Exploring for the Future is an Australian Government program, led by Geoscience Australia, dedicated to exploring Australia’s resource potential and boosting investment.
Launched in 2016 with $100.5 million in funding, the program initially focused on northern Australia. In June 2020, the Australian Government announced an additional $125 million of funding, over four years, to expand the program across the whole of Australia.
News & Events
Mineral deposits near Tennant Creek estimated to be worth billions
5 August 2020
Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt today issued a joint media release with Senator for the Northern Territory Dr Sam McMahon about the economic potential of natural resources in underexplored areas of the Northern Territory.
Virtual Roadshow 2020
4 August 2020
The Exploring for the Future Virtual Roadshow was a series of lunchtime webinar events held in July 2020, to mark the significant achievements of the Exploring for the Future program.
Exploring for the Future program update released
23 July 2020
Geoscience Australia has released the Exploring for the Future Program Update 2016-2020, which provides an overview of the program’s activities in northern Australia and what they have delivered so far.
Data & Publications
Data discovery portal
Geoscience Australia’s Data Discovery Portal provides free access to new geoscience data and tools acquired and developed during the Exploring for the Future program. The program investigated the mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential in northern Australia and parts of South Australia.
Data releases
As part of the Exploring for the Future multiple new pre-competitive datasets, publications, portal and analytical tools have been released to the public. These datasets maintain GA’s global leadership in the provision of pre-competitive geoscience information and thereby attract resource explorers to Australia.
Extended Abstracts
The extended abstracts volume records discrete science work undertaken as part of the Exploring for the Future program. This work highlights scientific achievement as well as the multidisciplinary, integrated and holistic nature of the program.
Case Studies
Mapping the Australian Tectonic Plate Thickness
Sustainable development and transition to cleaner energy sources is placing ever-increasing demand on global supplies of base metals (copper, zinc, lead and nickel) and co-produced critical minerals (eg cobalt, germanium).
New Exploration in the East Tennant Area
Mineral exploration is a necessary activity for the continued success of the mining sector in Australia. It has a public good attribute, which means the socially optimal level of exploration activity is greater than the level of exploration activity that would be generated in a pure private market.
Kidson Sub-Basin Prospectivity
The onshore Canning Basin is a large, predominantly Palaeozoic basin which has minor oil and gas production. Despite widespread shows in different geological settings that indicate that there are at least four active petroleum systems, the basin is significantly underexplored for hydrocarbon resources.
Themes
Minerals
Australia and the north is a land rich in mineral resources. These resources have supported Australia's resilient economy for the last century, but over the last decade resource discovery has not kept pace with extraction and our share of international exploration expenditure has been in decline.
Energy
Australia is a vast continent which is largely under-explored in many regions. Large areas have poorly distributed data; some areas are completely untested for their resource potential. In addition, a large amount of onshore data is old and of poor quality.
Groundwater
Australia is the driest inhabited continent and the highest per capita user of water. As such, the Groundwater Sector plays a critical role in national water security. Groundwater represents 17 per cent of available fresh water within Australia and is essential for providing increased supply during periods of drought for agriculture and community consumption in many parts of the country.