Nickel & cobalt prospectivity
across Australia, the USA & Canada.
Magmatic and lateritic nickel-cobalt, ranked and explained — validated nationally across three countries.
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What the model reads for nickel & cobalt.
Every nickel & cobalt target is scored on the same seven lines of evidence — with a pathfinder-geochemistry signature tuned to this system.
Host rock
rock type and age
Gravity & magnetics
buried structures and intrusions
Radiometrics
potassium, thorium, uranium
Terrain shape
elevation, slope, aspect
Surface texture
radar (Sentinel-1)
Alteration
mineral signatures from satellite
Pathfinder chemistry
the elements that point to your commodity
Pathfinder geochemistry the model weighs
Lead signal: Chromium, cobalt and sulphur. These are the elements this national model actually reads to rank nickel & cobalt ground.
See nickel & cobalt on real ground.
Real example runs — the prospectivity map, the per-target reasoning and the analogue-support signal. No login needed.
Sudbury, ON
Avebury, TASWhat is nickel & cobalt?
Nickel and cobalt are the workhorse metals of the energy transition, and they occur together in two very different geological settings that MineDSS models side by side. Magmatic sulphide systems form where mantle-derived mafic and ultramafic magmas become saturated in sulphur and drop dense immiscible sulphide liquid that concentrates nickel, cobalt and copper — the classic style at intrusive and komatiitic centres. Lateritic systems form at the surface, where deep tropical weathering of ultramafic bedrock leaches and re-concentrates nickel and cobalt into thick, layered regolith profiles. The two systems share a source-rock chemistry but leave entirely different footprints, and a prospectivity model has to read both.
The deposit model
Magmatic sulphide deposits sit within and beneath mafic-ultramafic intrusions and komatiite flows, controlled by magma pathways, feeder conduits and structural traps where sulphide liquid could pond. They carry a distinctive nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide assemblage — pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite — and a dense, often magnetic signature. Lateritic nickel-cobalt sits above ultramafic parent rock, its grade and thickness governed by weathering intensity, drainage and the preserved regolith profile, so terrain, landscape stability and surface expression matter as much as bedrock. MineDSS reads both settings through mapped geology and rock age, gravity and magnetic structure, radiometrics, terrain and satellite alteration, together with the pathfinder geochemistry below — chromium, cobalt and sulphur signalling the ultramafic source and its sulphide budget.
Why it matters
Nickel and cobalt sit at the centre of electrification. Nickel underpins stainless steel and high-nickel battery chemistries, while cobalt stabilises those same cathodes and remains critical to high-performance alloys. Both are designated critical or strategic minerals across Australia, the USA and Canada, which keeps exploration, supply security and domestic processing high on government and industry agendas. As grid-scale storage and electrified transport build out, the search for new nickel-cobalt sources — and for secure, well-characterised ground to explore — stays structurally supported through the commodity cycle.
Where it's used
Nickel's corrosion resistance and strength make it indispensable in stainless steel, superalloys for jet engines and gas turbines, plating and specialist chemicals. Cobalt is essential to lithium-ion battery cathodes, to the superalloys and cutting-tool carbides that operate at extreme temperature, and to permanent magnets and catalysts. Together they anchor the materials base for aerospace, defence, grid storage and electrified transport, which is why both are treated as strategic supply-chain metals.
How MineDSS reads it
The model weighs a full pathfinder suite — chromium, cobalt, sulphur, lead, zinc, arsenic and gold — alongside gravity and magnetic structure, radiometrics, terrain and satellite alteration. Chromium, cobalt and sulphur together point to the ultramafic source rocks and their sulphide budget that both systems depend on, while the wider suite captures associated mineralisation. The result is a target that reflects the whole system — magmatic conduit or weathered laterite profile — rather than a single anomalous sample.
Nickel & cobalt prospectivity — common questions
Which nickel and cobalt deposit types does MineDSS model?
Two systems that hold most of the world's nickel and cobalt: magmatic sulphide deposits, where mantle-derived mafic-ultramafic magmas concentrate nickel, cobalt and copper into sulphide, and lateritic nickel-cobalt, where deep tropical weathering of ultramafic bedrock re-concentrates both metals into thick regolith. Nickel-cobalt terrains such as Sudbury in Ontario and Avebury in Tasmania sit within or adjacent to these settings. The model is tuned to these two systems, not to every nickel occurrence.
How is the model's accuracy measured?
We validate every model the hard way — held-out spatial cross-validation. We hide known deposits, rebuild the model without them, then test whether it still finds them, with test blocks kept spatially separated so it cannot memorise nearby points. We are currently refreshing our published national skill figures so they reflect deployment-time performance, and will republish them per model. Coverage today spans Australia, the United States and Canada; the figures are model-level skill, never a specific site's measured accuracy, and never a discovery or JORC / NI 43-101 resource claim.
Why read pathfinder elements instead of just nickel and cobalt?
A mineralising system leaves a chemical footprint far wider than the ore itself. Chromium, cobalt and sulphur trace the ultramafic source rocks and their sulphide budget that both systems share, while lead, zinc, arsenic and gold help characterise associated mineralisation. Reading the suite together lets the model recognise the whole system, so a ranked target reflects a coherent geological story rather than one anomalous sample.
Does a high MineDSS score mean there is a deposit?
No. A high score means the ground shares the geological, geophysical and geochemical character of known magmatic sulphide or lateritic nickel-cobalt systems, and is worth prioritising for further work. It is a prospectivity ranking to focus exploration, not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice.
Other commodities we model
Better nickel & cobalt targets. Evidence you can check.
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