The Pitjantjatjara Lands cover crystalline basement rocks of the Middle Proterozoic Musgrave Block, fringed by relatively unaltered sediments of the late Proterozoic and Palaeozoic Officer Basin, the late Palaeozoic Arckaringa Basin and the Mesozoic Eromanga Basin. The Lands encompass a large, under-explored region with a great diversity of geological environments. The low intensity of past mineral exploration is not commensurate with the vastness of the area or the expected propectivity of rocks of this age, which hold enormous untested potential. Because of the remoteness of the area, economic development would favour commodities of higher value and / or volume, such as metals, precious stones and energy minerals, all of which have high potential. Industrial minerals are also likely to be found, but extraction would tend to be dependent on proximity to pre-existing infrastructure, such as the Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway line. High value-volume commodities with demonstrated potential include precious metals (copper, lead and zinc), ferrous metals (chromium, nickel, vanadium, titanium), uranium, hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and precious opal. High value-volume commodities with more speculative potential include precious metals (platinoids and gold), precious stones (diamonds, rubies), heavy mineral sands, rare earths, evaporite (trona), native sulphur, phosphate rock and coal. Potential exists for the smaller scale recovery of chrysoprase and moss agate, semi-precious stones (gem quality corundum, cordierite and zircon), industrial minerals and, more speculatively, nephrite jade.