From Geoscience Australia
JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

Cenozoic heavy mineral sand rare earth element mineral potential map of Australia

Created 26/03/2026

Updated 26/03/2026

JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

Map showing the potential for Cenozoic heavy mineral sand rare earth element (HMS REE) mineral systems in Australia.

The mineral potential map is a synthesis of four component layers:

1. Source of metals, fluids and ligands (represented by subsets of the Surface Geology of Australia 1:2.5M and Alkaline Rocks Atlas of Australia).

  1. Energy sources and fluid flow drivers (represented by a subset of palaeovalleys derived from the Palaeogeographic Atlas of Australia - Vol. 10 Cenozoic.

  2. Fluid flow pathways and architecture (represented by the combined continental shelf and onshore basins with Cenozoic oceanic connection and sediment deposition).

  3. Ore depositional gradients and traps (represented by both (i) reported HMS occurrences and (ii) selected sand-dominated Cenozoic geological units from the Layered Geology of Australia).

The model uses a hybrid data-driven and knowledge driven methodology to produce the final mineral potential map for the mineral system. 

The input maps and mineral deposit training and validation datasets used to generate the mineral potential map are provided.

These are accompanied by an assessment criteria table which contains information on the map creation including model weightings applied to each component.

Files and APIs

Tags

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Cenozoic heavy mineral sand rare earth element mineral potential map of Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/14679c57-893b-4975-8a7e-2d47080edcdb
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 03/02/2025 - 09/02/2026
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        112.0,
        -44.0
      ],
      [
        154.0,
        -44.0
      ],
      [
        154.0,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        112.0,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        112.0,
        -44.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Cenozoic heavy mineral sand rare earth element mineral potential map of Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/cenozoic-heavy-mineral-sand-rare-earth-element-mineral-potential-map-of-australia