CFIGS Impact Study - Provenance geochronology accelerates targeting

Mineral sands exploration and resource evaluation face high uncertainty.

Heavy mineral sands deposits are controlled by provenance, transport, reworking, and depositional history but conventional methods struggle to illuminate these controls.

Explorers needed tools that quantify the controls on fertility, upgrading and trapping, enabling faster and more confident targeting decisions.

Curtin scientists worked with the company to build an integrated sediment history toolkit.

The methods fingerprinted crustal sources, dated sediment transport and reworking events, and quantified mixing, recycling, upgrading and depositional processes using geochronology and geochemistry.

This enabled resolution of fertile source corridors, post-depositional trapping and concentration effects.

Decision-ready provenance and process toolkit providing clear mineral fingerprints to
compare targets and deposits.

A consistent analytical workflow deployable across exploration campaigns and geological regions.

Interpreted outputs that translate laboratory geochemistry and geochronology datasets into
actionable exploration decisions, delivered in formats compatible with industry-standard targeting frameworks.

The toolkit enables explorers to identify fertile source corridors and post-depositional
concentration zones, reducing drilling investment on economically marginal targets.

The integrated provenance and geochronology approach improves deposit correlation
confidence and reduces resource variability uncertainty.

The repeatable workflow can scale across regional mineral sands portfolios, supporting
faster exploration cycle times and more confident project advancement decisions.

Heavy Mineral Sand Toolbox