Alkaline Rocks Atlas: Supporting assessment of critical mineral potential in Australia

Alkaline igneous and related rocks are recognised as a significant source of the critical minerals essential for Australia’s transition to net-zero. Understanding these small but economically significant group of poorly mapped rocks is essential for identifying their resource potential. The Australian Alkaline Rocks Atlas aims to capture all known occurrences of these volumetrically minor, but important, igneous rocks in a national compilation, to aid understanding of their composition, distribution and age at the continental scale. The Atlas, comprises five, stand-alone data packages covering the Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. Each data package includes a GIS database and detailed accompanying report that informs alkaline rock nomenclature, classification procedures, individual units and their grouping into alkaline provinces based on common age, characteristics and inferred genesis. The Alkaline Rocks Atlas will form a foundation for more expansive research on related mineral systems and their corresponding economic potential being undertaken as part of the EFTF program. To illustrate the use of the Alkaline Rocks Atlas, a mineral potential assessment using a subset of the Atlas has been undertaken for carbonatite-related rare earth element mineral systems that aims to support mineral exploration and land-use decision making that aims to support mineral exploration and land-use decision making.