Northern Territory Government
Department of Mining and Energy Record grants program for exploration industry now open
20 February 2026
The NT Government is continuing to rebuild the Territory economy, opening applications for the largest ever round of competitive grants to co-fund industry exploration programs.
Round 19 of the Territory Government's Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program will offer up to a record $4 million in grants to co-fund projects that address geoscientific knowledge gaps, advance exploration activity, and support the discovery and development of resources in the Territory.
"This investment in our exploration sector is an investment in the Territory economy, and the long-term future of the resources sector," Northern Territory Geological Survey Senior Executive Director, Ian Scrimgeour said.
"This year's program has been enhanced to maximise benefit for the mineral explorers, and help grow the Territory's pipeline of resources projects."
The grants program awards co-funding of up to 50% of the cost of drilling (both greenfields and brownfields), regional scale geophysical surveys, innovative exploration targeting and mineral characterisation and testwork. Co-funding is capped at between $50,000 to $200,000 dependent on the activity.
Key changes in this year's program include increasing total awarded co-funding to $4 million per annum, broadening of claimable costs under the grants program, and doubling of funding available per project for early-stage metallurgical testwork.
Industry will also now receive 80% of their grant funding (up from 50%) at the completion of field acquisition, with the remainder paid on acceptance of all deliverables, allowing industry to more rapidly reinvest the funding in further exploration.
To further support local business, the Territory Supplier Incentive (TSI) now offers increased funding of up to $15,000 (up from $10,000) to engage NT enterprises, which must be spent on local service and supply directly supporting the co-funded program.
Recent co-funded drilling projects have contributed to the discovery of new critical minerals resources at Leliyn (graphite), and Barkly (rare earths, vanadium, gallium), and all data and information generated from the program is publicly released to help build knowledge of the Territory geology and resource potential.
