Critical Minerals, Manufacturing News, New South Wales, Renewable Energy, Sustainability

Manufacturers to benefit from new critical minerals strategy

Solar and battery manufacturers are set to benefit from the NSW Government’s creation of a $250 million royalty deferral initiative for critical minerals projects.

The State Government also announced will examine the implementation of a rapid assessment framework for minerals mining projects.

The initiatives are the first actions of the NSW Government’s new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy, which sets a vision for NSW to become a global leader in critical minerals.

NSW has globally significant resource deposits and 21 of the 31 nationally declared critical minerals. 

The strategy identifies priority minerals and metals for NSW–including rare earths, scandium, cobalt, copper and silver–which have  uses in the electrification of the economy and the manufacturing of clean energy products like solar panels and batteries.

“Our vision for NSW is to be a global leader in critical minerals and high-tech metals, generating economic prosperity through exploration, mining, processing and advanced manufacturing,” said minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos.

“The new strategy sets out a clear vision for NSW to be a leader in critical minerals and high-tech metals, generating economic prosperity through responsible exploration, mining, processing, recycling and advanced manufacturing.

Currently there are 12 critical minerals mining and processing projects in NSW that are ready for investment. They need around $7.6 billion in capital investment value and are expected to generate about 4,600 jobs during construction and 2,700 ongoing jobs.

High initial investment costs for critical minerals projects are a barrier for the industry. 

The royalty deferral scheme will assist new projects in the early stages of development, ease financial pressures, attract investment to NSW and enhance the economic viability of the sector.

Another immediate action from the strategy is a joint Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure and NSW Resources assessment to deliver greater certainty to the sector around the planning process for critical minerals projects.

The strategy outlines the vital role of critical minerals in supporting broader government priorities, including in the clean energy transition and driving domestic manufacturing.

The International Energy Agency estimates that over the next 20 years, the world will need six times the amount of critical minerals currently mined to reach global net-zero carbon emissions. The energy transition will need double today’s copper production, triple today’s rare earth elements and cobalt production, and thirty times more nickel – all these minerals can be found in NSW.

Examples of this in the strategy include investigating opportunities to pilot common-user refineries and supporting investment in domestic manufacturing.

The new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy focuses on five key pillars:

  • Encouraging exploration by minimising investment risk in greenfield exploration and promoting exploration in new areas,
  • Incentivising production by creating an attractive investment environment and removing barriers to help projects move from exploration to production,
  • Developing future-ready skills by providing training and education pathways to encourage careers in critical minerals mining,
  • Establishing resilient supply chains by examining local processing facilities, driving research and development, and investigating critical minerals recycling, and
  • Engaging local communities by ensuring responsible mining.

Fully realising the opportunity of the state’s critical minerals and high-tech metals deposits means moving further down the supply chain and beyond only extracting and exporting resources.

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