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A recent breakthrough in science at Curtin University, GSWA, and the University of Western Australia is quietly rewriting the world map for lithium exploration—and Western Australia (WA) is smack in the middle of the revolution.
Published today in Communications Earth & Environment, the study discovers the world’s most valuable lithium deposits did not create near the surface, as had been thought. Instead, they created at the bottom of the Earth’s mantle and worked upwards through ancient cracks in the crust. That’s not an academic hunch—it flips conventional understandings of how we prospect for WA’s brutal Archean terrain, with potentially billion-tonne reward provinces waiting to be tapped.
Why is This Gaining Traction?
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Today, WA accounts for over a third of global lithium production, in hard-rock pegmatite deposits like Greenbushes, Pilgangoora, Wodgina. But prospectors were searching for paradigms founded upon more youthful geology—where metal-bearing fluids deposit at or close to the surface within young rock structures produced by magmatism. These paradigms were unable to explain WA’s wealth locked away in a 2.5-billion-year-old crust.
Now researchers offer mantle-melts that intruded faults and deep structure formed those massive lithium reservoirs. It’s an offer to look again under our feet—much deeper, and in previously unseen locations.
A New Lens: Tracing Earth’s Deep Plumbing
This isn’t an academic change in itself. Picture exploration geologists flying over WA’s cratons with new radars—mapping hidden structures rather than just drawing surface outcrops. It’s a move from “see and drill” to “sensor, model, target.”
Drilling campaigns in hidden fault corridors, supplemented with geophysics mapping, could soon unveil lithium-enriched corridors in places such as the Pilbara and Yilgarn—regions previously written off dry for lithium.
One veteran explorer summed it up this way: “We’re used to being able to chase what we can see. Now, we’re chasing where we don’t—but everything indicates that there is more.”
Lessons of Greenbushes—and What’s to Follow
Greenbushes demonstrated to the world that ancient deep terrain holds world-class lithiums. What if Greenbushes is merely the tip of a hidden plumbing? Industry already is drilling through permits in basin margins, basement highs, and structural bends—all that fall into this new mantle-fed model.
It’s not a matter of discovering more lithium—it’s where—and how—to look for it. It could open up new playbooks in other countries with ancient rocks too.
What’s Next—Practical Impacts
| Area | What’s changing |
| Exploration maps | Deep fault systems now take priority in targeting—not just exposed pegmatites |
| Drilling strategy | Geophysics followed by deep, mild-angle tests replace shallow, surface-focused rigs |
| Funding direction | Investors may now back projects with deep structural promise, beyond outcrop reports |
| Technology use | Magnetics, gravity and seismic become key lenses to scan beneath deadly outback sands |
More Than Just Lithium
Image: Henri Koskinen/stock.adobe.com
While lithium is the headline, the implications reach beyond. If deep-sourced fluids can concentrate rare elements like tantalum, tantalum, tin, or even rare earths, WA’s mineral story just got rewritten to span the entire high-tech materials spectrum.
For towns supporting exploration—Manjimup, Laverton, Karratha—it’s not just economic buzz: it’s legit renewal of exploration funding, jobs, and hope.
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Final Thoughts: WA’s Geological Secret—Now Hearing It
WA’s crust has a secret. For millions of years, molten whispers from the mantle imprinted themselves into fault-bounded rock, creating the lithium deposits fueling the EV and solar revolution. We’re only starting to decode the signals.
This isn’t speculation—it’s where geologists take next steps. Where mineral prospectors reroute their lines. It’s where investors invest. And behind the scenes, it’s restarting careers, town economies, and the world race for clean energy.
By 2025, WA is not only a supplier—but the story of how deep Earth created our energy future.
