Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources
Channel: GeoscienceAustralia
Date: 25/09/2020

Speaker: Allison Britt 16 September 2020 

The year 2020 has, for many people, seemed apocalyptic: the unprecedented fires of the summer, damaging storms, locust plagues, the global pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions. The Australian resources sector offers hope for combating war, pestilence, famine and death by providing the raw materials, including critical minerals, for making modern technologies and developing new ones. We use minerals for renewable energy, defence capability, medical diagnostics and treatment, transport, communications, entertainment and agriculture. The Australian Government has assessed the nation’s minerals inventory since 1975, recognising that understanding our identified resource potential is the first step to realising the responsible production of the minerals needed for longer, healthier and wealthier human life across the world. In 2020 and beyond, Australia’s minerals sector has an opportunity to spearhead the Covid-19 recovery and support the technologies needed for a cleaner, environmentally robust and prosperous planet - stopping the four horsemen in their tracks.

About the Speaker:
Allison graduated from the Australian National University in 1994 after completing her thesis on the regolith and geochemistry of a copper prospect near Mount Isa. She began her professional career with CSIRO Exploration & Mining working on gold geochemistry in the Yilgarn as part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration. This was followed by six years overseas working as a share trader, scientific English editor and contract geologist. Allison returned to Australia in 2008, initially working with the uranium group at Geoscience Australia before moving into mineral resources and advice, specialising in the annual inventory of Australia's mineral resources. More recently, Allison has focused on critical minerals and attracting international minerals investment into Australia. She is currently Geoscience Australia’s Acting Director for Mineral Resources Advice and Promotion.