PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The federal government has launched consultations with industry members and stakeholders to update Australia’s critical minerals list.

An updated critical minerals list was made a priority with the June release of Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which highlighted six focus areas to help grow Australia’s critical minerals wealth, create jobs, and strengthen global clean energy supply.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King said on Thursday that reviewing and updating the critical minerals list was an important process to signal and focus the government’s efforts to grow the critical minerals sector and embed Australia in global critical minerals supply chains.

King said updating the critical minerals list would ensure the government could support the industry’s development and help Australia to work with international partners to build stronger global supply chains.

“Reviewing and updating our critical minerals list will help Australia capitalise on our amazing potential to create new industries and new jobs around our rich geological endowment and build on our record as a stable and reliable resources and energy exporter,” she said.

“Building a strong and reliable critical minerals sector will help Australia and the world achieve net zero emissions, while creating thousands of new jobs and supporting economic growth for decades to come.

“The path to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector.”

The critical minerals list outlines minerals that are essential to our modern technologies, economies and national security, and whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption. The current list, last updated in March of last year, includes 26 minerals.

King said the government would update the list by the end of the year and would prioritise support for critical minerals projects that underpin priority technologies and contribute to the vision and objectives set out in the Critical Minerals Strategy.

Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium, the third-largest producer of cobalt and fourth-largest producer of rare earths. Australia also produces significant amounts of metals such as nickel and copper, which combined with critical minerals, are crucial for low-emissions technology.