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A new process-based mineral system classification linked to commodities

Created 19/11/2025

Updated 19/11/2025

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Several deposit and mineral system classifications are available in the literature, with most classifications focused on detailed analysis of a few deposit types using the mineral system approach. However, these are often not comprehensive and/or too complex to use by non-expert users. This study presents a new mineral system classification which aims to address these problems. The new classification is exhaustive and incorporates new deposit types to account for deposits hosting current and potential future critical mineral resources (e.g., high purity silica). In addition, we reviewed and classified the presence of economically extractable elements for each deposit types according to their global and local significance with the aim of creating a simplified mineral system classification where deposit types and mineral systems are linked to potential commodities. For the classification, deposit types have been grouped into broad mineral systems using similarities in critical processes that relate to metal, fluid and ligand sources, energy sources, fluid-flow drivers and pathways, architecture and depositional gradients. The mineral systems are then linked to broad geological features instead of geodynamic and tectonic settings as used in other classifications to make the classification easier to use, as geodynamic and tectonic settings are often debated in the geological record, especially in the Archean and Proterozoic. In addition, some mineral systems can develop in more than one geodynamic and tectonic setting, making them unreliable criteria to link to a classification due to the many-to-many relationships. The new classification comprises 202 deposit types categorized into 86 deposit groups that are combined into 13 mineral systems and six mineral system classes. Overall, this approach to mineral system classification may help explorers in regions where the geology is complex or unknown by linking geological features to possible elemental enrichment and may assist industry, academia and government organizations to conduct commodity-based mineral potential assessments. Presented at the 2025 Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) Conference

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Field Value
Title A new process-based mineral system classification linked to commodities
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/c0167afb-93d1-4c0c-82c8-ad369b16c5d4
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 11/11/2025
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "A new process-based mineral system classification linked to commodities". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/a-new-process-based-mineral-system-classification-linked-to-commodities