Queensland’s Critical Minerals Potential – the New Economy Mineral Compilation

Speaker:  Professor Rick Valenta, Deputy Director - Production, Sustainable Minerals Institute

Abstract:  The Sustainable Minerals Insitute and The University of Queensland have been strongly involved in research aimed at discovery and extraction of critical minerals in Queensland, with projects covering the full range of stages: from regional prospectivity; to innovative processing and extraction; to studies aimed at characterising historical and current mine wastes and their valorisation potential.  As part of that program, we have carried out mineral system-based prospectivity analyses for a range of new economy minerals.  The results of these studies have been released in multiple reports and datasets, as well as an interactive online tool.  The studies have confirmed Queensland’s high potential for a range of new economy minerals, and have highlighted multiple regions and occurrences with potential for new discoveries.

Bio:  Rick Valenta leads research aimed at improving the discovery, mining and processing of hydrothermal ore deposits. His areas of focus include structural geology, geophysics and ore deposit geology, with an overall theme of better understanding the underlying processes which lead to the localisation and characteristics of these deposits Rick also has a strong focus on development of 4D mineral systems models from deposit to region scales, using these models to improve targeting techniques, better formulate geological and resource models, and inform prediction of mineral processing performance. 

Trained as a geologist, Rick has worked in Petroleum exploration in Western Canada before coming to Australia to complete a PhD on the George Fisher Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the Mount Isa region. He has lectured at Monash University in an industry-supported role with involvement in developing very successful industry training programs and a significate number of publication and software outputs. Rick then spent 23 years in industry roles, including Chief Geologist, Chief Operating Officer, and multiple CEO roles. Rick was recently appointed to the new role of Deputy Director - Production at the Sustainable Minerals Institute.