Tasmania
KUTh was granted Special Exploration Licence (SEL) 26/2005 by Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT) for Class 6 (Geothermal Substances) in 2006. The licence covers 12,360km2 in eastern Tasmania, stretching from the mouth of the Tamar River in the north to Hobart in the south. This was the first application for a Class 6 (Geothermal Substances) licence in Tasmania. In late 2007, KUTh was granted an additional geothermal title in Tasmania, SEL45/2007, of 1,811 km2, which was applied for on the basis of a favourable interpretation of a gravity survey conducted by KUTh in mid 2007. The total land holdings by KUTh in Tasmania is 14,171 km2, one of the largest geothermal acreages held by a company in Australia. Details of all types of tenements in Tasmania may be viewed on the MRT website.
KUTh geothermal tenure
Tasmania contains several large granite masses and the granites associated with tin mineralisation are enriched in the radioactive elements and generate high heat fluxes. In eastern Tasmania a thermal blanket is provided by three to six kilometres of sedimentary rocks (including carbonaceous mudstones, shales, coal measures) which should provide a good thermal blanket, although actual measurements of thermal conductivity have not been taken from the lower reaches.
KUTh's exploration strategy is to follow the eastern Tasmania granitic suite at depth by geophysical methods (gravity, MT, seismic) and to take heat flow measurements across the tenement in shallow (~300m deep) drill holes. Then to follow up surface thermal anomalies which coincide with favourable subsurface geology by drilling holes to between 1 and 2km for further thermal and conductivity measuremenys. These results will be modelled to see if a potentially economic thermal reservoir exists at depth and if so, a deep (>4km) 'production' well will be drilled to test the resource.
A major advantage of the KUTh ground in Tasmania over many of the projects interstate is that there is both proven 'hot granites' with high voltage and distribution grid infrastructure nearby. Thus is a geothermal resource is proven and developed, there will be minimal additional infrastructure to build.
A program of shallow (to 300m) geothermal drilling commenced in late October 2007 and is a systematic tenement-wide program designed to measure heat flow and rock conductivities. With this data, KUTh will be able to pin-point the best locations for deep geothermal drilling.
As of July 2008, eight results had been obtained for heat flow from the drilling (drill holes are left for three months to thermally equilibrate). The results have been very good, in that 6 of the 8 holes have returned heat flows comparable to those commonly reported from the Cooper Basin, presently regarded as the leading heat flow province in Australia. Read our ASX announcments here and here (115kB and 184kB PDFs).
Oblique satellite view of Tasmania, Bass Strait and Victoria showing granted SELs 26/2005 and 45/2007. Note the relationship to the grid and Basslink. (click image to zoom in popup window)
Download/view 26/2005 on Google Earth.
Download/view 45/2007 on Google Earth.
If you don't have Google Earth installed on your computer then you can download it for free.
Drill status plan July 2008
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Heat flow results as of July 2008
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