When we talk about modern mineral discoveries in Australia, two names inevitably surface in the same breath: Prominent Hill and Carrapateena. Both sit in South Australia’s Gawler Craton, both are world-class Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) systems, and both ended up becoming cornerstone assets for OZ Minerals, now part of BHP. But lumping them together as “IOCG discoveries” misses the deeper story.

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Exploration activity across the Gawler Craton is accelerating, driven by a convergence of high-grade gold discovery and aggressive drill programs now underway. Marmota Limited’s (ASX: MEU) maiden drilling at the Greenewood gold discovery (Figure 1) has delivered some of the most spectacular near-surface gold results recorded in the region since the Challenger Mine’s breakthrough in 1995, defining almost one kilometre of continuous mineralisation.

Rumble Resources Limited (ASX: RTR) continues to advance the Western Queen Gold Project, located approximately 90 km northwest of Mt Magnet in Western Australia. The Company has released a Scoping Study for the Western Queen South deposit, outlining a technically simple, low-capital underground development that sits adjacent to multiple toll-treatment options within a 200 km radius. The Project is supported by a strong historical production record.

OD6 Metals Ltd (ASX: OD6) is shaping into one of Australia’s most strategically positioned critical-minerals developers, underpinned by two assets: Splinter Rock Rare Earths Project & Gulf Creek Copper-Zinc Project. Both projects benefit from Tier-1 jurisdictions, with Splinter Rock tied directly into the Esperance Port corridor and Gulf Creek positioned within NSW’s Renewable Energy Zones.

Figure 1: A calcite-carbonatite from Oka complex, Deux-Montagnes RCM, Laurentides, Québec, Canada. (source: mindat.org) | Samso Insights

The Splinter Rock clay-hosted REE prospect, located northeast of Esperance within the east Albany–Fraser Orogen in Western Australia, has emerged as one of the most scientifically compelling regolith-hosted REE systems in the country (Figure 1). A multidisciplinary study led by CSIRO has produced the first integrated geological, geophysical, mineralogical, and geochemical characterisation of this emerging clay-hosted REE district.

As the global energy transition accelerates, demand for base metals like copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni) is booming. Yet, exploration success rates for major discoveries are shrinking worldwide. In Australia—home to an array of world-class resources—the biggest challenge isn’t finding the right rocks, it’s working out where to start looking beneath the post-mineralisation cover that hides up to 80% of the continent’s prospective geology.

Carbonatites are some of the rarest igneous rocks on the planet, comprising less than 1% of all identified igneous systems. Despite their rarity, they are highly significant in geology and resource economics.

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