Australian Offshore Mineral Locations Map, August 2006

Australia's offshore mineral occurrences and deposits within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf. The map draws together data from published and unpublished marine research surveys and government records, showing minerals including manganese nodules, heavy mineral sand, phosphorites, diamonds, tin, copper, gold, and coal. It was produced by Geoscience Australia in collaboration with CSIRO and state and territory geological surveys.

Use Cases

• Assess mineral prospectivity for exploration based on mapped occurrences of manganese nodules, crusts, and heavy mineral sands.
• Inform marine spatial planning and decision-making by integrating mineral location data with other marine information layers.
• Study the relationship between seafloor physiography (bathymetry) and mineral depositional settings as shown on the map.

Strengths

• Covers a vast marine jurisdiction of 14.4 million square kilometers, larger than Australia's land area.
• Integrates data from multiple sources including federal and state government records and research surveys.
• Includes contextual bathymetry data showing seafloor physiography relevant to mineral settings.

Limitations

• Data is from August 2006; freshness should be verified for current applications.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Some mineralisation types are interpreted from limited information, as noted in the description.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship and Division of Exploration and Mining, and State and Northern Territory Geological Surveys.

Collection Method

Data compiled from published and unpublished marine research surveys and federal and state government records.

Time Range

Snapshot as of August 2006.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:54:42.747407; primary data is from August 2006.

Geography

Australia's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf.