Offer and submit drill cores

Before ceasing activities on the mineral title, as the titleholder, you must request approval to dispose of drill cores, cuttings or other geological samples collected from the following title areas:

• exploration licences (EL)
• exploration retention licences (ERL)
• extractive mineral leases (EML).

This is a requirement under the Mineral Titles Act 2010.

As soon as you are finished analysing drill cores or cuttings, and before ceasing activities on the mineral title, you should offer them to the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS).

Each drill core offer is evaluated for inclusion in the core library collection.

You must deliver samples that are selected for the drill core library to the NTGS Core Facility in Alice Springs or Darwin.

Samples not selected for the core library collection may be disposed of after you have received written authorisation from NTGS.

How to offer drill core samples

To submit offers of drill cores and cuttings, you must use the following form.

Geological sample submission (drill core and cuttings) (approved form 20) DOCX (63.1 KB)
Geological sample submission (drill core and cuttings) (approved form 20) PDF (151.4 KB)

You must submit the completed form by email to core.facility@nt.gov.au.

Request to submit or approval to dispose of drill core

A formal reply to the offer of drill core and other geological samples will be sent to the title holder.

The letter will provide details of any drill core that has been selected for inclusion in the core library collection and will give formal permission for disposal of the samples that are not selected.

You must not dispose of any drill core before you have written authorisation.

How to submit core samples

You must submit all drill cores and cuttings samples to the NTGS core facility nearest to your exploration title.

You must contact the NTGS core facility manager to arrange the delivery date:

• for Darwin, call 08 8984 3036
• for Alice Springs, call 08 8951 8652.

Details of the procedures, including packaging and labelling are in the following document.

Geological sample submission procedure (core and cuttings) DOCX (741.6 KB)
Geological sample submission procedure (core and cuttings) PDF (816.2 KB)

Each drill core submitted must have a copy of the submission form attached.

You are responsible for the transport arrangements and the cost of delivering cores to the nearest core facility.