
Sunrise Minerals has won the right to explore part of Western Australia’s ‘quiet radio’ zone after successfully incorporating a Radio Emissions Management Plan into its exploration program.
The site in Western Australia’s outer west, controlled by WA’s Radio Telescope Mineral Resources Management Area (RTMRMA), limits outsider radio frequency emissions to allow the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope to work with little interference.
Executive director of the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) Ivor Roberts, said his department helped to open up the area for exploration by working with companies to improve the use of radio technology.
“The department has worked alongside industry to improve the radio quietness of resources equipment and technology,” Roberts said.
“This has enabled areas with resource potential within the RTMRMA to be explored.”
“This represented the first company to successfully incorporate a Radio Emissions Management Plan into its exploration program, granting them approval to explore near the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observator.,”
The SKA radio telescope seeks to investigate questions about the universe such as its evolution.
Image: Department of Mines and Petroleum