Multicriteria Resource Potential Mapping. Balancing Geological, Economic & Environmental Factors  


Authors / CoAuthors

Walsh, S.D.C. | Haynes, M. | Wang, C. | Czarnota, K.

Abstract

<div><strong>Output type: </strong>Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract <strong> </strong></div><div><br></div><div><strong>Short abstract: </strong>There is an increased international focus on achieving high environmental, socio-economic, and governance (ESG) outcomes within mineral supply chains, in addition to delivering positive economic results. Mineral exploration and development projects must balance these disparate objectives to the satisfaction of separate stakeholders. However, the challenge of reconciling distinct preferences can obscure viable outcomes and confound project selection, particularly in the early stages of project development. Here, we discuss how such investment decisions can be treated as multicriteria optimization problems. In appraising the pre-competitive potential for nickel sulphide developments, we show how this approach can be used to effectively evaluate competing objectives and to locate regions that perform best under a range of different metrics. We outline a mapping framework that identifies Australian regions that optimally balance geological potential, economic value, and environmental impact. Our workflow creates a new capability within Australia to incorporate high-level, holistic information into the earliest stages of exploration. While this abstract focuses on mineral exploration, the modelling could be extended to other Australian resource development applications. Importantly, our results further underscore the need to compile baseline ESG datasets across Australia to help drive sustainable exploration decisions.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Citation:</strong> Walsh S.D.C., Haynes M.W. &amp; Wang C., 2024. Multicriteria resource potential mapping: balancing geological, economic &amp; environmental factors. In: Czarnota, K. (ed.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. https://doi.org/10.26186/149250</div>

Product Type

document

eCat Id

149250

Contact for the resource

  Resource provider

 

  Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

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Digital Object Identifier

https://dx.doi.org/10.26186/149250

Keywords

( Project )
  • EFTF – Exploring for the Future
( Project )
  • Australia’s Resources Framework
( Project )
  • Economic Fairways
  • Multicriteria assessment
  • ESG - Environmental
  • Socio-economic
  • and Governance
  • resource potential
  • Mineral potential
  • Economics
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • Resource geoscienceHuman SocietyInformation and Computing Sciences
  • Published_External

Publication Date

2024-08-11T22:56:49

Creation Date

2024-02-29T05:00:00

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security Classification System    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Use - license otherRestrictions

Status

completed

Purpose

An Exploring for the Future Extended Abstract detailing a new method for multicriteria integration and assessment, for the purposes of undertaking holistic resource development potential mapping. The abstract seeks to set the framework for integrating geological potential, with economic fairways analysis, and considerations of environmental, socio-economic, and governance (ESG) factors.

Maintenance Information

notPlanned

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Lineage

<div>The abstract reports on the development of bespoke computational codes and workflows, and applied these to previously published assessments of nickel sulphide mineral potential (Dulfer et al, 2016), Economic Fairways analysis for nickel deposits (see Walsh et al, 2020), and overall water risks to mining from the Aquaduct 4.0 water risk framework (Kuzma et al., 2023).</div>

Parent Information

Extents

[-44, -9, 112, 154]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Association Type - informed

Bluecap: a geospatial model to assess regional economic-viability for mineral resource development    

eCat Identifier - 132645,

UUID - 90f91359-25ee-4213-b9a0-904c96dc2545

Association Type - informed

Evaluating the Economic Fairways for Hydrogen Production in Australia    

eCat Identifier - 145336,

UUID - 2d651b91-84cf-47f5-8127-0337cca15d8c

Association Type - informed

Green Steel: Synergies between the Australian Iron Ore Industry and the Production of Green Hydrogen    

eCat Identifier - 146059,

UUID - e01585a4-69c9-423c-8568-ef9816dc3251

Association Type - informed

Economic Fairways Assessments across Northern Australia    

eCat Identifier - 133681,

UUID - 4a66601c-75d4-4416-9e7e-a7145f320e4b

Association Type - informed

Potential for intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits in Australia: A continental-scale analysis of mineral system prospectivity    

eCat Identifier - 83884,

UUID - 1a4249ad-857c-800f-e053-12a3070a8908

Downloads and Links

Extended Abstract for download (pdf) [1.5 MB]  

Source Information