Registrations are now open!

Discovery Day is your gateway to connect with the GSSA and our valued collaborators, as we unveil fresh insights and the new data shaping our understanding of South Australia’s geology.

  • When: Thursday 3 December 2026
  • Where: Adelaide Convention Centre

Since 2016, Discovery Day has been an integral part of the Geological Survey of South Australia's calendar. Step into a day of discovery as we reflect on the past year’s milestones - exploring major projects, groundbreaking research, and the partnerships driving our work forward.

We hope you can join us again this year!

To register

Registrations close Sunday 29 November 2026

Our theme for 2026

"From Data to Discovery: Shaping South Australia's Mineral and Energy Future"

The program for this year's event will be a diverse showcase of new information on the geology and commodity potential of South Australia.

Further details will be released in the lead up to the conference.

Come, learn, discuss, act.

Stay updated

Further details will continue to be released in the lead up to the conference.

Make sure you remain up to date by keeping an eye on this webpage, as well as our:

Previous Discovery Day events

Session 1 - State of play
Welcome to Country
Uncle Mickey

Opening address
Paul Martyn, Department for Energy and Mining

GSSA Director’s 2025 highlights
Bronwyn Camac, Department for Energy and Mining

More and easier - Improving access and availability of geoscience data
Christie Gerrard, Department for Energy and Mining

Upstream energy in South Australia: a 2025 update
Chris Cubitt, Department for Energy and Mining

My graduate journey with GSSA
Joanne Ciancio, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 2 - New geoscience: Tools and applications

Results of the Northern Gawler NDI drilling campaign to date
Claire Wade, Department for Energy and Mining

Rare earth elements secondary prospectivity of mine waste in South Australia
Francesco Colombi, Environmental Geochemistry International (EGi)

Update on GSSA’s Paleovalley mapping: Paleovalley characteristics and mineral potential of the northwestern Gawler Craton
Baohong Hou, Department for Energy and Mining

HyLogger Review 2025 - transitioning to a new era
Alicia Caruso, Department for Energy and Mining

Monazite U-Th-Pb age mapping: a tool to understand complex metamorphism
Alex De Vries Van Leeuwen, Department for Energy and Mining

SA Geology: Laying the groundwork for an integrated approach to geological mapping
Jonathan Irvine, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 3 - New geoscience: Tectonics through time

Curnamona Cube
Graham Heinson, Adelaide University

Remote Mapping in the Northern Gawler Craton: Ooldea to Oolgelima
Jack Percival, Department for Energy and Mining

Paleo to Mesoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Coober Pedy Domain (northern Gawler Craton)
Rashed Abdullah, Department for Energy and Mining

The Penong Complex: a new unit with big implications for the Nuyts Domain
Mark Pawley, Department for Energy and Mining

Updated stratigraphic framework for magnetite deposits in the Gawler Craton
Mitchell Bockmann, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 4 - The geoscience of our commodities

Delamerian mineral systems and mineral potential
Yanbo Cheng, Geoscience Australia

An introduction to the Mineral Database (MinDep), a key to unlocking information of the state’s prospectivity
Rhiannon Lord, Department for Energy and Mining

Data Metallogenica - The value of representative geological collections
Peter Keller, Department for Energy and Mining

GSSA’s new ventures across the Eyre Peninsula
Carmen Krapf, Department for Energy and Mining

Closing remarks

Session 1 - Looking ahead: Initiatives and commodities

Welcome to Country
Cliffy Wilson, Kuma Kaaru

Opening address
Paul Heithersay, Department for Energy and Mining

Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity Initiative, Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of South Australia working together
Karol Czarnota, Geoscience Australia

GSSA Director’s 2024 highlights
Bronwyn Camac, Department for Energy and Mining

Magnesium and Manganese opportunities in South Australia for facilitating the increasing global Critical Minerals demand
Carmen Krapf, Department for Energy and Mining

An update on natural hydrogen exploration in South Australia
Chris Cubitt, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 2 - The sedimentary search space

Linking South Australia’s geology - fostering new workflows through digital report data (Officer Basin Case Study)
Sam Connell, Department for Energy and Mining

Paleovalleys and sedimentary characteristics of the northwestern Gawler Craton
Baohong Hou, Department for Energy and Mining

A new turbidite play in the Otway Basin - The value of revisiting the rocks
Sharon Tiainen, Department for Energy and Mining

Play mapping workflow; a practical example from the onshore Otway Basin, South Australia
Paul Strong, Department for Energy and Mining

Stack ‘em, hack ‘em and smack ‘em: Seismic stories of basins building an orogen
Tom Wise, Department for Energy and Mining

Narrowing the search space: A wrap up of the sedimentary Copper project
Adrian Fabris, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 3 - Core, copper and complexities

Keynote: A Beautiful Science
Lee Harrop

Unravelling complex basement geology via SADM: an example from the Mount Woods Domain, Gawler Craton
Rashed Abdullah, Department for Energy and Mining

Just how relevant is the IOCG model to the Curnamona Province?
Tobias Schlegel, CSIRO

Where are South Australia’s Carbonatites?
Mitchell Bockmann, Department for Energy and Mining

Northern Gawler National Drilling Initiative
Claire Wade, Department for Energy and Mining

Session 4 - Making time and space for mineral systems

Refining Uranium exploration models with field data
Steve Hore, Department for Energy and Mining

HyLogger Hy-lights 2024
Alicia Caruso, Department for Energy and Mining

Geochronology of the Middleback Range metasediments and implications for the Hutchison Group stratigraphy
Mario Werner, Department for Energy and Mining

Aeromagnetic Character and Kinematics of the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone, Eastern Nuyts Domain
Frank Rarity, Department for Energy and Mining

Polymetamorphism and gold (re)mobilisation in the central-western Gawler Craton
Alex Van Leeuwen, Department for Energy and Mining

Watch the Discovery Day presentations from 2023

Watch the Discovery Day presentations from 2022