A new high-grade titanium discovery has been made in South Australia, thanks in part to the state’s historical data.

Emerging minerals explorer Petratherm made the discovery at its Muckanippie project near Coober Pedy using reconnaissance mapping and surface sampling along with assaying of historic drill core stored at the South Australian Government’s Core Library.

Drilling samples from an original 1991 drilling campaign at Muckanippie kept at the Core Library had geological logs describing abundant bands of dark minerals present in the overlying cover, but no examination for Titanium was undertaken at that time as it was assumed these were just iron-rich bands and titanium markets were of no major significance in 1991.

Following recognition of mineralisation on the ground, Petratherm geologists examined these historic logs and assayed these drill holes which confirmed the dark minerals present are Titanium ore minerals ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile.

Samples returned grades ranging between 10 and 50 per cent titanium dioxide less than 10m from the surface.

Petratherm chief executive officer Peter Reid said drilling will continue throughout October to expand the discovery.

“The Muckanippie suite is a rare and highly fertile layered intrusion, and this titanium discovery including high-grade, high value, titanium ores as heavy mineral sands has the potential to be transformational for the company,” Reid said.

“The mineralisation has been traced over a large-scale area and has significant potential as large tonnage direct shipment ore.”

The Australian Government along with the US, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea and the UK have designated titanium as a critical mineral for essential modern technologies.

Titanium has uses in electric vehicles and battery storage, wind technology, pigments, and as an alloy in steel and superalloys.

The global market size of titanium in 2022 amounted to $US28.6 billion ($42.1 billion) and is forecast to grow over the coming years to nearly $US52 billion ($76.5 billion) by 2030.

The SA Government said the Muckanippie discovery has the potential to be a world-class sized critical mineral discovery and reinforced the importance of resources like the Core Library.

“Congratulations to Petratherm for making this critical mineral discovery, which could prove to be very significant for the nation,” SA Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis said.

“This achievement reinforces the importance of pre-competitive geoscience data for new discoveries.”