Full title:
South Australia’s geological potential for selected critical minerals – a review

Peter Keller and Carmen BE Krapf
Geological Survey of South Australia, Department for Energy and Mining

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Published November 2024

Global interest in defined critical mineral resources has intensified in recent years due to the indispensable role of these commodities in contemporary society and in the industries that underpin our economic and national security. These resources are essential for various new technologies in industries such as computing, high-tech manufacturing, renewable energy generation and storage, transport, telecommunications and defence, becoming the nexus of the so called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Collectively, these new technologies are accelerating the growing global demand for critical minerals, with the drive towards renewable energy a key factor. This article summarises South Australia’s critical mineral potential resulting from recent reviews of selected critical minerals undertaken as part of the Geological Survey of South Australia’s Critical Minerals South Australia (CMSA) project.

Critical Minerals – how critical are they?

As part of its Strategic Minerals Strategy, the Australian Government released a list of 31 critical minerals (Table 1) that represent a range of metals and non-metallic commodities considered essential to our modern technologies, economies and national security. Their importance arises from their unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and/or luminescent properties.

Many of these commodities face supply chain vulnerabilities where demand is expected to exceed supply and where current production may be geographically limited. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating geopolitical tensions have heightened concerns about the availability and accessibility of these critical minerals. To mitigate any dependency risks, and to capitalise on the economic opportunities presented by emerging technologies, governments worldwide are formulating critical mineral strategies. These strategies often include support packages to encourage investment in domestic production and to facilitate overseas investments in mine development and processing to ensure secure availability of these commodities into the future.

In addition to this list of critical minerals, the Australian Government has released a list of strategic materials (Table 1). These are additional commodities that are important for the global transition to net zero and broader strategic applications, but the specific supply chains are not currently vulnerable enough to meet the criteria for the critical minerals list.

Table 1 Australia’s Critical Minerals and Strategic Materials.

Australia’s Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List

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South Australia’s role in the Critical Minerals space

While South Australia has significant known resources of critical minerals, there are gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the geological processes and controls that led to their formation. As a result, the Geological Survey of South Australia (GSSA), initiated the CMSA project, which focuses on advancing knowledge to support the exploration and discovery of critical minerals in South Australia.

South Australia is recognised as a significant global copper province, a mineral that has been recognised worldwide as critical due to its essential role in renewable energy technologies like wind and solar, however, the state also has large, proven reserves of graphite, kaolinite and magnesium. In addition, other critical minerals such as cobalt and rare earth elements (REE) also have a demonstrated potential for future development in South Australia.

There are many other critical minerals that have only received scant attention or active exploration in the state, which has limited the geological understanding of their economic potential. This lack of understanding extends to the volatility of various critical minerals, as market indexes are characterised and influenced by monopoly supply, niche applications, commercial sensitivities, developing processing technologies, and uncertainties regarding future growth potential. The challenge for South Australia, is to utilise its resources in a way that provides for maximum economic growth and domestic supply chain development that will secure investment, employment and prosperity for all.

Critical Minerals with favourable development potential in South Australia

South Australia has large areas that are underexplored for critical minerals. There are a number of reasons for this including a previous lack of demand, low commodity prices, suitable host rocks being under substantial cover, limited technology, poor understanding of geological structures and mineral system modelling. This has resulted in many commodities not being adequately assessed in previous exploration or tested for through assaying.

To guide the government in its efforts to encourage the development of critical mineral industries and downstream processing opportunities within the State, the Department for Energy and Mining engaged the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies from the University of Adelaide to undertake the Critical Minerals Economic Study. This involved a market analysis to identify and inform the economic opportunities for South Australia in the mining, processing and manufacturing of critical minerals (Hancock et al. 2024).

Outcomes from the study found that South Australia is well placed to exploit a range of critical minerals and should focus on playing to its strengths in the race to develop these critical commodities. While the demand for individual minerals is dependent on their applications, overall demand for the sector is expected to grow as demand for high-tech products increase and supply constraints become more significant. The study highlighted cobalt, copper, graphite, magnesium, manganese, rare-earth elements (REE) as the critical minerals with highest potential in South Australia (Table 2).

For further promotion, summary reports on the potential of key critical minerals in South Australia were compiled as part of the CMSA project. For each critical mineral a review of current literature was undertaken to develop an understanding of the known deposits around the world which host critical minerals. This was then applied to an analysis of the geological potential for these commodities within South Australia. Significant known mineral occurrences within the state were used to help identify the most prospective regions. Selected critical mineral commodity reviews included cobalt, graphite, high purity alumina (HPA), lithium, magnesium, manganese, REE, and vanadium. In the following the key findings for the individual critical minerals are summarised below.

Table 2 Economic development potential for Critical Minerals in South Australia (Hancock et al. 2024).

Figure 1 Critical mineral occurrences in South Australia (encompassing all mineral occurrences, prospects, deposits, historical and working mines, quarries and treatment sites; Source: MinDep). (PDF 409 KB)

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Key findings

Cobalt

Cobalt minerals are common in South Australia with over 100 known occurrences. These are dominantly associated with:

• stratiform sediment-hosted copper
• magmatic nickel sulphide
• nickel-cobalt laterite type deposits.

Around 92% of the world’s cobalt reserves are derived from these three deposit types (Slack et al. 2017) and therefore these also have the highest probability to host cobalt mineralisation in South Australia. Significant cobalt grades from stratiform sediment-hosted copper deposits have been identified from the MG14 (MinDep no. 3090), Windabout (MinDep no. 3140) and Emmie Bluff (MinDep no. 3035) deposits near Mount Gunson on the Stuart Shelf. The Kalkaroo deposit (MinDep no. 8455) in the Curnamona Province, represents a stratabound replacement copper-gold-cobalt deposit with an estimated resource of 23,000 t of contained cobalt (Havilah Resources 2022), while to the southeast, the Mutooroo deposit (MinDep no. 842), a sulphide vein-lode type deposit, has an estimated 20,000 t of contained cobalt (Havilah Resources 2020). There are also numerous occurrences of cobalt-bearing minerals within the Adelaide Rift Complex with some potential for Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) mineralisation around various diapirs in the Flinders Ranges and also as stratiform sediment-hosted deposits within the Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequence of the Tapley Hill Formation (Keller et al. 2024b).

Graphite

Natural graphite deposits are likely formed by the maturation and metamorphism of organic material, or by the precipitation from C-O-H rich fluids (Simandl et al. 2015). There are three main deposit types of natural graphite, generally grouped in relation to their commercial products:

• microcrystalline (amorphous) graphite
• flake graphite
• vein graphite.

South Australia contains the largest share of Australia’s confirmed graphite resources, with the Eyre Peninsula containing several investment ready and approved development projects. The Siviour project (MinDep no. 10711) is at an advanced stage, with 123 Mt @ 6.9% of total graphitic carbon (TGC) and an anticipated mine life of around 40 years (Stockhead 2023). This deposit is hosted within the upper Katunga Dolomite and includes some retrograde alteration to serpentinite and talc (Young 2015). Other significant projects on the Eyre Peninsula include the Campoona Shaft (MinDep no. 476), Kookaburra Gully Extended (MinDep no. 11898) and Uley 2 (MinDep no. 11897) prospects (Caruso et al. 2023).

The highly metamorphosed Hutchison Group rocks formed within the Sleaford Complex on the eastern Eyre Peninsula have proven to be the most prospective hosts for the exploration of flake graphite deposits. Carbon of an organic sedimentary origin, determined from carbon isotope data, was converted to graphite during high-grade metamorphism during the Sleaford and Kimban orogenies (Keeling 2017). An example is the Kookaburra Gully deposit which is hosted in high grade metamorphic schist and gneiss of the Hutchison Group (Caruso et al. 2023).

Other interesting areas for further graphite exploration include the Mount Woods Inlier, where graphite was identified in the search for iron sulphide copper-gold (ISCG) style mineralisation (Flint and Thompson 2017). Graphite is associated with the margins of the metamafic unit within surrounding, highly altered metasedimentary units at the Jupiter (MinDep no. 11183) ISGC occurrence. At Taurus (MinDep no. 9457) graphite occurs as possible metasomatic vein-style mineralisation in metasedimentary units (Fabris and Michaelsen 2024). At Alconie Hill (MinDep no. 946) in the Curnamona Province, a graphite-muscovite schist was bulk sampled for metallurgical testing in 1956, and found to comprise approximately 30% graphite (Campana and King 1958).

High purity alumina (HPA)

High purity alumina (HPA) has become a vital material in the production of low energy lighting and use in lithium-ion batteries. Historically, HPA has been produced from aluminium extracted from bauxite, however, the minerals kaolinite-halloysite have recently become a favoured raw material to produce HPA, mainly due to environmental concerns. Kaolinite has many other industrial uses including paper, ceramics, glass and paint. Key materials that generate feedstock for HPA include:

• bauxite
• kaolin
• anorthosite.

The most favourable source for HPA production in South Australia is kaolinite. A cluster of deposits near Poochera on the Eyre Peninsula, including the Great White deposit (MinDep no. 8749) which is being developed to produce up to 600,000 t of kaolinite per annum (Andromeda Metals Ltd 2022). Other deposits in the region include the Phillips (MinDep no. 11888), Carlue Bluff (MinDep no. 9323), and Dickson Well (MinDep no. 11899) prospects. At Mount Hope (MinDep no. 11824) an inferred resource of 18 Mt of kaolinised granite has been identified, and the area around Kapinnie (MinDep no. 5013), 110 km northwest of Port Lincoln is also known to host widespread kaolinite occurrences but is largely underexplored. In the Adelaide Rift Complex, work at the Franklyn (MinDep no. 10098) kaolinite prospect near Terowie has shown a 30–50% higher aluminium concentration than typical kaolinite-halloysite (iTECH Minerals 2024). Some of these prospects also contain high REE values. The J.M. Carey (MinDep no. 5998) kaolinite deposit near Booleroo Centre occurs within weathered sedimentary rocks of the Burra Group, Craddock Quartzite (Gibson 1951). The Muckanippie Anothosite Complex (MAC) is a large area northwest of Tarcoola that is underexplored for its potential for anothosite as a HPA source (Keller et al. 2024a). Recent exploration by Petratherm Ltd revealed the potential for titanium in the cover sediments above the MAC (Petratherm Ltd 2024). Anorthosites are also being promoted as an alternative source of feedstock for HPA.

Lithium

Lithium is a metal that has become synonymous with renewable energy storage and electric vehicle technologies. Lithium-ion batteries account for around 80% of world consumption of lithium. Lithium can be extracted from:

• continental brines
• lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites
• lithium-rich clay deposits.

Other rarer sources of lithium include:

• oilfield/geothermal brines
• lithium-rich volcanics
• jadarite deposits.

Australia produced nearly half of global lithium production in 2023. Most of that was sourced from spodumene ore from LCT pegmatites in Western Australia (Jaskula 2023). While South Australia currently has no lithium projects in development, there is significant exploration potential from geothermal brines such as in the Habanero 3 (PEPS SA no. 2330) well in the Cooper Basin and continental brines found in the state’s numerous salt lakes like the Wertaloona prospect (MinDep no. 10709) on the shore of Lake Frome. Unfortunately, many known LCT type pegmatites in South Australia have had insufficient exploration and study to determine their distribution, mineralogy and potential to host lithium. Pegmatites in the Curnamona region, Barossa Valley and the Dudley pegmatite (MinDep no. 529) on Kangaroo Island are areas with potential for further investigations (Keller et al. 2024c). The possibility also exists for lithium-rich clay deposits such as the Morgans Creek (MinDep no. 11900) REE clay prospect associated with the Worrumba Diapir, in the Adelaide Rift Complex, which contains elevated lithium values (Taruga Minerals Ltd 2021). Other sources of lithium including oilfield brines and lithium-rich volcanics are difficult to assess because these deposit types are still poorly understood in South Australia.

CMSA report books are available for download via SARIG catalogue.

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Magnesium

South Australia is well placed to produce magnesium from a variety of deposit types, including:

• sedimentary carbonates (dolomite and magnesite)
• seawater and brines.

Magnesite is generally the favoured feedstock for magnesium metal production. South Australia hosts extensive, large and high-grade sedimentary magnesite deposits that are suitable as feedstock to produce magnesium metal and other products. The largest magnesite deposits occur in the Adelaide Rift Complex near Leigh Creek in the Flinders Ranges and are found within the Neoproterozoic Skillogalee Dolomite. Small scale production has come from the Myrtle Springs mine (MinDep no. 4352) with an indicated resource of 10 Mt @ 42.9% Mg. Other related deposits include the Pug Hill (MinDep no. 8803), Mount Hutton Central (MinDep no. 4324), Screechowl (MinDep no. 9015), Mount Playfair (MinDep no. 4343), Witchelina (MinDep no. 4442) and Temination Hill (MinDep no. 8804) deposits.

The state also contains large deposits of magnesium in the form of dolomite, which although of lower grade than magnesite, can be utilised as an extractable ore. The largest operating dolomite mine in Australia is located on the Yorke Peninsula near Ardrossan (MinDep no. 5062) and is used for steel making at Whyalla, as well as being exported. Reserves are very large and are derived from the Cambrian Kulpara Limestone, which in places exceeds 300 m in thickness (Johns 1963). Magnesium produced from seawater brines could prove viable if economic factors such as, a high magnesium concentration, climate and location are favourable. Saline lakes in the Mid North and Yorke Peninsula, as well as existing solar salt facilities, could be well placed to do this (Keller et al. 2024d).

Manganese

Most of the world’s manganese is used in the production of steel alloys, however it now plays an increased role in battery technology. Australia has significant manganese deposits at Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory and Woodie Woodie in Western Australia (Summerfield 2021). The principal deposit types for manganese are:

• stratiform/sedimentary deposits
• supergene deposits
• hydrothermal deposits.

In South Australia, the most significant occurrences to date are situated within sedimentary deposits of the Adelaide Rift Complex and the Stuart Shelf. The largest manganese production has been from the Pernatty Lagoon deposits (MinDep no. 3091) on the Stuart Shelf, 130 km northwest of Port Augusta, supplying over 34,000 t of ore (Johns 1968) with a remaining resource estimate of 167,000 t @ 19.6% Mn (Paterson 1986). This deposit is hosted in shallow sea and lagoonal facies where manganese nodules have precipitated (Williamson 1987). Williamson (1987) suggests the possibility of further manganese accumulations along the margins of similar restricted lagoonal sediments in the region. Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) on the Eyre Peninsula are known to be associated with manganese occurrences. The Rock Valley prospect (MinDep no. 5031) near Tumby Bay, recorded a 6 m wide band of manganese oxides over a strike length of around 5 km of Hutchison Group BIF. Similarly at Jamison Tank (MinDep no. 4898) northwest of Cowell, a manganiferous BIF containing an estimated 13.1 Mt @ 5.7% Mn was delineated (Duffy 2023). Several other similar occurrences in the district demonstrate further exploration potential. The Adelaide Rift Complex has many recorded manganese occurrences, but most have proved to be small, superficial and supergene deposits. In the Flinders Ranges, the Arrowie prospect (MinDep no. 2141), northeast of Blinman, represents a manganiferous iron-oxide gossan formed between the contact of the Wonoka and Bunyeroo formations. Current reserves are estimated to be <305,000 t @ <10% Mn (Fairburn 1964). There is potential for smaller, high-grade manganese deposits along related stratigraphic units in these areas but due to a lack of drillhole data, further geological investigation is required (Keller et al. 2024e).

Rare-earth elements

Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 16 elements found in a range of mineral compounds. They are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust, however their occurrence in economic concentrations is more difficult to locate and extract. REE do not occur naturally as metals, rather they are found in a wide range of mineral compounds such as halides, carbonates, oxides, phosphates and silicates (Walters and Lusty 2011). REE are used widely in conventional and electric vehicles, renewable energy production, industrial processes, mobile phones and televisions, lasers, batteries and military technologies. In 2023 global production of rare earth oxide (REO) amounted to 350,000 t. China is the dominant REE producer, supplying 68% of the world’s consumption (Cordier 2023). Most of Australia’s production of 18,000 t REO has come from the Mt Weld Mine in Western Australia. Rare earth deposits can be classified based on their mineral systems into the following five categories:

• magmatic-related REE deposits
• hydrothermal REE deposits
• placer deposits
• sedimentary deposits
• surficial (including deep weathering) deposits.

Deposits may also be considered in terms of whether they contain predominately heavy (HREE) or light (LREE) rare earth elements. The majority of LREE are currently produced from magmatic carbonatite intrusions, while the HREE are largely produced from ion-adsorption clay deposits in south China (Verplanck et al. 2014; Dostal 2017). South Australia does not currently produce REE, but it hosts the world’s largest IOCG deposit, the Olympic Dam mine (MinDep no. 3000) which contains an estimated Mineral Resource (not an official Mineral Resource according to JORC code 2012) of 10,400 Mt @ 0.37% total rare earth oxide (TREO) (Cook et al. 2023).

The most promising deposit types of REE emerging in South Australia are clay-hosted deposits. These produce around one third of the world’s HREE, mostly from China. The Koppamurra prospect (MinDep no. 11871) in the state’s southeast region, has successfully produced a mixed rare earth carbonate from trial pit ore (Australian Rare Earths Ltd 2023) and recent metallurgical studies suggesting a preference for a heap leach extraction process (Australian Rare Earths Ltd 2024). There has also been encouraging results from kaolinite occurrences such as at Carlue Bluff (MinDep no. 9323) and Dickson Well (MinDep no. 11899) on the Eyre Peninsula, and the Franklyn (MinDep no. 10098), and Morgans Creek (MinDep no. 11900) prospects in the Adelaide Rift Complex. In the Curnamona region elevated levels of REE was identified in drill samples from the Kalkaroo deposit (MinDep no. 8455), while the Murray and Eucla basins present opportunities to recover REE from heavy mineral sand (HMS) deposits (Zivak et al. 2024).

Carbonatites are relatively rare, mantle derived, plutonic to subvolcanic igneous rocks that contain >50% carbonate minerals, can be another economic source of REE-bearing minerals. The Billeroo North Alkaline Magmatic Complex in the Curnamona Province, the Oolgelima Intrusive Complex in the northern Gawler Craton and the Walloway Diapir in the Adelaide Rift Complex are examples of prospective areas for carbonatite related REE deposits in South Australia (Zivak et al. 2024). However, there is still great potential to identify more carbonatite complexes within the geological provinces of South Australia.

Vanadium

Traditionally, vanadium has been used mostly in the production of steel and aluminium alloys, but the demand for this metal has increased in recent times mostly due to its use in large battery storage technologies. There are four different deposit types known to host vanadium. These are:

• vanadiferous titanomagnetite deposits
• sandstone-hosted uranium-vanadium deposits
• shale hosted deposits
• vanadate deposits.

Vanadiferous titanomagnetite supplies 88% of the world’s vanadium (Simandl and Paradis 2018). World production in 2023 was 100,000 t with China and Russia supplying nearly 90% of the world’s demand (Polyak 2024). While Australia is not a current vanadium producer there are significant reserves in Western Australia and Queensland.

Vanadium associated with sandstone-hosted uranium, have high potential for South Australia given its proven uranium reserves. The Honeymoon (MinDep no. 1038) and Beverly (MinDep no. 1932) uranium deposits are hosted within fluvial sandstones of the Callabonna Sub-basin and are extracted by an in-situ leach process. Limited vanadium data is available from these deposits but elevated vanadium levels have been detected (Wülser 2009). Ultramafic intrusions in association with nickel and platinum group elements are also prospective for vanadium. Regions with significant potential in the state include the central-western and eastern Gawler Craton, the Gairdner Dolerite swarm in the Muckanippie Anorthosite Suite and the Giles Complex in the Musgrave Province, where vanadium values of 1.28% at Kalka (MinDep no. 69) have been recorded (Caruso et al. 2024). Recent assays of historic drillhole samples in the MAC have found high titanium-vanadium values (up to 0.44% V₂O₅) in weathered basement rock (Petratherm Ltd 2024). The occurrence of vanadate minerals such as descloizite, (PbZn(VO₄)(OH)), at the Beltana (Puttapa) willemite mine (MinDep no. 7854) as well as volborthite, (Cu₃(V₂O₇)(OH)₂·2H₂O), in many oxidised copper deposits in the Flinders Ranges, are also evidence of widespread vanadium mineralisation (Noble et al. 1983).

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Conclusion

The increasing role of critical minerals highlights their importance to Australia’s economic and national security. The drive towards renewable energy and other high-tech applications requires governments and the mining sector to work collaboratively to enable these minerals to be identified and exploited in a timely and environmentally acceptable manner. In addition to copper, South Australia contains a significant known endowment of critical minerals, such as graphite, magnesium, kaolin, rare earth elements and zirconium. Other commodities such as cobalt and manganese are emerging exploration targets. Lithium, vanadium, platinum group elements, nickel and molybdenum have not had adequate assessment or exploration to sufficiently determine their potential in the State.

The recent review work undertaken by the GSSA for a selection of critical minerals focused on their known occurrences and associated deposit type to assess their geological potential across the state. The study highlights a variety of areas across the State with increased potential for critical minerals, including:

• Gawler Craton – Eyre Peninsula: graphite, HPA, REE, manganese
• Curnamona Province – Olary district: copper, cobalt, molybdenum, REE
• Stuart Shelf and Adelaide Rift Complex: cobalt, copper, manganese
• Eucla and Murray Basins and paleodrainage systems: HMS (titanium, zirconium)
• Deeply weathered basement and basin terrains: Musgrave Province – cobalt, copper, nickel, PGE.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to GSSA staff Samuel Connell for reviewing this article, Rachel Froud and Jess Bonsell for figure drafting and formatting, and Alicia Caruso, Mitchell Bockmann, Adrian Fabris, Diana Zivak and Alex Corrick for co-authorship of the original CMSA report books.

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