Authors / CoAuthors
Mernagh, T.P. | Bastrakov, E.N. | Clarke, J.D.A. | de Caritat, P. | English, P.M. | Howard, F.J.F. | Jaireth, S. | Magee, J.W. | McPherson, A.A. | Roach, I.C. | Schroder, I.F. | Thomas, M. | Wilford, J.R.
Abstract
Globally, salt lakes are major sources of lithium, potash, borates and other strategic mineral commodities. Salt lakes, or salars, in the semi-arid to arid regions of Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia contain most of the world's low cost supply of lithium, while salt lakes in Jordan, Israel and China are significant sources of potash. Despite the large number of salt lakes distributed across Australia, public domain knowledge of saline lakes and their associated groundwater systems as potential sources for lithium, potash and other commodities is limited. This report has reviewed the publicly available information on Australian salt lakes and is accompanied by four maps showing which lakes have the highest potential for lithium, boron, potash and calcrete-hosted uranium.
Product Type
document
eCat Id
76454
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Owner
Custodian
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- GA PublicationRecord
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- economic geology
- ( Theme )
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- fluid reservoirs
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- mineral exploration
- ( Theme )
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- geochemistry
- ( Theme )
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- water
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- AU
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2013-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
Security Constraints
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Status
Purpose
Maintenance Information
notPlanned
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
2013/039
Lineage
A series of mineral systems criteria were developed for salt lake systems with potassium, lithium, boron and uranium. A range of input datasets were processed in order to develop these criteria. These were then combined to generate maps showing favourable regions in Australia where these systems may operate.
Parent Information
Extents
[-44, -9, 110, 158]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Downloads and Links
Source Information
OZCHEM national whole rock geochemistry database Custodian: Geoscience Australia 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 National Geochemistry Survery of Australia - Catchment Polygons Geocat No. 73085 Custodian: Geoscience Australia 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 National Geochemistry Survery of Australia - Geochemistry Geocat No. 71973 Custodian: Geoscience Australia 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 U2/Th based on Radiometric Map of Australia Geocat No. 70791 Custodian: Geoscience Australia 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 WASANT palaeovalley map Geocat No. 73980 Custodian: Geoscience Australia 108.0 144.0 -40.0 -8.0 Climate zones (Koppen-Geiger classification) Reference: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/environ/other/koppen_explain.shtml Custodian: Bureau of Meteorology 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 Evaporites extracted from Geoscience Australia's 1:1 million surface geology map Geocat No. 74619 Custodian: Geoscience Australia 67.0 171.8 -58.5 -8.5 Geoscience Australia's Ozmin Database Custodian: Geoscience Australia 112.0 154.0 -44.0 -12.0 Northeast Yilgarn hydrogeochemical dataset Gray, D., R. Noble, et al. (2009). Hydrogeochemical mapping of north-east Yilgarn groundwater. CSIRO Report P2009/1612. Perth, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation: 72p. Lake Disappointment area hydrogeochemistry dataset Reference: http://www.water.wa.gov.au/ Northern Territory hydrogeochemistry dataset Reference: http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/nrmapsnt Lake Frome hydrogeochemistry dataset Reference: https://www.waterconnect.sa.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx