Deep-dive projects Delamerian
Page last updated:21 August 2025
- Gilmore, P.J., Bodorkos, S., Lewis, C.J., Pitt, L., Clark, A.D., Cheng, Y., Mole, D.R., Doublier, M.P., Taylor, H.L., Roach, I.C. 2024.
- Wise, T.; Doublier, M.; Preiss, W.; Pawley, M.; Thiel, S.; Krapf, C.; Abdullah, R.; Wade, C.; Miller, R.; Costelloe, R.; Hossain, M.; Rasheed, H.; Nicoll, M. 2025. Departmental Publication - MESA Journal. Government of South Australia
The Delamerian region is one of Australia's largest and least explored under-cover terranes, spanning the borders of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and western Tasmania. This region has potential for battery and energy transfer metals, steel production and alloying agents.
Under the Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative, the Delamerian Deep Dive project will build on the Exploring for the Future program’s (2016–2024), to leverage new data and interpretations to consolidate our geological understanding of the Delamerian arc and its overlying basin geology into a cohesive framework. Our previous work in the Delamerian includes multi-scale geophysical data acquisition, regional stratigraphic drilling, sampling, geochemical analysis and age dating of groundwater, rock and sediments.
We will release a regional geological framework and resource assessment synthesis that will provide greater insights into the region’s mineral prospectivity and optimise strategies for targeted mineral exploration. The Delamerian deep dive will also deliver a range of new geochemistry, groundwater conceptual models and geophysics, including an ambient noise tomography (ANT) model, model of base to Moho, and deep crustal seismic data.
Map of the Delamerian Orogen showing the distribution of convergent margin rocks emphasising locations of inferred arc and magmatic rocks and identified mineral systems which together define metallogenic belts and map resource potential. The background is an image of total magnetic intensity. (Cheng et al., 2024)
The Delamerian Deep Dive project will:
- Deliver public geoscience data and an improved understanding of mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential to support decision-making for all levels of government and industry investment
- Improve the understanding of the geological frameworks and multi-commodity resources contained within basins and basement terranes
- Provide consistent information to inform management of groundwater systems across the Delamerian region.