Future energy generation, coupled with decarbonisation requires multidisciplinary and diverse teams of innovative thinkers who will develop more efficient ways to explore and discover the next generation of mineral deposits critical for the energy transition.
We aim to overcome global challenges of declining resources, discovery rates and orebody quality, changing human needs, and decarbonisation through combining geophysical and geochemical techniques, deep geological knowledge, data analytics and modelling, and machine learning capability.
These capabilities will help build the new research knowledge and analytical infrastructure required to support Australia’s growing mineral industry now and into the future and develop the next generation of exploration technology, in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way.
Come and join us to help support the minerals industry discover and extract Critical Minerals to fuel the energy transition and reduce our global carbon emissions by applying advanced state-of-the-art exploration techniques – it might be impossible without you!
Target qualifications:
- Geoscientists
- Physicists
- Data Scientists
- Software Engineers
- Soil Scientists
Our teams and research areas
Magmatic Sulfides Team We are a small team focused on the targeting, detection and characterisation of magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt–platinum group element (PGE) deposits using geochemistry, petrology and mineralogy.
Sediment-Hosted Mineral Systems The team’s core expertise is integration of basin analysis with mineral exploration targeting in sediment-(volcaniclastic)-hosted mineral systems and ore body characterisation. Our expertise ranges from sedimentology, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics to structural geology with industry-focussed research on either basin-scale or deposit-scale.
Electromagnetic and Seismic Team We are a team focused on applied geophysical research using electromagnetic prospecting and seismic techniques. Typically, our work is applied to solve problems in mineral prospecting and resource characterisation. However, we also have considerable experience in geotechnical applications of geophysical techniques.
UltraFine+®: soil sampling for gold exploration Analysing ultra-fine particles in soil is helping mineral explorers cost-effectively survey vast areas and hone in on new prospective targets.
Landscape evolution Ore bodies deep beneath the surface have geochemical footprints that may reach the surface. Understanding how landscapes evolve through time can help explorers detect surface geochemical anomalies that indicate the presence of mineral deposits below.
Geoscience Drill Core Laboratory The only facility of its kind in Australia, the Geoscience Drill Core Research Laboratory brings together a suite of advanced mineral characterisation equipment, including CSIRO's unique Maia Mapper, specialised for drill core analysis and research.
Mobile Petrophysical Laboratory A containerised mobile petrophysical logging system for use across Australia.
Data Mosaic software for exploration and mining. DataMosaicTM is an advanced software solution which gives the exploration or mine geologist the ability to rapidly and accurately turn numerical drill hole data into useful geological information.
The Spectral Geologist (TSGTM). The industry standard tool for the mineralogical analysis VIS/NIR/SWIR/MIR and TIR reflectance spectra.
Regolith Geoscience – The team's expertise is in regolith geology, geochemistry and mineralogy. Developing new understanding and techniques to explore in and through regolith, the team works from the micron scale looking at trace metals in resistate mineral grains to the continental scale using remote sensing and spatial data analytics to map landscape types.
Potential Fields Geophysics - The integration of gravity and magnetic data and modelling with petrophysical, structural, mineralogical and geochemical analyses across scales is necessary for mineral discovery. Our teams work across a range of scales to achieve regional to prospect or mineral deposit. One area of focus are deposits containing some critical minerals which contain unique petrophysical properties. Our team is working on ways to uncover these through application of different geophysical techniques.