NEWS

AGARSS PURCHASES RIGHTS TO ARCHIVAL GEOSCAN AMSS DATA

AGARSS and Ashton Mining Ltd. have agreed terms for the outright purchase of all rights to the archival Geoscan Airborne Multi-Spectral Scanner data.  These data were acquired over a period of 8 years from 1985 to 1993 by Geoscan Pty. Ltd., originally owned by Western Australian based mining company Carr Boyd Minerals Ltd. and from 1990 by Ashton Mining Ltd.

The  Geoscan AMSS MKI was developed by Carr Boyd Minerals after a joint research programme with the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).  Geoscan Pty. Ltd. was formed as the remote sensing research and development vehicle for Carr Boyd which used Geoscan's AMSS instruments widely in mineral exploration.

In 1989, the second instrument was commissioned.  This instrument acquired reflectance data across 24 channels in the Visible - Near Infrared (VNIR), Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) and Thermal Infrared (TIR).  Typical band wavelength positions and band widths are shown in table 1.

At that time, the Geoscan AMSS MKII was the most advanced remote sensing instrument in operation and was used widely by Carr Boyd Minerals, suporting its exploration efforts throughout Australia and also in the Western U.S.A.

In 1990, subsequent to being taken over by Ashton Mining, Geoscan became a commercial enterprise, operating commissioned surveys around the world for mineral, oil and gas, and geothermal resource exploration as well as for agricultural, environmental, marine and military applications.  

Extensive data coverage was acquired in Australia, Western U.S.A. and Chile and the instrument also operated commercially in Bolivia, Brazil and New Zealand.  A large portion of this overall data package was acquired on a multi-client basis and became the property of Ashton Mining when Geoscan ceased to trade at the end of 1993.

In 1994 AGARSS negotiated the right to market and trade in the data on behalf of Ashton Mining and for 4 years the partnership has worked very well.  However, although significant from the point of view of AGARSS, the data sales had little impact in the overall business of Ashton Mining.  Both partners were therefore pleased to negotiate an arrangement whereby AGARSS will purchase full rights to all of the archival Geoscan data over a two year time frame.

For further details on available Geoscan AMSS data visit our website http://www.agarss.com.au, email info@agarss.com.au or contact:-