The Federal Government has announced six successful projects set to share in $50 million of critical minerals grant funding.
Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King, said the Government will fund six projects that are key to unlocking the potential of Australia’s critical minerals sector.
“Australia has the potential to become a major global supplier of critical minerals and rare earths which will be essential to help Australia and the world transition to low-emissions technology and achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Ms King said.
“The grants will accelerate early and mid-stage projects, driving new investment in our processing and manufacturing capabilities as we develop our critical minerals sector.
“Australia has vast reserves of critical minerals which are crucial to batteries and electric vehicles, as well as the medical equipment production, defence, aerospace, automotive and agritech industries.
“These junior projects, should they be successful in scaling up to full production, will help diversify global critical minerals supply chains.”
Successful grant recipients include:
- Alpha HPA: $15.5 million for its ‘HPA First’ Product Expansion Project to add new capabilities to the ultra-pure aluminium chemical plant being developed near Gladstone, Queensland. The project will produce materials for the lithium-ion battery and synthetic sapphire markets
- Cobalt Blue Holdings: $15 million to accelerate a Definitive Feasibility Study for its Broken Hill Cobalt project, including final engineering designs, drilling for further resource definition, to produce intermediate and battery ready cobalt products in Australia
- EQ Resources: $6 million for tungsten production through recovering mine waste and reactivating open-pit mining in Mount Carbine, Queensland for use in metal alloys for defence, transport and other applications
- Global Advanced Metals: $4 million for a Tantalum and Tin Recovery Plant at Greenbushes in Western Australia, increasing the volume of tantalum that is produced in Australia
- Lava Blup: Up to $5.24 million for its project to develop modular reprocessing technology to recover high-purity alumina, magnesium and other critical minerals from vanadium mine waste, which will increase product recovery and help to diversify production into new materials
Mineral Commodities: $3.94 million for developing an Australian integrated graphite ore-to-battery anodes business, producing battery grade graphite, based in Munglinup, Western Australia
