Recently, the Australian federal government released four new mineral potential maps, which could accelerate exploration efforts for metals essential to renewable technologies, such as zinc, cobalt, gallium, and germanium.
　　Resources Minister Madeleine King stated that the information obtained with the support of the Geological Survey of Western Australia will facilitate exploration in the country’s unexplored regions and will play a crucial role in Australia’s production and export of base metals to meet global demand.
　　Madeleine revealed that this information is part of the findings from the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program and holds immense significance for Australia in seizing the global clean energy market’s booming opportunities and ensuring its future economic development.
　　“Thanks to the hard work of Australian scientists, we’re now better able to predict resource locations—including those of critical minerals that are essential for achieving net-zero emissions targets.”
　　The newly released maps, along with reports and other valuable data, represent the successful implementation by Geoscience Australia of the 2016 Mineral Potential Mapping Project. This initiative facilitated the discovery in 2020 by Chalice Mining of the Gonneville deposit within its Julimar project in Western Australia—a discovery that ranks as the largest nickel sulfide deposit found worldwide in over 20 years and also marks the largest platinum-group metals deposit ever discovered in Australian history.
　　“This mineral potential mapping approach combines the decades of experience accumulated by Australia’s Geoscience Australia with a wealth of geoscientific datasets. These big data sets enhance predictive capabilities and broaden the prospects for more significant discoveries,” the minister said.
　　“I hope that any future discoveries will not only benefit the nearby communities but also contribute to the nation as a whole. Deepening our understanding of geology is crucial for the sustainable development of our country’s resources and for better achieving Australia’s—and the world’s—net-zero emissions target by 2050.”
　　In the coming months, Geoscience Australia will carry out additional projects to assess the potential of mineral resources, with a particular focus on sedimentary-stratiform copper deposits. Copper is also a critically important mineral for achieving net-zero emissions.
　　“Since 80% of the Australian continent remains unexplored, the public (precompetitive) data obtained through the EFTF program represents crucial information for both the government and other relevant stakeholders, enabling better predictions about natural resources and ultimately benefiting communities, industries, and the environment,” Madeline said.
　　Since 2016, the EFET program—investing A$225 million—has been collecting public-domain geological data for Australia.