A hunt for indium near old Herberton district mine workings is among the projects to win a share of almost $4 million in the latest round of Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grants.

Red River Resources is among the 24 companies receiving State Government support for exploration focused on the new economy minerals required for advanced electronics and renewable technologies.

The funds have been bolstered by the first instalment of a $10 million-plus booster pack announced last month to supercharge exploration and to drive future resources jobs.

Red River Resources geology manager Steve Harper said the $190,000 CEI grant would fast-track the company’s exploration of a historical base metals site near Herberton.

“This site is the historic West and East Orient base metal mines which were last operational in the early 1900s,” Mr Harper said.

He said the site held potentially large deposits of lead, zinc, silver and, importantly, indium.

The CEI funding opened the door for Red River to undertake a detailed geophysical analysis to home in on extensions to known mineralisation, Mr Harper said.

“Our objective is to identify extensions to the known high grade vein systems deposits with a goal to discover larger bulk tonnage targets and move to production,” he said.

Applications for indium include the manufacture of solar panels.

Dover Castle Metals will also be seeking high-grade indium after winning $150,000 towards its plans to use diamond drilling techniques on land about 150km west of Cairns.

Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the funded projects were spread across the state – from Georgetown and Cairns in the north, west to Emerald, near Karumba and McKinlay in the North West Minerals Province, in the Wide Bay area inland of Bundaberg, and down to Cunnamulla in the south-west.

“The resources sector industry has fared  better than others throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and these grants will help to future-proof regional economies as the state continues its economic road to recovery,” Dr Lynham said.

“Exploration is essential for Queensland to keep up with the soaring global demand for tech minerals and these grants are in place to put Queensland’s industry on the front foot.

 “Demand for the next generation of minerals is being driven by new technologies such as electric vehicles and renewable energy products, computers, smartphones and products for the medical, defence and scientific research sectors – and Queensland is the place to get them.”

• View the successful projects on the interactive map HERE