Sediment-hosted mineral potential mapping of Australia: Geoscience data integration for national-scale assessment

Integration of high-quality, multi-disciplinary digital geoscience data using a mineral systems-based mineral potential mapping approach supports: (1) improved understanding of the key processes that have shaped Australia's geology and concentrated its resources; (2) insights into how big data can be transformed into predictive power. Sediment-hosted mineral systems are important to understand as they represent potential opportunities for both the base metals and critical minerals that are vital to delivering Australia's low carbon economy. To support this goal, the mineral potential of six sediment-hosted mineral systems have been evaluated at national scale: sediment-hosted stratiform copper, Mount Isa-type copper, clastic-dominated siliciclastic mafic lead-zinc, clastic-dominated siliciclastic carbonate lead-zinc, Mississippi Valley-type lead-zinc, and Irish-type lead-zinc. The mineral potential maps were derived from mineral systems concepts through the development of mappable spatial proxies of the theoretical mineral system components. These were then combined using a knowledge-driven approach to highlight areas where favourable criteria for these systems are spatially coincident. In addition to the potential for hosting the copper or lead-zinc mineralisation, and critical minerals as potential by- or co-products, the uncertainty related to data availability has been examined. The six mineral potential maps utilise large volumes of precompetitive geoscience data to reduce the exploration search space for sediment-hosted deposits and highlight areas of elevated prospectivity in under-explored regions of Australia.