Mrs BRAHAM - 1996-11-21
I understand the Department of Mines and Energy has sent a task force to central Australia to confirm a rather extraordinary geological find. Will the minister provide details of this discovery?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I have been informed that the find is so unusual that it is extremely difficult for experts to believe it has occurred. My department became aware recently of rumours about the existence of a very large occurrence of garnet in central Australia. It was described by someone as the `mother of all garnets'. It seems that a postgraduate student from Adelaide University was on a field mapping expedition and discovered what was believed to be an extraordinarily large garnet crystal at a very remote location. The department contacted the university and was advised that the rumours about this were true. The university suggested that the find might comprise a single crystal.
The deposit is approximately 30 m across. If it is true that it is a single crystal, it has immediate scientific value over and above its significance as a natural phenomenon. This is because there are apparently scientific difficulties in explaining how a single crystal could grow as large as 30 m across. Even though it sounds bizarre, the department has now confirmed that the garnet does exist. It is believed that there are 2 and possibly 3 extremely large garnets. A group of scientists, led by the Director of Mines, went out to the site last weekend. They confirmed the presence of a very large crystal. The garnet itself is highly weathered and is fractured. The largest of the garnets is in a small hill which is about 30 m high and some hundreds of metres across. Apparently, the top part of that hill is the garnet. It is believed that it may weigh as much as 100 000 t. It is surrounded by the bottle-green crystals, between 2 cm and 20 cm in size, of another mineral, epidote. The department is
not aware of any comparable structures anywhere else in the world, but more work needs to be done to confirm that. I have some samples here. I will not table them, but members may like to look at them. If they were tabled, they would be gone forever. Who knows what significance this has?
The garnet itself does not present as a spectacular site. It is a brownish rock outcrop. I have a couple of photos I can table. They are not very spectacular. They show a reddish rock at the site where the garnets have been found. While the physical appearance may not be impressive to the general public, apparently this is astonishing to those with an interest in geology and natural history. At this stage, we do not intend to reveal the exact location until
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we have been able to consider appropriate protection measures. The Department of Mines and Energy will undertake an inventory of the area and initiate appropriate action to protect the site under Territory law. In future, because of its extreme rarity, it might become quite significant in terms of tourism, especially for those people with a scientific bent.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I have been informed that the find is so unusual that it is extremely difficult for experts to believe it has occurred. My department became aware recently of rumours about the existence of a very large occurrence of garnet in central Australia. It was described by someone as the `mother of all garnets'. It seems that a postgraduate student from Adelaide University was on a field mapping expedition and discovered what was believed to be an extraordinarily large garnet crystal at a very remote location. The department contacted the university and was advised that the rumours about this were true. The university suggested that the find might comprise a single crystal.
The deposit is approximately 30 m across. If it is true that it is a single crystal, it has immediate scientific value over and above its significance as a natural phenomenon. This is because there are apparently scientific difficulties in explaining how a single crystal could grow as large as 30 m across. Even though it sounds bizarre, the department has now confirmed that the garnet does exist. It is believed that there are 2 and possibly 3 extremely large garnets. A group of scientists, led by the Director of Mines, went out to the site last weekend. They confirmed the presence of a very large crystal. The garnet itself is highly weathered and is fractured. The largest of the garnets is in a small hill which is about 30 m high and some hundreds of metres across. Apparently, the top part of that hill is the garnet. It is believed that it may weigh as much as 100 000 t. It is surrounded by the bottle-green crystals, between 2 cm and 20 cm in size, of another mineral, epidote. The department is
not aware of any comparable structures anywhere else in the world, but more work needs to be done to confirm that. I have some samples here. I will not table them, but members may like to look at them. If they were tabled, they would be gone forever. Who knows what significance this has?
The garnet itself does not present as a spectacular site. It is a brownish rock outcrop. I have a couple of photos I can table. They are not very spectacular. They show a reddish rock at the site where the garnets have been found. While the physical appearance may not be impressive to the general public, apparently this is astonishing to those with an interest in geology and natural history. At this stage, we do not intend to reveal the exact location until
Page 1801
we have been able to consider appropriate protection measures. The Department of Mines and Energy will undertake an inventory of the area and initiate appropriate action to protect the site under Territory law. In future, because of its extreme rarity, it might become quite significant in terms of tourism, especially for those people with a scientific bent.
Page 1802
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016