alkaline igneous / ion-adsorption
Terbium prospectivityacross Australia, the USA & worldwide.
Alkaline igneous and ion-adsorption terbium and heavy rare earths, ranked and explained across the United States and Australia.
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✓ Australia
Ranked targets
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✓ United States
Ranked targets
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· Canada
Not modelled
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Everywhere else
Global model
Ranked targets come with national models in Australia and the United States. Everywhere else, the global model returns the prospectivity map, the geology behind it and a confidence read. Next, the models are retrained on the full record and new sources, such as hyperspectral imagery, before we use them to rank and select ground.
How we rank terbium ground
From a country to a decision.
- 01 · Atlas
Know the ground
The geology, structure, recorded deposits, tenure and geochemistry over the ground, on one map with the source of every layer.
See Atlas - 02 · Open Ground
Find ground you can peg
Which ground is open, held or excluded, read from each licensing authority's own register.
See Open Ground - 03 · Prospectivity
Rank it for terbium
The ground scored for terbium, with the evidence behind it and ranked targets in Australia and the United States. Anywhere else, the global model maps terbium.
See Prospectivity - 04 · Spectral
Map the alteration
The alteration minerals and the structures that control them, from satellite: regional to district scale, and camp scale from WorldView-3.
See Spectral - 05 · Due Diligence
Check before committing
Tenure, land access, environment and the real cost to hold and test a terbium position.
See Due Diligence -
Talk to us about terbium
Partners, investors, publishers and researchers.
The deposit system
The terbium system.
Terbium is a heavy rare-earth element, a soft, silvery lanthanide that rarely forms an ore mineral of its own and is instead won from rare-earth-bearing hosts such as xenotime, monazite and euxenite, and from rare-earth-rich weathering clays. Because it sits at the heavy end of the lanthanide series, terbium concentrates in a narrower set of geological settings than the light rare earths.
Read more: the deposit model, why it matters and where it is used +
More on terbium
MineDSS models terbium and heavy-rare-earth enrichment through two systems: alkaline igneous complexes and ion-adsorption (regolith-hosted) deposits. Each leaves a mappable footprint: evolved, incompatible-element-rich intrusions or deeply weathered fertile granites, distinctive geophysical responses and a characteristic multi-element geochemical signature. That is exactly the pattern a prospectivity model is built to read across large, partly covered terrains.
The deposit model
Both systems concentrate the heavy rare earths, but by different routes. Alkaline igneous systems form where highly evolved, alkaline to peralkaline magmas crystallise; the heavy rare earths and a suite of incompatible high-field-strength elements are excluded from the early-forming minerals and enriched in the residual melt, where they are fixed in phases such as xenotime, zircon, eudialyte and complex oxides. Ion-adsorption deposits form when a rare-earth-fertile granite is deeply weathered in a warm, humid climate: primary minerals break down, and the liberated rare earths are adsorbed onto clay minerals through the regolith profile, producing the heavy-rare-earth-enriched ionic clays that supply much of the world's terbium.
Why it matters
Terbium is one of the most supply-critical of all the rare earths and features on critical- and strategic-minerals lists across several major economies. Its importance is anchored in high-performance permanent magnets: small additions of terbium, alongside dysprosium, raise the coercivity and high-temperature stability of neodymium-iron-boron magnets used in electric-vehicle traction motors and direct-drive wind turbines. Because mined and refined supply of the heavy rare earths is geographically concentrated, and because the path from discovery to production is long, transparent and defensible targeting of prospective ground carries real strategic weight for explorers and for the governments that permit and rely on them.
Where it's used
Terbium's dominant and fastest-growing use is as a dopant in neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets, where it preserves magnetic strength at the elevated operating temperatures of motors and generators. It is also the source of the brightest known green phosphor, long used in fluorescent lighting and in display and lamp phosphors, and it is a key ingredient of Terfenol-D, a terbium-dysprosium-iron alloy with giant magnetostriction used in naval sonar, precision actuators and sensors. Smaller quantities serve solid-state and magneto-optical devices. These applications make secure, well-characterised supply a matter of both industrial and national interest.
Questions
Terbium: common questions.
Which terbium deposit types does MineDSS model? +
MineDSS models two deposit systems: alkaline igneous complexes and ion-adsorption (regolith-hosted) deposits. Alkaline systems concentrate terbium and the other heavy rare earths in highly evolved, incompatible-element-rich intrusions, hosted in minerals such as xenotime, zircon and eudialyte. Ion-adsorption deposits form when a rare-earth-fertile granite is deeply weathered and the liberated rare earths are adsorbed onto clay minerals through the regolith. These are the ionic clays that supply much of the world's terbium and heavy rare earths. The model does not attempt to represent unrelated deposit styles; it ranks ground by how closely its evidence matches ground where samples assay anomalously high for the target mineral.
How is the model tested, and where can I run terbium? +
Every MineDSS model is tested before it is served: we withhold whole blocks of ground, rebuild the model without them, and check that it still ranks the anomalous samples there above background, with test ground kept spatially separate. A model that does not pass our release gates is not used, for any mineral, in any country. National models for terbium run in Australia and the United States, with ranked targets. Anywhere else in the world, the global model returns the prospectivity map, the geology behind it and a confidence read. Skill is model-level, never a specific site's measured accuracy, and never a discovery or JORC / NI 43-101 resource claim.
Which pathfinder elements track terbium? +
The classic pathfinders are zirconium, niobium, thorium, uranium, hafnium, tantalum and beryllium, with zirconium, niobium and thorium leading. These incompatible high-field-strength elements concentrate together with the heavy rare earths in evolved alkaline magmas and survive into the weathered regolith, so their combined signature marks the systems in which terbium is enriched. These elements are part of the geochemical record our models learn from. In a run on any piece of ground, the map itself is read from geology and rock age, gravity and magnetics, radiometrics, terrain, satellite radar and spectral alteration, so it covers ground that has never been sampled.
Does a high MineDSS score mean a deposit or a resource estimate? +
No. A high score means its evidence closely matches ground where samples assay anomalously high for the target mineral, and it merits closer exploration attention. It is not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice. MineDSS ranks prospectivity to help prioritise where to look; confirming whether terbium is present, and in what quantity and grade, still requires field programmes, drilling and independent assessment by qualified professionals.
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Partners
Exploration and mining companies interested in working with us.
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Investors
The record, the models and the ground they point to.
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Publishers and researchers
Geological surveys, universities and programmes whose work the record is built on.
MineDSS ranks prospectivity to help you decide where to explore next. It is not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice.