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We've heard some wild stories about potential economic game-changers lately.
Last year, NASA announced an asteroid valued at $10 quintillion that could, in theory, make everyone on Earth a billionaire overnight.
Then there was news about a massive lithium discovery that could potentially boost Elon Musk's already eye-watering $1 trillion compensation package even higher.
Now another country is set to permanently alter the global economic landscape.
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Australia has essentially become $6.15 trillion (£4.5 trillion) richer overnight after uncovering what's considered the world's largest iron deposit.
This remarkable discovery ranks as one of the most important geological discoveries in recent years, and it was hiding deep underground in Western Australia's isolated Hamersley region.
Scientists from Curtin University claim the discovery has major implications for mining operations and for how we understand the evolution of Earth's crust.
According to Futura, the deposit contains an estimated 55 billion metric tonnes of high-grade ore, with iron concentrations exceeding 60 per cent. Previous estimates in the area put the iron content at around 30 per cent, but this updated research makes it one of the richest iron deposits on record.
The Hamersley region has been actively mined for decades, but thanks to cutting-edge imaging technology and refined analytical techniques, scientists discovered that earlier assessments had the timeline completely wrong.
The geological formations were originally thought to be about 2.2 billion years old, but they've now been re-dated to approximately 1.4 billion years.
“Finding a connection between these enormous iron deposits and shifts in supercontinent cycles gives us new insight into ancient geological processes,” said Associate Professor Martin Danisík, a geochronologist on the project.
“This isn’t just about science,” Dr Courtney-Davis added. “These technologies could make mining cleaner, less wasteful, and more environmentally responsible.”
Australia already dominates the global iron ore market.
But a dramatic increase in long-term iron supply could influence global iron pricing, global steel manufacturing and trade relationships with massive importers like China.
“Linking these giant deposits to supercontinent cycles gives us a clearer picture of how Earth’s crust evolved," Danisík said last year. “The shifting and collision of landmasses millions of years ago likely created the conditions for these vast accumulations.”
"Until now, the exact timeline of these formations changing from 30 per cent iron as they originally were, to more than 60 per cent iron as they are today, was unclear, which has hindered our understanding of the processes that led to the formation of the world's largest ore deposits," the associate professor added in 2024. "Our research indicates these deposits formed in conjunction with major tectonic events, highlighting the dynamic nature of our planet's history and the complexity of iron ore mineralisation."
