This web map service provides the locations and status, as at 30 June 2020, of Australian operating mines, mines under development, mines on care and maintenance and resource deposits associated with critical minerals. Developing mines are deposits where the project has a positive feasibility study, development has commenced or all approvals have been received. Mines under care and maintenance and resource deposits are based on known resource estimations and may produce critical minerals in the future.

This web map service provides the locations and status, as at 30 June 2020, of Australian operating mines, mines under development, mines on care and maintenance and resource deposits associated with critical minerals. Developing mines are deposits where the project has a positive feasibility study, development has commenced or all approvals have been received. Mines under care and maintenance and resource deposits are based on known resource estimations and may produce critical minerals in the future.

The annual offshore petroleum exploration acreage release is part of the government’s strategy to promote offshore oil and gas exploration. Each year, the government invites companies to bid for the opportunity to invest in oil and gas exploration in Australian waters. The 2021 acreage release consists of 21 areas offshore of Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the Ashmore and Cartier Islands.

The Earthquake Scenario Selection is an interactive tool for querying, visualising and downloading earthquake scenarios. There are over 160 sites nationally with pre-generated scenarios available. These represent plausible future scenarios that can be used for earthquake risk management and planning (see https://www.ga.gov.au/about/projects/safety/nsha for more details).

This Record presents 40Ar/39Ar chronologic results acquired in support of collaborative regional geoscientific investigations and mapping programs conducted by Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS). Argon isotopic data and interpretations from hornblende, muscovite, and biotite from seven samples collected from the Aileron Province in ALCOOTA , HUCKITTA, HALE RIVER, and ILLOGWA CREEK in the Northern Territory are presented herein. The results complement pre-existing geochronological constraints from U–Pb zircon and monazite analyses of the same or related samples, and provide new constraints on the thermal and deformation history of the Aileron Province. Three samples (2003082017, 2003082021, 2003083040) were taken from ALCOOTA in the northeastern portion of the Aileron Province. Biotite in sample 2003082017 from the ca 1.81 Ga Crooked Hole Granite records cooling below 320–280°C at 441 ± 5 Ma. Biotite in sample 2003082021 from the ca 1.73 Ga Jamaica Granite records cooling below 320–280°C at or after 414 ± 2 Ma. Muscovite in sample 2003083040 from the Delny Metamorphics, which were deposited after ca 1.82 Ga and preserve evidence for metamorphism at ca 1.72 Ga and 1.69 Ga, records cooling below 430–390°C at 399 ± 2 Ma. The fabrics preserved in the samples from the Crooked Hole Granite and Delny Metamorphics are interpreted to have formed due to dynamic metamorphism related to movement on the Waite River Shear Zone, an extension of the Delny Shear Zone, during the Palaeoproterozoic. Portions of the northeastern Aileron Province are unconformably overlain by the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Georgina Basin, indicating these samples were likely at or near the surface by the Neoproterozoic. Together, these data indicate that rocks of the Aileron Province in ALCOOTA were subjected to heating above ~400°C during the Palaeozoic. Two samples (2003087859K, 2003087862F) of exoskarn from an indeterminate unit were taken from drillhole MDDH4 in the Molyhil tungsten–molybdenum deposit in central HUCKITTA. The rocks hosting the Molyhil tungsten–molybdenum deposit are interpreted as ca 1.79 Ga Deep Bore Metamorphics and ca 1.80 Ga Yam Gneiss. They experienced long-lived metamorphism during the Palaeoproterozoic, with supersolidus metamorphism observed until at least ca 1.72 Ga. Hornblende from sample 2003087859K indicates cooling below 520–480°C by 1702 ± 5 Ma and may closely approximate timing of skarn-related mineralisation at the Molyhil deposit; hornblende from sample 2003087862F records a phase of fluid flow at the Molyhil deposit at 1660 ± 4 Ma. The Salthole Gneiss has a granitic protolith that was emplaced at ca 1.79 Ga, and experienced alteration at ca 1.77 Ga. Muscovite from sample 2010080001 of Salthole Gneiss from the Illogwa Shear Zone in ILLOGWA CREEK records cooling of the sample below ~430–390°C at 327 ± 2 Ma. This may reflect the timing of movement of, or fluid flux along, the Illogwa Shear Zone. An unnamed quartzite in the Casey Inlier in HALE RIVER has a zircon U–Pb maximum depositional age of ca 1.24 Ga. Muscovite from sample HA05IRS071 of this unnamed quartzite yields an age of 1072 ± 8 Ma, which likely approximates, or closely post-dates, the timing of deformation in this sample; it provides the first direct evidence for a Mesoproterozoic episode of deformation in this part of the Aileron Province.

Geoscience Australia is Australia’s Earth science public sector organisation, recognised for its expert data capabilities and high level of expertise. As the nation’s trusted advisor on geology and geography the organisation is the premium provider of data, science and analysis for decision makers. Internally, Geoscience Australia is currently targeting and refining its core capabilities in order to establish and clearly articulate our value proposition and service offering to stakeholders.

This Record presents new U–Pb geochronological data, obtained via Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP), from 43 samples of predominantly igneous rocks collected from the East Riverina region of the central Lachlan Orogen, New South Wales. The results presented herein correspond to the reporting period July 2016–June 2020. This work is part of an ongoing Geochronology Project, conducted by the Geological Survey of New South Wales (GSNSW) and Geoscience Australia (GA) under a National Collaborative Framework agreement, to better understand the geological evolution and mineral prospectivity of the central Lachlan Orogen in southern NSW (Bodorkos et al., 2013; 2015; 2016, 2018; Waltenberg et al., 2019).

A review of mineral exploration trends, activities and discoveries in Australia in 2020

The annual offshore petroleum exploration acreage release is part of the government’s strategy to promote offshore oil and gas exploration. Each year, the government invites companies to bid for the opportunity to invest in oil and gas exploration in Australian waters. The 2021 acreage release consists of 21 areas offshore of Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the Ashmore and Cartier Islands.

Australia’s Energy Commodity Resources (AECR) provides estimates of Australia’s energy commodity reserves, resources, and production as at the end of 2019. The 2021 edition of AECR also includes previously unpublished energy commodity resource estimates data compiled by Geoscience Australia for the 2018 reporting period. The AECR energy commodity resource estimates are based primarily on published open file data and aggregated (de identified) confidential data. The assessment provides a pre COVID 19 baseline for the production and remaining recoverable resources of gas, oil, coal, uranium and thorium in Australia, and the global significance of our nation’s energy commodity resources.