金属、非金属和矿物原材料的供应，特别是那些支撑高技术产业的原材料，对这些产业的持续发展非常重要。一些国家已经制定了被认为至关重要的金属和矿物的风险清单。商品的临界水平反映了供应风险和特定商品重要性的结合。澳大利亚是矿产商品的主要出口国，但消费量相对较小。因此，其他国家的关键商品目前对澳大利亚工业来说并不重要，只有少数可能与农业部门（磷酸盐和钾盐）有关的例外情况。本报告从澳大利亚的角度审查了关键商品，并就澳大利亚的资源和这些关键商品的资源潜力提供了全面的技术（地质）信息。报告由两部分组成：第一部分概述了对关键商品报告的评估；第二部分是对关键商品地质信息的技术介绍。完整报告见www.ga.gov.au。第1部分评估了欧盟、日本、韩国、英国和美国的关键大宗商品报告，并确定了澳大利亚当前和潜在的大宗商品资源。在澳大利亚被评估为具有一类（高）资源潜力的关键商品有（按字母顺序排列）：铬、钴、铜、镍、铂族元素（pge）、稀土元素（ree）和锆。在这7种商品中，有5种被欧盟、日本、韩国、英国和美国列为最关键的商品（即，不包括分别属于第三类和第二类临界的铜和锆）。在澳大利亚被评估为具有第二类资源潜力的关键商品有（按字母顺序排列）：锑、铍、铋、石墨、氦、铟、锂、锰、钼、铌、钽、钍、锡、钛和钨。在这15种大宗商品中，有8种被欧盟、日本、韩国、英国和美国认为具有最高临界值。这种对资源潜力的评估不考虑非关键商品，如贱金属、黑色金属和能源商品。澳大利亚在许多这些非关键性商品中具有一类资源潜力。第2部分详细介绍了在整体矿产系统框架内关键商品的地质情况，重要的是还描述了澳大利亚已知或可能含有大量关键商品的矿床。大多数商品可分为三大类矿物系统。矿物系统族（1）：与镁铁质-超镁铁质有关的镍、铂族元素、铬和钴-这些商品的出现与镁铁质-超镁铁质火成岩密切相关，尤其是镍、铂族元素和铬。根据澳大利亚的已知资源，该大陆似乎在世界级侵入型镍、铂族元素和铬矿床中的代表性不足。澳大利亚的地质，特别是许多以前未被承认的大型火成岩省的存在，使我们得出结论，澳大利亚对镍、铂族元素和铬的主要矿床具有很高的远景。矿物系统族（2）：与长英质火成岩有关的稀土元素、钨、铌、钽、钼、铍、锡和铋所有这些金属都与长英质火成岩侵入体，特别是与高分馏花岗岩和/或碱性火成岩有关。澳大利亚（棕色地带）和这些矿产省（棕色地带到绿色地带）的地下延伸部分已经知道这些金属的沉积。矿物系统族（3）：含锆、钛、稀土元素和钍的重矿物砂最近在澳大利亚重矿物砂省的新发现证明了该大陆进一步圈定重矿物砂主要资源的潜力。除了这些矿物系统族之外，一组金属和半金属，包括锑、铟、镓、锗、镉、碲和硒，主要是提炼主要商品锌、铜、铅、金、铝和镍的副产品。澳大利亚在所有这些主要商品的资源方面的全球排名很高，这意味着有很大的资源潜力来生产上述小元素副产品。澳大利亚对一系列商品具有一类资源潜力，但各国认为其中许多具有三类关键性。例如，尽管铜属于第三类，但由于其经济重要性、工业化和发展中经济体的需求预测增长以及澳大利亚新发现铜的资源潜力，铜仍被列为第一类资源潜力。澳大利亚具有第一类或第二类资源潜力的其他非关键性商品包括锌、铅、银、金、铁矿石、铝土矿、铀、钻石、磷酸盐、钾盐、煤、石油和天然气。
the availability of metal, non-metal and mineral raw materials, particularly those that underpin high-technology industries are important for the ongoing development of these industries. several countries have developed risk lists of metals and minerals that are considered to be critical. the level of criticality of a commodity reflects the combination of risk of supply and the importance of the particular commodity. australia is a major exporter of mineral commodities but is a relatively small consumer. therefore the critical commodities for other countries are not critical at present for australian industries, with a small number of possible exceptions relating to the agricultural sector (phosphate and potash). this report examines critical commodities from an australian perspective and presents comprehensive technical (geological) information on australia’s resources and resource potential for these critical commodities. the report comprises two parts: part 1 summarises assessment of critical commodity reports; part 2 is a technical presentation of geological information on critical commodities. the full report is available at www.ga.gov.au. part 1 assesses the eu, japan, south korea, uk and us critical commodity reports, and identifies current and potential commodity resources in australia. critical commodities assessed as having category one (high) resource potential in australia are (in alphabetical order): chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel, platinum-group elements (pge), rare-earth elements (ree), and zirconium. of these seven commodities, five are ranked in the group considered as most critical by the eu, japan, south korea, uk and us (i.e., excluding copper and zirconium which are of category three and category two criticality, respectively). critical commodities assessed as having category two resource potential in australia are (in alphabetical order): antimony, beryllium, bismuth, graphite, helium, indium, lithium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, thorium, tin, titanium, and tungsten. of these 15 commodities, eight are considered to be of highest criticality by the eu, japan, south korea, uk and us. this assessment of resource potential does not consider non-critical commodities such as base metals, ferrous metals and energy commodities. australia has category one resource potential in many of these non-critical commodities. part 2 presents detailed information on the geological occurrence of critical commodities within a holistic mineral systems framework, and importantly also describes australia’s mineral deposits that are known to, or may, contain significant quantities of the critical commodities. most of the commodities can be grouped into three families of mineral systems. mineral system family (1): mafic-ultramafic-related nickel, platinum-group elements, chromium and cobalt— the occurrence of these commodities is closely related to mafic-ultramafic igneous rocks, particularly for nickel, platinum-group elements and chromium. based on known resources in australia, the continent appears to be under-represented in world-class intrusion-hosted nickel, platinum-group elements and chromium deposits. australia’s geology and in particular the presence of many previously unrecognised large igneous provinces leads us to conclude that australia is highly prospective for major deposits of nickel, platinum-group elements and chromium. mineral system family (2): felsic igneous-related rare-earth element, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, beryllium, tin and bismuth—all of these metals occur (albeit not exclusively) in association with felsic igneous intrusions, in particular with either highly-fractionated granitic rocks and/or with alkaline igneous rocks. there are regions where deposits of these metals are already known in australia (brownfields), and in the under-cover extensions of these mineral provinces (brownfields to greenfields). mineral system family (3): heavy mineral sand-hosted zirconium, titanium, rare-earth element and thorium—new discoveries of heavy mineral sand provinces recently in australia attest to the resource potential of the continent for further delineation of major resources of heavy mineral sands. in addition to these mineral system families, a group of metals and semi-metals including antimony, indium, gallium, germanium, cadmium, tellurium and selenium are primarily the by-products of the refining of the major commodities zinc, copper, lead, gold, aluminium and nickel. australia’s high global ranking in resources of all of these major commodities implies that there is significant resource potential for new or increased production of the minor-element by-products listed above. australia has category one resource potential for a range of commodities, however countries consider many of these to have category three criticality. for example, copper is rated as category one resource potential, despite its category three criticality, due to its economic importance, predicted growth in demand from industrialised and developing economies, and the resource potential of australia for new discoveries of copper. other non-critical commodities for which australia has category one or category two resource potential include zinc, lead, silver, gold, iron ore, bauxite, uranium, diamonds, phosphate, potash, coal, petroleum and natural gas.