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CSIRO.au
CSIROscope

Minerals

We’re delivering breakthrough innovation to create a more productive, sustainable and globally competitive mineral resources industry for the benefit of Australia and the world.

  • Minerals
  • Mining

Minerals

We’re delivering breakthrough innovation to create a more productive, sustainable and globally competitive mineral resources industry for the benefit of Australia and the world.

  • Minerals
  • Mining

Gold ring featuring a circle of white diamonds around a pink central diamond

Green and gold Aussie jewellery

Our environmentally-friendly gold extraction process is helping producers meet demand for ethical gold products with green credentials.

Breaking the mould: gold-digging fungi found in WA

Australian scientists have discovered gold-coated fungi near Boddington in Western Australia. And it may offer clues for finding new gold deposits.

Male and female scientists taking soil samples from a remote landscape showing a helicopter in the background

Golden soils and wealth from toil

Finding gold requires luck and hard work. Now luck is being delivered by science as new sampling techniques and analysis reduce the guesswork to help prospectors pinpoint gold targets more precisely.

Gold ingot engraved with CSIRO logo

Gold fever: Our top 7 inventions that are pure gold

Science is golden and here’s why: our top 7 gold inventions are changing the way we explore and produce gold in the 21st century.

Gold does grow on trees

Our geochemical sampling technique is helping mineral exploration companies hone in on new targets for their next big discoveries.

Person smelting metal in a kiln

Phosphates to feed the world

We invented a new smelting process to produce phosphates for fertiliser. Called PyroPhos, it eliminates harmful waste found in other phosphate production processes and creates a valuable by-product which can be used in construction.

Floating bacteria

Nature’s cleaners: the little helpers treating mine water

Capturing a mining site’s tiny, yet complex microbial community, and putting it to work to ‘clean itself up’, could bring a revolution in water remediation efforts.

A mixture of green, pink and blue blobs representing different metals

X-rays of rocks show their super-fluid past, and reveal mineral deposits vital for batteries

New X-ray technologies reveal some of the incredible processes that took place in Earth’s geological history – and should help us identify new high value ores.

Heart-shaped gold nugget in a hand

How a mob of stray cattle started a gold rush in the Pilbara

An accidental prospector has sparked a gold rush after making an extraordinary gold discovery while mustering cattle in a helicopter.

As the demand for battery technology increases so too does demand rise for the raw materials that go into them

Supercharging battery metals

With global demand for battery technology set to soar, Australia is well placed to deliver the raw materials and take advantage of a battery metal bonanza.

A coal seam gas site

Local communities need more reassurance about the legacy left by coal seam gas wells

One of the key questions any industry must consider is: what is left behind when it is finished. For coal seam gas, this question is crucial.

Hand holding round gold ingot featuring CSIRO logo

Cyanide-free gold… I’ll have a bar of that.

We’ve poured the country’s first cyanide-free gold using our clever process in an effort to put an end to the use of toxic chemicals to extract the yellow metal.

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At CSIRO, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

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