Water for critical minerals in the Julia Creek Richmond area

Queensland has an abundance of critical minerals (such as copper, zinc, graphite, aluminium and vanadium), found in the area around Julia Creek and Richmond in the Gulf Country in north west Queensland.

Critical mineral operations require access to water.

The Gulf and Great Artesian Basin and Other Regional Aquifers (GABORA) water plans are in place to provide you with options for accessing water without impacting other water users or environmental needs in the area.

Depending on the location of your site and your business needs, you could use either:

  • surface water or shallow groundwater, called sub-artesian (in this region, that is managed through the Gulf water plan)
  • groundwater in deeper aquifer systems in the Great Artesian Basin (managed through the GABORA water plan).

Accessing water without an entitlement

You may be able to access water without a water entitlement under the Gulf water plan:

  • overland flow can be captured within a storage no larger than 250 megalitres (ML)
  • groundwater (sub-artesian) can be taken if the bore is located more than 1km from a named watercourse and it is not within the Nicholson and Einasleigh management areas.

These water sources may only be enough for construction purposes and in the longer term, may form part of a combined water supply (water taken from more than one source).

Accessing water through existing entitlements

Water that has already been granted in these water plan areas can be accessed by:

Trading opportunities for surface water

Julia Creek and Richmond are in the Flinders River catchment of the Gulf water plan area. Water trading is allowed, and the catchment is divided into zones with different trading limits.

Table 1: Total volumes granted in each zone in the Flinders catchment

ZoneCurrent volume as of 4 April 2025 (ML)Zone limit (ML)
Unzoned34,628N/A*
Unzoned-B62,000N/A*
Zone 74,81210,000
Zone 7-B6,000N/A*
Zone 814,00017,500
Zone 936,80050,000
Zone 9-B4,500N/A*
Zone 1029,77240,000
Zone 11020,000
Zone 11-B7,5000N/A*
Zone 12010,000
Zone 12-B20,000N/A*

* N/A is where limits are determined by assessment on a licence-by-licence basis

Enlarge image of
The Gulf water plan area showing each zone from Table 1 in the Flinders catchment, with GABORA overlay

You can find more information about these trading zones using the Queensland Globe and turning on the topic ‘Surface water mgmt. (unsupplemented water)’.

Trading opportunities for groundwater

Groundwater within the GABORA water plan is managed within groundwater units. Eight units lie under the Julia Creek/Richmond area. Water licences with a volumetric limit can be traded significant distances within and across units.

Table 2: Groundwater units within GABORA that are located within the Julia Creek and Richmond area

Groundwater unit Groundwater subarea
Winton Mackunda Winton Mackunda North
Springbok Walloon Adori Injune Creek
Rolling Downs Eromanga Wallumbilla
Precipice Eromanga Precipice
Hutton Eromanga Hutton
Hooray Eromanga North Hooray
Clematis Galilee Clematis
Betts Creek beds Betts Creek beds North

Detailed information about the units and subareas is in the GABORA water plan and water management protocol (PDF, 803KB) or by using the Queensland Globe and turning on the topic ‘Water plan GABORA – GABORA units and subareas’.

The GABORA water management protocol includes rules about the required distance between existing bores and ecosystems that depend on groundwater. The rules can be complex, and specific to your location, so email us waterservicesnorth@rdmw.qld.gov.au about trading specific licences.

How to find trading opportunities

The first step is to find out what existing water licences are in your area of interest:

  • Visit the Water Entitlement Viewer
  • From the menu icon, select ‘Property search’ and then use the “Select search options” box to enter the lot and plan number of your property.
  • The map will show surface water licences (blue shaded areas) and groundwater licences (hatched areas) nearby, click on these and scroll through for the water licence details.

Next, you can contact the registered entitlement holder to see if they are willing to trade water. You can find their contact details in the water entitlement dataset:

  • Under “Data and Resources”, select the ‘Attributes for Active Water Licences’
  • Near the “Add Filter” button, locate the text box displaying ‘Search data…’
  • Enter the water licence number you are interested in. This will display the postal address of the water licensee.

Once you’ve contacted another licensee who is willing to trade water, contact us for further advice on completing the trade:

Accessing unallocated water

The Gulf and GABORA water plans both set aside unallocated water (water not already allocated), reserved for projects such as critical mineral extraction. These are called strategic or state reserves.

In the Gulf water plan, there is 5,850ML remaining in the strategic reserve. In the GABORA water plan, there is 28,578ML remaining in the state reserve.

If your operation is a coordinated project, or the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers has determined it is of regional significance, you can request for this water to be released by emailing uaw.north@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

The eligibility criteria and other considerations we will use to make a decision on your request are in the water plans:

Contact

Also consider

  • View information on water plan locations, catchments, trading zones, watercourses and groundwater units via the Queensland Globe–select the layers you want under ‘Water Management Information within Inland Waters’.
  • Contact a water broker, who may be available to assist with identifying suitable existing entitlements and gauging the interest of entitlement holders to trade.
  • Find out about the Gulf water plan review.