agencies, and geoscientists make better decisions about the Earth's solid materials in Western Australia.

Currently, the program measures the following rock properties:

• Magnetic susceptibility – how rocks respond to magnetic fields
• Remanent magnetisation – the natural magnetism retained in rocks
• Dry bulk density – how dense rocks are
• Apparent porosity – how many tiny spaces (pores) are inside the rocks
• Galvanic resistivity – how well rocks resist electric currents
• Induced polarisation – how rocks temporarily store electric charge
• Inductive conductivity – how well rocks conduct electricity
• P-wave sonic velocity – the speed of sound waves through rocks
• Acoustic impedance – how sound waves bounce off rock layers
• Gamma ray – natural radiation from rocks

More properties might be added as the program grows in the future.

Petrophysical data and reports in MAGIX Online

Petrophysics data from GSWA samples and company surveys can be found within MAGIX Online by searching for “PETROPHYSICS” in the methods field. Where reports on petrophysical analyses have been commissioned by GSWA these can be found on the DMPE eBookshop. Additionally, all available GSWA commissioned petrophysics results (data and reports) can be downloaded from the below table via the MAGIX reference links for each sample batch.