Digging Deeper 2026 - The GSQ Showcase

The Geological Survey of Queensland’s annual Digging Deeper conference returns in 2026. Join us as we showcase the breadth of work undertaken by the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) over the past 12 months.

Register early to secure your conference ticket and stay up to date as the program takes shape.

CONFERENCE:

Digging Deeper 2026

Date: Wednesday 2 December 2026
Time: 9:00am–4:00pm (registration open from 8:30am)
Location: The Auditorium, 33 Charlotte St, Brisbane (same venue as last year)

The program will feature presentations covering our collaborative research, regional geophysics and much more. A full agenda, including presentation topics and speakers, will be shared closer to the event.

Digging Deeper is an in-person-only event. Most presentations will be recorded and made available on YouTube after the conference.

An interactive poster session will also showcase the fantastic work being undertaken by students and early career researchers, providing an opportunity to explore their research and connect with the next generation of geoscientists.

WORKSHOP:

IOCG and Sediment-hosted Copper Deposits of the Mount Isa Province – from drill cores to exploration models

Dates: Thursday 3 December or Friday 4 December
Time: 9:30am–4:00pm
Location: Exploration Data Centre, 68 Pineapple Street, Zillmere
Capacity: 35 attendees (for each workshop)

* Please register for one day only.
This workshop will be repeated on both Thursday and Friday, with the same content delivered at each session.

Join us for a hands-on workshop on Proterozoic mineral systems of the Mt Isa Province.

The workshop will focus on guided core viewing of representative drill cores illustrating the diversity of copper deposits across NW QLD. Featured deposit types include Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG - Ernest Henry, SWAN, Rocklands), Iron Sulfide Copper-Gold (ISCG - Eloise) and sediment-hosted copper deposits (Mt Isa, Capricorn Copper, Mt Oxide). The workshop will showcase the latest geological insights into the featured deposits and the broader regional mineral systems from GSQ and industry experts, with a focused discussion of key data and knowledge gaps of current exploration models.

We will also offer instrument and micro-analytical data demonstrations, including the HyLogger 4 hyperspectral core scanner and the Bruker M4 TORNADO micro-XRF spectrometer, highlighting some of the analytical and core-characterisation capabilities used by GSQ.

WORKSHOP:

Georgetown-Julia Creek deep dive: From data gaps to discovery: Defining geoscience deep dive priorities for Georgetown-Julia Creek

Date: Thursday 3 December
Time: 9:30am–12:00pm
Location: 33 Charlotte St, Brisbane
Capacity: 50 attendees

As part of the Australian Government’s Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative, Geoscience Australia will complete detailed, multi-commodity assessments to enhance our understanding of resource prospectivity in 12 onshore regions. In July 2026, Geoscience Australia commenced the third deep dive, the Georgetown-Julia Creek project, in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Queensland and the Northern Territory Geological Survey.

The Georgetown-Julia Creek region holds significant resource potential, yet many aspects of the region's geological framework require an improved understanding to unlock its full potential. This workshop will discuss the geological information that is missing in the Georgetown-Julia Creek region, and what difference it would make if we had it.

Participants will have the opportunity to interact with Geoscience Australia geoscientists to discuss the data collection priorities and provide input into the geological, geophysical, geochemical and hydrogeological information that could help reduce uncertainty and support exploration in the region.