The Royal Society of Tasmania is launching its latest book – “Australian Mineral Discoverers”.
Mineral discoveries in the 1950 to 2000 period have been the backbone of wealth creation for all Australians and helped to maintain Australia’s economic position as the “Lucky Country”. However as you will read in these 65 biographies of Australian explorers and educators, discovery of buried minerals is an extremely complex science that requires knowledge, innovation, disciplined application of geological principles, teamwork, persistence and an ounce of luck. The stories told in the pages of this book include the discovery of 150 mineral deposits, from the very largest (Olympic Dam of over 6 billion tonnes of copper gold and uranium ore) to the smallest (the gold rich Juno deposit in Tennant Creek). Collectively these mineral discoveries amount to many 100’s of billions of in ground value, that have supported many mines, towns and communities in outback Australia for 50 years and beyond.