Queensland awards new vanadium, coal, and gas exploration acreage

The Queensland Government has awarded several new resource exploration areas across the state, targeting critical minerals, coal, and petroleum.

In the North West Minerals Province, Idemitsu Australia has been named the preferred tenderer for two vanadium exploration blocks totaling 269 square kilometers near Julia Creek. This move is part of a state initiative to expand the critical minerals pipeline. Additionally, a consortium including CAML Resources, Nippon Steel Australia, and Foxleigh Coal secured a 54-square-kilometer coal exploration area in the Bowen Basin.

In the Taroom Trough, a joint venture led by Omega Oil & Gas, alongside Tri-Star E&P and Beach Energy, was selected as the preferred tenderer for 1,138 square kilometers of petroleum land. This new acreage will increase Omega’s operated position in the Taroom Trough by 63% to 2,947 square kilometers. Other petroleum and gas awards in the Taroom Trough were granted to Denison Gas (Queensland) and OGT Energy, as well as Shell QGC.