PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian government will continue to invest in the critical minerals sector, federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Paydirt Battery Minerals conference, in Perth, Pitt said that the federal government was determined to make sure that Australia delivered "as much as humanly possible" to supply global demand for resources.
“We have an incredible mining sector, and we are building the critical minerals sector. This sector will add to the Australian economy, creating up to 50 000 direct jobs and 250 000 indirect jobs,” he said.
The Australian government in March delivered an update to its Critical Minerals Strategy, which is aimed at growing the critical minerals sector, expanding downstream processing and helping meet future global demand.
The government has committed A$200-million to the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative to support strategically significant projects at challenging points in their development, and this funding is aimed at accelerating projects to market and drive investment.
Pitt said on Wednesday that the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources had opened consultation on the draft grant guidelines for this initiative, with submissions to close on May 6.
Meanwhile, a further A$50-million virtual Critical Minerals Research and Development Centre is also being established, leveraging the expertise of Geoscience Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to drive breakthrough collaborative research with industry.
Pitt said that these investments align with the government’s commitment to securing its sovereign manufacturing capability, unlocking a new generation of high wage, high skill, high tech jobs by expanding into downstream processing, and will embed Australia in global supply chains for technology ranging from mobile phones to fighter jets.
Pitt noted that the government was also determined to invest as far down the processing stream as possible.
“We are determined to get as far down the processing stream as we possibly can in this country because our sovereign manufacturing capability is incredibly critical to this country," he said.
“It doesn’t matter whether it's in refineries, it’s in critical minerals, or it’s in other manufacturing,” he said.
“We will continue to support our traditional sectors, and where there are growth opportunities for those, we should take them. But we are also building new sectors of the economy because there is demand, and that demand will continue to grow in the future, and we want Australia to be as big a part of that as we possibly can.”