Product catalogue
Clay-hosted rare earth element mineral potential maps of Australia
<div>Maps showing clay-hosted rare earth element (clay-REE) mineral potential in Australia, generated by (1) a knowledge-driven weighted sum model (KDWS) and (2) a machine learning random forest (MLRF) model. </div><div><br></div><div>The mineral potential maps are a synthesis of four component layers:</div><div> 1. Source of metals, fluids and ligands (KDWS & RFML - subsets of the Layered Geology of Australia 1:1M and Alkaline Rocks Atlas of Australia; RFML additionally includes subset of Surface Geology of Australia 1:2.5M).</div><div> 2. Energy sources and fluid flow drivers (KDWS & RFML - Revised Weathering Intensity Model of Australia - values 4.5-5.5; RFML additionally included the full national weathering intensity grid).</div><div> 3. Fluid flow pathways and architecture (KDWS & RFML - Depth of regolith [regolith thickness] grid of Australia - vales 5-60 m inclusive).</div><div> 4. Ore depositional gradients and traps (KDWS & RFML - Slope-relief classification of Australia - class 11 (lowest slope and relief landform pattern).</div><div><br></div><div>The input maps and dataset representing mineral deposits and occurrences used to train and validate (KDWS) and train, test and validate (RFML) the models are provided. </div><div>For clarity, the small number of documented 'transported' deposits (see accompanying GA Record) are not included in this analysis.</div><div><br></div><div>These datasets are accompanied by an assessment criteria table which contains information on the mappable criteria applied. Model weightings applied to each mineral system component (KDWS) and random forest statistics (MLRF) are reported in the accompanying GA Record.</div><div><br></div><div>The development of the maps is documented in GA Record 2026/12 (eCat 150834).</div>
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2026-01-08T11:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2026-03-18T01:20:13.287Z
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/150835
Identifier
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Author McPherson, A.
Internal Contact Author Ford, A.
Internal Contact Author Walsh, J.
Internal Contact Author Oborski, E.
Internal Contact Author Cloutier, J.
Internal Contact Author Senior, A.
Internal Contact
- Purpose
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Mineral potential models for clay-hosted rare earth elements delivered as part of Geoscience Australia (GA) commitments under the Accelerating Development of Australia's Rare Earth Resources (ADARER) project; a collaborative research initiative led by ANSTO and involving CSIRO and GA. Funded by the Australian Government, the project aims to enhance Australia's capacity to discover, extract, and process rare earth elements (REEs), particularly from clay-hosted and ionic adsorption deposits, to support critical technologies and strengthen supply chains. The models are generated using publicly available datasets and open source code.
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact McPherson, A.
Internal Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Keywords
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rare earth elements
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- Keywords
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clay-hosted
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- Keywords
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mineral potential assessment
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- Keywords
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mineral potential mapping
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- Keywords
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critical minerals
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Australia
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- Keywords
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regolith
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- Project
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Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub
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Accelerating Development of Australia’s Rare Earth Resources
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ADARER
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- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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Resource geoscience
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Addressee
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details User Any
- Use constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2026
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Classification system
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Australian Government Security Classification System
Associated resource
- Association Type
- Was informed by
- Title
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Clay-hosted rare earth element mineral potential of Australia
- Citation identifier
- 150834
- Citation identifier
- 64b0fb3d-7baa-416d-afe1-4988f1b9c9e0
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- OnLine resource
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Download the data package (zip) [275.2 MB]
Download the data package (zip) [275.2 MB]
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Resource lineage
- Statement
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<div>Mineral potential models developed for the first national-scale assessment of clay-hosted rare earth element mineral potential in </div><div>Australia as part of the Accelerating Development of Australia’s Rare Earth Resources (ADARER) project under the Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development</div><div> Hub. Model input maps, training, testing and validation data, assessment criteria table and weightings plus random forest statistics developed during late 2025 and early 2026 are supplied along with the final output maps. The datasets are outputs related to the accompanying GA Record (eCat 150834) which documents the development of the models.</div>
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/GDA2020 / GA LCC (EPSG: 7845)
Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/60cdef63-745b-4f74-9b72-161839cee3bb
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact McPherson, A.
Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/150835
- Metadata linkage
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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/60cdef63-745b-4f74-9b72-161839cee3bb
- Date info (Creation)
- 2026-04-09T04:51:00.264Z
- Date info (Creation)
- 2026-03-18T01:21:28.253Z
- Date info (Creation)
- 2026-01-08T05:32:46.594Z
- Date info (Revision)
- 2026-04-09T04:51:38.525Z
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551