Four critical minerals projects are set to receive a share of over $41 million from the Federal Government as another step to position Australia as a critical minerals powerhouse.
Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt said the four projects, three in Queensland and one in New South Wales, will receive grants through the $200 million Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative.
“The accelerator initiative will help strategically significant projects at challenging points in their development and fast-track early- and mid-stage projects to market and drive investment,” Minister Pitt said.
“Australia possesses extraordinary reserves of critical minerals crucial to many industries including medical equipment, defence, aerospace, automotive, new batteries and agritech.
“The Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative is yet another example of how this Government is backing the resources sector to strengthen our national economy and create jobs, especially in regional Australia.
“This initiative will help uncover new sources of supply, moving up the value chain of critical minerals through processing and high technology manufacturing, supporting robust supply chains, and creating high-paying regional jobs for Australians while improving Australia’s export resilience.”
The successful projects offered grant funding in this first round are:
- Alpha HPA Ltd – $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;
- Cobalt Blue Holdings – $15 million to accelerate a definitive feasibility atudy for its Broken Hill Cobalt Project, including final engineering designs, drilling for further resource definition, services and supply connection studies, workforce strategy, securing land use approvals and executing a financing strategy
- EQ Resources Ltd – $6 million for tungsten production through recovering mine waste and reactivating open-pit mining in Mount Carbine, Queensland; and
- Lava Blue – up to $5.24 million for its project to develop modular re-processing technology to recover high-purity alumina, magnesium and critical minerals from vanadium mine waste.
All projects include significant private sector co-investment.
“The grants will support hundreds of new jobs in regional areas as the critical minerals sector continues to grow as an important new strand of our economy,” Minister Pitt said.
“They will also build on the Coalition Government’s announcement of a $1.25 billion loan through the Critical Minerals Facility to Australian company Iluka Resources, to develop Australia’s first integrated rare earths refinery at Eneabba in Western Australia.
“These announcements align with the objectives of the Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy. We are ensuring that Australia captures added value from our critical minerals and strengthens our position as a trusted supplier of critical minerals to our friends and allies around the world.”