This project aims to develop new thinking and methods at a national and continental scale, and to translate these into practical tools for explorers at a regional scale, where area selection and exploration actually occur. South Africa’s mineral exploration investment attraction plan recognises that the country’s geology presents many opportunities for explorers for a wide range of commodities, including strategic commodities. The aim of this project is to attract exploration investment by technically de-risking key underexplored greenfield regions in South Africa. Currently, the Northern Cape Province is being prioritised. A prospectus will be compiled to inform the integrated assessment of mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential, based on (1) new pre-competitive data acquisition, analysis and interpretation and (2) novel regional studies addressing specific prospectivity questions. Several key datasets will be collected, including deep-probing magnetotellurics (MT), airborne electromagnetics (AEM), data from regional-scale magnetics, radiometrics and geological mapping.

The mapping component of the project will focus on bridging relevant geoscience knowledge gaps with fundamental geological data that can assist in characterising the tectonostratigraphic controls and evolution of hydrothermal mineral systems (e.g. ortho-magmatic Cu-Ni, VMS-type Cu-Pb-Zn, superficial U and pegmatite-hosted REEs) and establishing the geological controls on the flow and chemistry of groundwater resources. The information generated within this project is specifically targeted at informing mineral and energy development and sustainable groundwater management.