With more than thirty years of expertise and experience in critical minerals and rare earths extraction and processing, ANSTO welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement of a 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy to grow Australia’s critical minerals sector, expand downstream processing, and help meet future global demand, and looks forward to lending its deep knowledge to this new initiative.
Australia’s position and reputation as a reliable supplier of metals will be underwritten by a $250 million funding boost and the newly launched 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy.
Read the Prime Minister’s announcement.
From its Lucas Heights campus, ANSTO’s Minerals consultancy has supported the minerals industry by providing research and development in the area of metals extraction, with particular expertise in hydrometallurgical processing.
Approximately $50 million of the newly announced funding will go towards establishing the National Critical Minerals Research and Development Centre, of which ANSTO will be a key member.
ANSTO will use its critical minerals capabilities, alongside Geoscience Australia and CSIRO, to support the drive to address national priorities with industry partners.
Australia produces around half the world’s lithium, is the second-largest cobalt producer, and the fourth-largest producer of critical rare earths.
ANSTO’s Principal Minerals Consultant, Dr Robert Gee, said the opportunity to contribute to robust, reliable supply chains that will benefit Australian industries is welcome:
“So, while Australia has good fundamentals in this area, we have capacity to do much more, across a wider range of critical minerals, and by moving up the value chain, we can provide stronger support to our partners worldwide.
“Through the new approach, Australia will be extracting not just the minerals, but extra value, as we help meet increasing global demand”, Dr Gee added.
The Federal Government is also committing $200 million towards establishing the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative to provide co-funded grants to early and mid-stage critical minerals projects.
The Government has added high purity alumina and silicon to the list of Australia’s critical minerals.
Critical minerals are used in the manufacture of mobile phones, flat screen monitors, wind turbines, electric cars, solar panels, and many other high-tech applications.
