Mineral exploration in South Australia has reached an eight-year high as resources companies look for commodities needed for lower-emission steelmaking, renewable energy generation and batteries.
The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy said most of the exploration activity was focused on the Gawler Craton, a geological formation that stretches from the Yorke Peninsula to the north of Coober Pedy.
That includes prospects on the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas, areas usually associated with agriculture rather than mining.
"There's been a huge amount of exploration down on the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas and that's where they're finding a lot of the critical minerals," Rebecca Knol, the chief executive of the SA Chamber of Mines and Energy, told the ABC.
"Here in South Australia we've just hit an exploration high – we've reached $137 million of exploration annually."
Ms Knol said South Australia, which holds more than two-thirds of Australia's known copper resource, was well-positioned to take advantage of growing demand for the metal.
"South Australia was known as the copper kingdom – we're still the copper kingdom," she said.
"We've got world-class deposits of copper, uranium, iron ore, mineral sands and more recently there's a surge to look for critical minerals like graphite, lithium, cobalt, etc."
Some of the exploration is also occurring in the state's north-east, where companies are primarily looking for magnetite, a purer form of iron ore, albeit one that requires more processing before it's used.
Other companies, such as the GFG Alliance which owns the Whyalla steelworks, are already looking to exploit known deposits of magnetite to meet growing international demand.
"Magnetite is coming into its own right now," the head of GFG Alliance's magnetite expansion project, Gavin Hobart, said.
"It's gone from the poor cousin of hematite to a high-purity product.
"With carbon abatement moving towards green steel, it's absolutely the catalyst to [show] we can do this at scale, we can do this with a premium product and one that's highly sought-after."
The GFG Alliance has ramped up exploration in the Middleback Ranges west of Whyalla, where it has existing iron ore mines.
"We're increasing from two rigs to three rigs, soon to be four rigs, so much busier than we have been in the last several years," chief geologist Geoff Johnson said.
There is intense competition for drills and crews across the country, something industry experts expect will continue.
"I don't think we're at the peak of the exploration cycle. There's a lot of drill rigs and a lot of explorers," Ms Knol said.
But exploration is increasing just as the commodities cycle of high prices, output and investment is expected to come down.
"We're arguably at the peak of the commodities cycle — 2023 is a very good year for the sector — but when you get to the top of the mountain you need to come down the other side," Ms Knol said.
It makes the task of finding new resources even more important, but it is extremely difficult and high-risk.
"Exploration is what I refer to as a gambler's game," Ms Knol said.
"We know that you have a one in 137 chance of finding an ore body and of those that you find, less than 50 per cent will actually become operational mines.
"That said, it's not stopping these amazing people from searching well below the surface for these mineralised deposits."
