Registrations are now open!

Discovery Day is your gateway to connect with the GSSA and our valued collaborators, as we unveil fresh insights and the new data shaping our understanding of South Australia’s geology.

  • When: Thursday 3 December 2026
  • Where: Adelaide Convention Centre

Since 2016, Discovery Day has been an integral part of the Geological Survey of South Australia's calendar. Step into a day of discovery as we reflect on the past year’s milestones - exploring major projects, groundbreaking research, and the partnerships driving our work forward.

We hope you can join us again this year!

To register

Registrations close Sunday 29 November 2026

Our theme for 2026

"From Data to Discovery: Shaping South Australia's Mineral and Energy Future"

The program for this year's event will be a diverse showcase of new information on the geology and commodity potential of South Australia.

Further details will be released in the lead up to the conference.

Come, learn, discuss, act.

Preview our speakers and program

Preview our program below, as well as some of our speakers and their presentations. Please keep in mind the below is subject to change.

Sharon Tiainen

With more than 25 years in the upstream oil and gas industry, Sharon has worked in exploration, appraisal, development, and production for large, independent, and small companies, as well as a consultant. She has worked acreage in Algeria, Austria, Australia, Ecuador, Germany, India, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE, and the United Kingdom. Sharon is vice president of the PESA Energy Geoscience SA/NT branch, and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPE).

Join Sharon as she explores production and exploration data from the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, highlighting how acreage turnover brought new explorers and ideas that unlocked new plays and led to the discovery of the basins’ largest oil field!

Joanne Ciancio

Joanne is a Graduate Geologist with our Mineral Systems and Resources team. After completing her BSc majoring in Geology and Energy Resources, she graduated with First Class Honours in geology and received the Tate Memorial Medal for her thesis. Before joining GSSA in 2025, Joanne gained industry and research experience with Santos Ltd and Adelaide University. At GSSA, she has contributed to HyLogger spectral data processing, Raman spectroscopy assessment, and the National Guidelines for Digital Mineral Exploration Data.

Join Joanne as she presents findings from her current project on drillhole AD32, Ankata (Oak Dam West). By integrating detailed core logging, HyLogger4 spectral analysis and geochemistry, the project aims to identify geological characteristics and alteration patterns that may not be readily apparent from visual logging alone.

Mitchell Bockmann

Mitchell is a Senior Geologist within the Mineral Systems and Resources team at the GSSA, where he has been working since 2022. Earlier this year, he was awarded the Walter Howchin Medal by the Geological Society of Australia - SA Division, in recognition of his significant contributions to published earth science research in South Australia as an early career researcher.

Join Mitchell as he presents new data from the Middleback Group Sulphide Unit on the eastern Eyre Peninsula, providing new insights into its formation and potential to host base metal mineralisation.

SESSION 1 - LOOKING AHEAD: DATA AND INNOVATION

Welcome to Country
Opening address
Paul Martyn, Department for Energy and Mining
GSSA Director’s 2026 highlights
Suzanne Hunt, Department for Energy and Mining
Geoscience Information: SARIG CI Program update, digital platforms and services
Christie Gerrard, Department for Energy and Mining
Visualising your data - a behind the scenes view of how we prepare data for SARIG Core
Stephen Witherden, Beca
Beyond the Flight Lines: Using AusAEM Data to Understand the Subsurface
Yusen Ley-Cooper, Geoscience Australia

SESSION 2 - MINERAL GEOSCIENCE

Better Data Faster: New Guidelines and Tools to Support Data Quality and Streamline Processing
Peter Buxton, Department for Energy and Mining
Lithium pegmatites after the Archean? Potential in South Australia?
Carl Spandler, Adelaide University
On the Search for Basement in the Olympic Domain
Liz Jagodzinski, Department for Energy and Mining
Insights from recent work on IOCG’s in SA
Adrian Fabris, Department for Energy and Mining
Logging Beyond the Visible: Geological Insights from Drillhole AD32, Ankata (Oak Dam West)
Joanne Ciancio, Department for Energy and Mining
Characterisation of a new sub-surface Neoproterozoic basin in northern South Australia
Morgan Blades, Adelaide University

SESSION 3 - ENERGY GEOSCIENCE

Cooper Basin Decarbonisation - An update on Moomba CCS and the Cooper Geothermal Pilot
Matt Densley, Santos
Understanding exploration success and failure in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, South Australia
Sharon Tiainen, Department for Energy and Mining
Play mapping in the Warburton Basin, Daralingie Shelf, South Australia: Iteration of interpretation
Paul Strong, Department for Energy and Mining
Geophysical Expression of Big Lake Suite Granitoids in the SW Cooper Region of South Australia: Implications for Energy and Minerals Exploration
Tim Rady, Geomorph Energy
Gross Depositional Environment Mapping in the Officer Basin, Northwest South Australia
Chris Cubitt, Department for Energy and Mining

SESSION 4 - UNLOCKING POTENTIAL

Uranium Across Continents - How Global Perspective Can Guide South Australian Discovery
Asha Rao, ErdaLithic Consulting
Enriching U-tolerant phosphate-solubilising bacteria from the Mount Painter Domain for early-stage applications in bioremediation and bioleaching
Isabella Duncan, Monash University
Base metals (Cu-Pb-Zn) potential of the Archean Middleback Group, Eastern Eyre Peninsula
Mitchell Bockmann, Department for Energy and Mining
PACE is Back: Themes from Round 1
Tom Wise, Department for Energy and Mining
Closing remarks

Stay updated

Further details will continue to be released in the lead up to the conference.

Make sure you remain up to date by keeping an eye on this webpage, as well as our:

Previous Discovery Day events

Session 1 - State of play
Welcome to Country
Uncle Mickey

Opening address
Paul Martyn, Department for Energy and Mining

GSSA Director’s 2025 highlights
Bronwyn Camac, Department for Energy and Mining

More and easier - Improving access and availability of geoscience data
Christie Gerrard, Department for Energy and Mining

Upstream energy in South Australia: a 2025 update
Chris Cubitt, Department for Energy and Mining

My graduate journey with GSSA
Joanne Ciancio, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 2 - New geoscience: Tools and applications

Results of the Northern Gawler NDI drilling campaign to date
Claire Wade, Department for Energy and Mining

Rare earth elements secondary prospectivity of mine waste in South Australia
Francesco Colombi, Environmental Geochemistry International (EGi)

Update on GSSA’s Paleovalley mapping: Paleovalley characteristics and mineral potential of the northwestern Gawler Craton
Baohong Hou, Department for Energy and Mining

HyLogger Review 2025 - transitioning to a new era
Alicia Caruso, Department for Energy and Mining

Monazite U-Th-Pb age mapping: a tool to understand complex metamorphism
Alex De Vries Van Leeuwen, Department for Energy and Mining

SA Geology: Laying the groundwork for an integrated approach to geological mapping
Jonathan Irvine, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 3 - New geoscience: Tectonics through time

Curnamona Cube
Graham Heinson, Adelaide University

Remote Mapping in the Northern Gawler Craton: Ooldea to Oolgelima
Jack Percival, Department for Energy and Mining

Paleo to Mesoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Coober Pedy Domain (northern Gawler Craton)
Rashed Abdullah, Department for Energy and Mining

The Penong Complex: a new unit with big implications for the Nuyts Domain
Mark Pawley, Department for Energy and Mining

Updated stratigraphic framework for magnetite deposits in the Gawler Craton
Mitchell Bockmann, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 4 - The geoscience of our commodities

Delamerian mineral systems and mineral potential
Yanbo Cheng, Geoscience Australia

An introduction to the Mineral Database (MinDep), a key to unlocking information of the state’s prospectivity
Rhiannon Lord, Department for Energy and Mining

Data Metallogenica - The value of representative geological collections
Peter Keller, Department for Energy and Mining

GSSA’s new ventures across the Eyre Peninsula
Carmen Krapf, Department for Energy and Mining

Closing remarks

Session 1 - Looking ahead: Initiatives and commodities

Welcome to Country
Cliffy Wilson, Kuma Kaaru

Opening address
Paul Heithersay, Department for Energy and Mining

Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity Initiative, Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of South Australia working together
Karol Czarnota, Geoscience Australia

GSSA Director’s 2024 highlights
Bronwyn Camac, Department for Energy and Mining

Magnesium and Manganese opportunities in South Australia for facilitating the increasing global Critical Minerals demand
Carmen Krapf, Department for Energy and Mining

An update on natural hydrogen exploration in South Australia
Chris Cubitt, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 2 - The sedimentary search space

Linking South Australia’s geology - fostering new workflows through digital report data (Officer Basin Case Study)
Sam Connell, Department for Energy and Mining

Paleovalleys and sedimentary characteristics of the northwestern Gawler Craton
Baohong Hou, Department for Energy and Mining

A new turbidite play in the Otway Basin - The value of revisiting the rocks
Sharon Tiainen, Department for Energy and Mining

Play mapping workflow; a practical example from the onshore Otway Basin, South Australia
Paul Strong, Department for Energy and Mining

Stack ‘em, hack ‘em and smack ‘em: Seismic stories of basins building an orogen
Tom Wise, Department for Energy and Mining

Narrowing the search space: A wrap up of the sedimentary Copper project
Adrian Fabris, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 3 - Core, copper and complexities

Keynote: A Beautiful Science
Lee Harrop

Unravelling complex basement geology via SADM: an example from the Mount Woods Domain, Gawler Craton
Rashed Abdullah, Department for Energy and Mining

Just how relevant is the IOCG model to the Curnamona Province?
Tobias Schlegel, CSIRO

Where are South Australia’s Carbonatites?
Mitchell Bockmann, Department for Energy and Mining

Northern Gawler National Drilling Initiative
Claire Wade, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 4 - Making time and space for mineral systems

Refining Uranium exploration models with field data
Steve Hore, Department for Energy and Mining

HyLogger Hy-lights 2024
Alicia Caruso, Department for Energy and Mining

Geochronology of the Middleback Range metasediments and implications for the Hutchison Group stratigraphy
Mario Werner, Department for Energy and Mining

Aeromagnetic Character and Kinematics of the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone, Eastern Nuyts Domain
Frank Rarity, Department for Energy and Mining

Polymetamorphism and gold (re)mobilisation in the central-western Gawler Craton
Alex Van Leeuwen, Department for Energy and Mining

Watch the Discovery Day presentations from 2023

Watch the Discovery Day presentations from 2022