For a long time, Australia’s Northern Territory was known as the “last frontier” or the “great unknown”, and that “unknown” included there being no clear understanding of area’s mineral potential.
The sparse north of Australia, now known colloquially as “The Territory” or the “Top End”, accounts for over 40% of Australia’s land mass but only 5% of the nation’s population. The lack of people, coupled with the territory’s remoteness, harsh conditions, and climate held back exploration for many years compared with other parts of the country.
In 2020-21, mineral production in the Northern Territory (NT) was A$4.28B, with most production coming from just six major mines. However, significant recent investments by the Australian and NT governments have helped “lift the cover” on the vast potential of the region’s geology, leading to a land rush of mining companies.
This work and some recent exploration success has led to the NT having a strong pipeline of developing mining projects, at various stages of the feasibility, approvals, or financing process. This includes projects for a diverse range of commodities including copper, rare earths, lithium, gold, vanadium, titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, zinc, manganese, iron, diamonds, phosphate, potash, and salt.
As of June 30 2022, there were 21 projects in approvals processes, representing a combined capital expenditure of A$7.3B with the potential to create up to 5,400 jobs in construction and up to 4,100 jobs in operations.
Exploration funding
The NT has been identified to have strengths in non-ferrous metals, precious metals and critical minerals, such as lithium, rare earths and vanadium, making it ideally placed to be a stable source of minerals to the nearby markets of Asia. Despite all of this, vast areas of the Territory remain underexplored, with new geoscience data highlighting the potential of regions with no outcropping geology.
In recent times the Territory government has moved strongly to drive economic development and maximize resource exploration in the Territory with more than double the projects awarded funding in the latest round of resource grants.
A$3.06M has been awarded by the Territory to support 29 projects from 23 companies under the Geophysics and Drilling Collaboration programme.
The grants programme is part of the A$9.5M per annum Resourcing the Territory initiative, which is designed to attract and support mineral exploration, drive more mining development and create more jobs across the Territory.
The Territory government’s expanded A$9.5M Resourcing the Territory initiative has been designed to meet recommendations in the Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission final report.
The projects funded under the Geophysics and Drilling Collaboration programme include six greenfields drilling programmes, eight greenfields geophysics programmes, seven brownfields drilling programmes, and eight brownfields targeting programmes.
These projects are targeting a wide range of commodities, including gold, copper, lithium, vanadium, nickel, zinc, and uranium.
NT minister for mining and industry, Nicole Manison, said the greenfields drilling programmes are targeting copper, gold, lithium, and vanadium in areas with little existing previous drilling in the Barkly Tableland, Tennant Creek region, Tanami region, and central Australia.
Meanwhile, the brownfields drilling programmes are testing at or near known mineral deposits in the Tennant Creek region, Pine Creek region, and central Australia, primarily targeting gold as well as lithium and possible nickel and copper.
“The Resourcing the Territory initiative is the biggest investment by any Northern Territory government into attracting and supporting resources exploration,” Minister Manison said.
“This will help find the new mines of the future that will create jobs, support business, and pay royalties to the NT to help fund schools, roads, and health clinics.
“The resources sector is playing an enormous role in our comeback, with 21 mining projects working towards a Final Investment Decision (FID) in the Territory with a combined value of over A$7B and potential to create over 5,000 construction jobs and over 3,500 ongoing jobs.
“Our message is clear: if you are looking for the next resource development, come to the Territory.”
One of the companies that is set to benefit from the expanded initiative is Prodigy Gold (ASX: PRX).
“Prodigy Gold is excited to be working with the department again during this round of co-funding. The NT government has shown great support for exploration in the Tanami over the past few years and we are enthused to continue this mutually beneficial collaboration,” managing director, Mark Edwards, said.
“The Tanami region is one of Australia’s great mining success stories with one of the most productive and profitable gold mines located in this area (Newmont’s Tanami Operation). Prodigy Gold is working closely with the department on exploring around this area.
“These co-funding agreements with the NT government allow small exploration companies, like Prodigy Gold, to fast track drill testing of targets benefitting the advancement of projects and increasing the open data knowledge base of the NT.”
Warren Pearce, CEO of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, said the biggest ever expansion of the Resourcing the Territory initiative is great news for the industry.
“Government-funded studies in Western Australia and South Australia have found that every A$1M invested in this type of programme stimulates exploration activity, which generates in excess of A$10M worth of local investment.
“An investment in Resourcing the Territory is an investment in the future of the NT.”
East Tennant excitement
Meanwhile, a collaborative Geoscience Australia (GA) and Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) research has identified the East Tennant region as a priority area to host IOCG mineralization.
The Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) is undertaking a range of collaborative geoscience programmes designed to investigate the minerals and energy potential beneath the soils of the Barkly Tableland and into the Gulf region. This builds on major geoscience programmes in the greater McArthur Basin that were undertaken under the CORE initiative.
The large volume of new geoscience data generated in the Barkly Tableland region has led to a substantial increase in industry activity in greenfields areas. Since late 2018, more than 17,000km2 of new mineral exploration licence applications have been made by industry over previous vacant ground in the Barkly Tableland east of Tennant Creek, targeting copper and gold. This area has not previously been explored for these minerals.
The prospective rocks are buried more than 100m below the surface and there was previously insufficient geological information to attract explorers into the area. The area also attracted seven applications from six companies for co-funding in the 2021 round of the Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations programme.
The Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations programme aims to support exploration programmes that improve geological knowledge in underexplored areas of the Territory or target and expand areas of known resource endowment.
