A new critical minerals and high-tech metals strategy is being developed by the New South Wales government to put an emphasis on downstream processing and clean energy manufacturing.
The new Labor government wants the updated strategy to include a “sharper focus on domestic manufacturing, skills and training opportunities” to help build sovereign capability, secure the clean energy supply chain, and support regional employment.
In particular, it will outline new opportunities to create jobs by increasing domestic mineral processing activity and the manufacture of products with high critical minerals inputs like solar panels.
It is an update to the first critical minerals and high-tech metals strategy released by the former Liberal state government in 2021.
Chinese manufacturing currently accounts for 80 per cent of the world’s solar photovoltaic supply chain. In 2021, Australia was the third largest producer of zinc and the second largest producer of lead, both materials used in the manufacture of solar PV.
New South Wales holds 12 per cent of Australia’s copper reserves, 13 per cent of lead reserves, and 15 per cent of cobalt reserves. Overall, the state hosts deposits for 17 of the 26 critical minerals as defined by the federal government, although copper and lead are not currently included.
Sun Drive chief executive Vince Allen said the state has the potential to become a renewable energy manufacturing superpower and a leader in other products that require critical minerals and high-tech metals inputs.
“By building out a local solar manufacturing industry we can help shape the future of Net Zero for NSW, Australia, and the world,” he said.
Other opportunities to be outlined in the refreshed strategy include:
- Develop skills and training opportunities in the workforce to reinforce the state’s natural competitive advantages and the unique mix of deposits found in the state
- Further encourage greenfield critical minerals exploration across the state, including through the release of geological survey data
- Examine the economics of the industry and the best ways to leverage the government’s purchasing power to ensure investment growth
- Create additional certainty for the industry and support NSW’s strong environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) position
- Attract investment for innovation, research and development in NSW
- Entrench NSW’s role as a preferred supplier of critical minerals to global trading partners
New South Wales’ Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos said the strategy will “ensure the state is able to best realise the gains of the next mining boom”.
“We will establish a clear framework on how the Government can support the exploration and mining of critical minerals and high-tech metals in NSW,” she said.
“We will consider how boosted skills and training opportunities throughout the state can drive the industry. Critical minerals mining requires a skilled labour force and that means more, high paying jobs for people in regional NSW.
“Our ability to leverage the state’s natural abundance of materials to create employment opportunities and economic growth will be the best measure of our success.”
The previous government had previously committed to “proactive development of supply chains” including investigating opportunities to use local procurement to boost domestic demand “provide offtake opportunities for manufacturing, including in cell batteries”.
It had also committed to commissioning scoping studies to support copper processing, high-tech metallisation, battery manufacturing and recycling in regional NSW.
A key measure in the last strategy was to establish the state’s first critical minerals hub in the Central West, but at the time was not accompanied by a funding commitment or development timeline.
The Central West is home to cobalt-rich mineral deposits among other minerals.
The release of the strategy builds on a renewed emphasis on critical minerals across Australia, including a refresh of the national critical minerals strategy released in June.
Consultation on the NSW’s new strategy will begin on Monday and will remain open until November 17. A stakeholder roundtable will also be held in October to coincide with the International Mining and Resources Conference being held in Sydney.
