<div>Geological maps are powerful models for visualizing the complex distribution of rock types through space and time. However, the descriptive information that forms the basis for a preferred map interpretation is typically stored in geological map databases as unstructured text data that are difficult to use in practice. Herein we apply natural language processing (NLP) to geoscientific text data from Canada, the U.S., and Australia to address that knowledge gap. First, rock descriptions, geological ages, lithostratigraphic and lithodemic information, and other long-form text data are translated to numerical vectors, i.e., a word embedding, using a geoscience language model. Network analysis of word associations, nearest neighbors, and principal component analysis are then used to extract meaningful semantic relationships between rock types. We further demonstrate using simple Naive Bayes classifiers and the area under receiver operating characteristics plots (AUC) how word vectors can be used to: (1) predict the locations of “pegmatitic” (AUC = 0.962) and “alkalic” (AUC = 0.938) rocks; (2) predict mineral potential for Mississippi-Valley-type (AUC = 0.868) and clastic-dominated (AUC = 0.809) Zn-Pb deposits; and (3) search geoscientific text data for analogues of the giant Mount Isa clastic-dominated Zn-Pb deposit using the cosine similarities between word vectors. This form of semantic search is a promising NLP approach for assessing mineral potential with limited training data. Overall, the results highlight how geoscience language models and NLP can be used to extract new knowledge from unstructured text data and reduce the mineral exploration search space for critical raw materials.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation: </strong>Lawley, C. J. M., Gadd, M. G., Parsa, M., Lederer, G. W., Graham, G. E., and Ford, A., 2023, Applications of Natural Language Processing to Geoscience Text Data and Prospectivity Modeling: Natural Resources Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-023-10216-1</div>

<div>Sediment-hosted copper (Cu) mineral systems are important sources of base metals and critical minerals such as cobalt that are vital to delivering Australia’s low-carbon economy. In Australia, sediment-hosted Cu resources account for ~11% of the total Cu resources. Given their significance to the Australian economy, national-scale mineral potential models for sediment-hosted Cu have been developed. In addition to the potential for sediment-hosted Cu mineralisation, the uncertainty related to data availability has been examined. Three mineral potential</div><div>models derived from the combination of two mineral systems have been derived from a large volume of precompetitive geoscience data combined with mineral systems expertise, each using a different combination of input maps to assess the influence of incomplete data on the results. The mineral potential models successfully predict the location of major sediment-hosted stratiform Cu and Mount Isa-type Cu deposits while highlighting new areas of elevated prospectivity in under-explored regions of Australia, reducing the exploration search space</div><div>by up to ~84%.</div>

Maps showing the potential for sediment-hosted base metal mineral systems in Australia. Each of the mineral potential maps is a synthesis of four component layers: sources of metals, energy drivers, lithospheric architecture, and depositional gradients, using a weighted sum to produce the final mineral potential map for the mineral system. Uncertainty maps are provided in conjunction with each of the mineral potential maps that represent the availability of data coverage over Australia for the selected combination of input maps. Uncertainty values range between 0 and 1, with higher uncertainty values being located in areas where more input maps are missing data or have unknown values. The set of input maps used to generate the mineral potential maps is provided along with an assessment criteria table that contains information on the map creation.

<div>GeoInsight was an 18-month pilot project developed in the latter part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future Program (2016–2024). The aim of this pilot was to develop a new approach to communicating geological information to non-technical audiences, that is, non-geoscience professionals. The pilot was developed using a human-centred design approach in which user needs were forefront considerations. Interviews and testing found that users wanted a simple and fast, plain-language experience which provided basic information and provided pathways for further research. GeoInsight’s vision is to be an accessible experience that curates information and data from across the Geoscience Australia ecosystem, helping users make decisions and refine their research approach, quickly and confidently.</div><div><br></div><div>Geoscience Australia hosts a wealth of geoscientific data, and the quantity of data available in the geosciences is expanding rapidly. This requires newly developed applications such as the GeoInsight pilot to be adaptable and malleable to changes and updates within this data. As such, utilising the existing Oracle databases, web service publication and platform development workflows currently employed within Geoscience Australia (GA) were optimal choices for data delivery for the GeoInsight pilot.&nbsp;This record is intended to give an overview of the how and why of the technical infrastructure of this project. It aims to summarise how the underlying databases were used for both existing and new data, as well as development of web services to supply the data to the pilot application.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Australian sediment-hosted mineral systems are important sources of base metals and critical minerals that are vital to delivering Australia’s low-carbon economy. In Australia, sediment-hosted resources account for ~82% and ~86% of the total zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) resources respectively. Given their significance to the Australian economy, four national-scale mineral potential models for sediment-hosted Zn-Pb mineral systems have been developed: clastic-dominated siliciclastic carbonate, clastic-dominated siliciclastic mafic, Mississippi Valley-type and Irish-type. In addition to the potential for Zn-Pb mineralisation, the uncertainty related to data availability has been examined. The mineral potential models were created using a mineral systems-based approach where mappable criteria have been used to assess the prospectivity of each system. Each model has been derived from a large volume of precompetitive geoscience data. The clastic-dominated siliciclastic carbonate mineral potential model predicts 92% of known deposits and occurrences within 15.5% of the area, the clastic-dominated siliciclastic mafic mineral potential model predicts 85% of deposits and occurrences within 27% of the area, and the Mississippi Valley-type mineral potential model predicts 66% of known deposits and occurrences within 31% of the area. Each model successfully predict the location of major sediment-hosted Zn-Pb deposits while highlighting new areas of elevated prospectivity in under-explored regions of Australia, reducing the exploration search space by up to 85% for sediment-hosted Zn-Pb mineral systems.</div>

<div>This database presents classified wind gust events for all Australian Automatic Weather Stations, based on semi-automatic classification of 1-minute observations of wind gust speed, temperature, dew point and station pressure. Wind events are classified based on the temporal evolution of the weather variables, using convolutional kernel transforms. Additional attributes include a number of derived variables (e.g. rainfall preceding and following the gust event), contemporaneous weather phenomena and binary classifications from a range of authors. </div><div><br></div><div>The main classification is described by Arthur, Hu and Allen (submitted to <em>Natural Hazards</em>, 2024). </div><div><br></div><div>Weather observation data are provided by the Bureau of Meteorology. Lightning data (2004-2024) was provided by TOA Systems Global Lightning Network. </div>

<div>The mineral potential toolkit (aka minpot-toolkit) provides tools to facilitate mineral potential analysis, from spatial associations to feature engineering and fully integrated mineral potential mapping.</div>

<div>Maps showing the potential for iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) mineral systems in Australia. Each of the mineral potential maps is a synthesis of four component layers (source of metals, fluids and ligands; energy sources and fluid flow drivers; fluid flow pathways and architecture; and ore depositional gradients). The model uses a hybrid data-driven and knowledge driven methodology to produce the final mineral potential map for the mineral system. An uncertainty map is provided in conjunction with the mineral potential maps that represents the availability of data coverage over Australia for the selected combination of input maps. Uncertainty values range between 0 and 1, with higher uncertainty values being located in areas where more input maps are missing data or have unknown values. The input maps and mineral deposits and occurrences used to generate the mineral potential map are provided along with an assessment criteria table which contains information on the map creation.</div>

<div><strong>Output type:</strong> Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Short abstract: </strong>Iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits are a significant source of copper and gold and can also contain critical minerals that are required for the transition to a low carbon economy and to increase Australia’s security of mineral supply. Given their strategic importance, a national-scale assessment of the mineral potential for IOCG mineral systems in Australia has been undertaken using a hybrid data- and knowledge-driven approach. The national-scale assessment includes the evaluation of the statistical importance of mappable criteria used in previously published regional-scale IOCG models, resulting in the removal of five criteria and the inclusion of four new or revised criteria derived from datasets developed through the Exploring for the Future program. The new mineral potential model successfully predicts the location of 91.7% of known IOCG deposits and occurrences in 8.3% of the area, reducing the exploration search space by 91.7% and highlighting new areas of elevated prospectivity in under-explored regions of Australia. When compared to existing regional-scale mineral potential assessments for IOCG mineral systems published by Geoscience Australia, the new national-scale model demonstrates higher prospectivity in areas with known IOCG deposits and occurrences, while also highlighting new prospective areas for IOCG mineral systems. Areas with assessed high prospectivity but lacking known IOCG mineralisation include parts of the Curnamona, Etheridge and Musgrave provinces, and the Delamerian, Halls Creek and Tanami orogens.</div> <div><strong>Citation</strong>: Cloutier J., et al., 2024. First national mineral system assessment of Australia's iron oxide copper-gold potential. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, https://doi.org/10.26186/149357</div>

<div>The production of rare earth elements is critical for the transition to a low carbon economy. Carbonatites (&gt;50% carbonate minerals) are one of the most significant sources of rare earth elements (REEs), both domestically within Australia, as well as globally. Given the strategic importance of critical minerals, including REEs, for the Australian national economy, a mineral potential assessment has been undertaken to evaluate the prospectivity for carbonatite-related REE (CREE) mineralisation in Australia. CREE deposits form as the result of lithospheric- to deposit-scale processes that are spatially and temporally coincident.</div><div><br></div><div>Building on previous research into the formation of carbonatites and their related REE mineralisation, a mineral system model has been developed that incorporates four components: (1) source of metals, fluids, and ligands, (2) energy sources and fluid flow drivers, (3) fluid flow pathways and lithospheric architecture, and (4) ore deposition. This study demonstrates how national-scale datasets and a mineral systems-based approach can be used to map the mineral potential for CREE mineral systems in Australia.</div><div><br></div><div>Using statistical analysis to guide the feature engineering and map weightings, a weighted index overlay method has been used to generate national-scale mineral potential maps that reduce the exploration search space for CREE mineral systems by up to ∼90%. In addition to highlighting regions with known carbonatites and CREE mineralisation, the mineral potential assessment also indicates high potential in parts of Australia that have no previously identified carbonatites or CREE deposits.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Citation: </b>Ford, A., Huston, D., Cloutier, J., Doublier, M., Schofield, A., Cheng, Y., and Beyer, E., 2023. A national-scale mineral potential assessment for carbonatite-related rare earth element mineral systems in Australia, <i>Ore Geology Reviews</i>, V. 161, 105658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2023.105658</div>