1.2 Purpose and scope of the report

This report is an initial appraisal of the resource potential for critical commodities in Australia. The report covers 34 individual metals, non-metals and minerals (Appendix) and attempts to prioritise these commodities from an Australian perspective.

The purpose of this report is to:

  • Provide an assessment of resource potential for metal, non-metal and mineral commodities in Australia;
  • Present technical information on the geological occurrence of critical commodities, and of Australia’s resources and potential for discovery of new resources; and
  • Guide mineral exploration companies towards the geological settings in Australia where resources of the critical commodities are either known, likely to be present, or have category one resource potential to be discovered.

The report comprises two parts:

Part 1, Critical Commodities and Australian Supply presents summary information on the global perspectives on critical commodities and identifies resource potential for critical commodities in Australia. The Appendix contains summaries for each of 34 commodities with information on the physical characteristics, geological occurrence, and supply and demand of the metal, non-metal or mineral.

Part 2, Geology of Critical Commodities and Australia’s Endowment and Potential is a technical description of the geological occurrence of critical commodities and Australia’s known resources and resource potential. It is aimed at the mineral exploration sector, academics studying critical commodities, and the mineral processing industry. A mineral systems approach is used to describe the geological occurrence of critical commodities, providing a holistic perspective within which the commodities have been grouped.