Press release: Ancient rocks reveal critical metal origin and continent-breaking forces
No. 139 - 11.09.2025
International research team including Göttingen University identifies origins of niobium
Rare rocks buried deep beneath central Australia have revealed the origins of one of the world’s most promising new deposits of niobium – a metal vital for producing high-strength steel and clean energy technologies. The rocks also show how the deposit formed during the breakup of an ancient supercontinent. An international research team including Göttingen University and Curtin University, Australia, found that newly discovered niobium-rich carbonatites were formed more than 800 million years ago, rising from deep within the Earth through fractures of the crust during a tectonic rifting event that ultimately tore apart the supercontinent known as Rodinia. Their findings were published in Geological Magazine.
Carbonatites are rare igneous rocks known to host major global deposits of important metals such as niobium and rare earth elements, which are on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials. But determining when and how they formed has historically been difficult due to their complex geological histories. To investigate, researchers studied drill core samples from depths of 80 to 210 metres in the Aileron Province in central Australia. They then used advanced geochronology and other isotope techniques on these samples. By combining high-resolution imaging with analysis of multiple isotope systems in different minerals like zircon, biotite, and apatite, they reconstructed over 500 million years of the complex geological events that these rocks experienced. The researchers could date the intrusion and crystallization of carbonatite magma to between 830 and 820 million years ago. This was during a period of continental rifting that preceded the breakup of Rodinia. These massive forces during the rifting event allowed carbonatite magma to rise through pre-existing fault zones, delivering the niobium metal from deep in the mantle up into the crust.
“This sheds new light on how rare, metal-rich magmas reach the Earth’s surface,” explains lead author Dr Maximilian Dröllner, Lecturer at Göttingen University and Research Fellow at Curtin University. “Carbonatites are natural vaults hosting critical metals like niobium and rare earth elements. Currently over 90 percent of global niobium comes from just one Brazilian mine, but recent drill cores suggest Western Australia could be on the brink of hosting one of the world’s largest niobium resources. These carbonatites are unlike anything previously known in the region and contain significant concentrations of niobium, which is valuable for many reasons: it can be used to make lighter, stronger steel for aircraft, pipelines and electric vehicles for instance and is a key component in some next-generation battery and superconducting technologies.”
Original publication: Dröllner M et al., “Multi-method geochronology and isotope geochemistry of carbonatites in the Aileron Province, central Australia”, Geological Magazine (2025). DOI: 10.1017/S0016756825100204
Contact:
Dr Maximilian Dröllner
University of Göttingen
Geoscience Center
Goldschmidtstraße 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Email: maximilian.droellner@uni-goettingen.de
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-27984
www.uni-goettingen.de/en/699390.html
And:
University of Curtin
Timescales of Mineral Systems Group
Curtin’s Frontier Institute for Geoscience Solutions
Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
https://staffportal.curtin.edu.au/staff/profile/view/maximilian-droellner-3eb7b4b6/