A new tool has been added to the search for critical mineral opportunities, thanks to three-dimensional models of mineral deposits, maps and other key data recently published in new chapters of the Mineral Deposit Atlas.
Since 2019, the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) has been working with industry partners and the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) to combine historical and new data of the state’s major mineral deposits to intricately detail the history, chemical composition, and three-dimensional layout of each deposit system.
As part of the New Economy Minerals Initiative, seven new chapters have been recently added to the North-East Queensland atlas and five updated three-dimensional maps were added to existing chapters in the North-West Queensland volume.
Senior Research Fellow at the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre (BRC), Dr Tom Evans, explained that while mining is worth over AU$80 billion a year to Queensland, new deposits still need to be found.
“Research and historical data can help describe a geological “signature” of an economically viable deposit, allowing explorers to potentially identify new, similar types of deposit,” Dr Evans said.
“Collating this information and placing it in the public domain as a pre-competitive dataset levels the playing field for junior exploration companies, which hasn’t really been done before.
“The aim is to provide a template that mining companies can use to target their exploration.”
Dr Evans said there might be new opportunities in existing deposits as well. For example, Indium, a critical mineral used to make flat-panel screens, has resources and reserves in Queensland of about 114,392 metric tonnes.
“Indium is known to occur alongside tin deposits, so a better understanding of Queensland’s already explored tin deposits can help identify other opportunities,” he said.
“These atlases have an important role to play because not a huge amount is known about the variety and diversity of critical minerals.”
GSQ’s Director of Minerals Geoscience, Dr Janelle Kerr explained that the continued close collaboration between SMI and the GSQ has been beneficial across the research, industrial and governmental sectors.
“The Atlas Project is an important part of the enormous volumes of pre-competitive data that the GSQ supply to the minerals exploration sector,” she said.
“The project contextualises the open-file data resources, helping explorers to make new mineral discoveries more efficiently.”
SMI Director Professor Rick Valenta was an early champion of the mineral atlases.
“Industry and government partners have been key to the success of the Mineral Atlas project, so it’s been gratifying to see more and more stakeholders making use of this resource over time,” Professor Valenta said.
