Applications are now open for Round 17 of the Territory Government’s Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program with up to $3 million in grants available to co-fund eligible exploration activities in the Territory. $2 million of the annual pool of funding will be directed towards projects targeting commodities on the NT’s critical minerals list, defined in the newly release edition of the Critical Minerals of the Northern Territory 2024.
The program provides co-funding up for up to 50 % of eligible program costs, capped at
- $200,000 for a single, deep greenfields diamond drill hole
- $150,000 for multi hole greenfields and brownfields diamond drilling, or regional-scale 2D seismic surveys
- $100,000 for greenfields non-diamond drilling, regional-scale geophysical surveys or innovative targeting projects
- $50 000 for analysing existing sample sets for critical minerals, or new early-stage
testwork on critical mineral recovery from mineralised material.
The new advancing critical minerals category aims to support the assessment of critical minerals endowment or recoverability using new or existing sample set. Eligible activities under this category include re-analysis of existing sample sets and/or mine waste to include previously untested critical minerals, or early-stage metallurgical test work and/or ore characterisation to assess potential recoverability of critical minerals from mineralised material.
Information gained from collaborative projects will be made publicly available six months after the completion of fieldwork or on the 1 August 2025 (whichever is earlier), to enhance publicly available knowledge on the Territory’s geology and resources and encourage further exploration.
For all the details and to download the round 17 guidelines, visit the exploration grants webpage.
Applications close at 5:00pm ACST Monday 29th April 2024.
Apply now through GrantsNT.
Photo: Round 16 gravity acquisition near Molyhil, courtesy of Investigator Minerals Ltd