New CSIRO report examines critical mineral processing potential

CSIRO has released what it says is a world-first assessment providing “a comprehensive overview” of innovation opportunities for value-adding to critical minerals in the global energy transition. Released on Wednesday, From Minerals to Materials focusses on the local “mid-stream processing industry” opportunities across lithium, cobalt, silicon, rare earth elements and graphite. According to a summary,…

$13 million in critical minerals grants awarded to Renascor, Queensland Pacific Metals

The federal government has announced a total of $13 million in grants to Queensland Pacific Metals and Renascor Resources through the International Partnerships in Critical Minerals program. Each grant supports up to half of project costs, with $5 million to Renascor Resources for its pilot purified spherical graphite (PSG) project and $8 million to Queensland…

Scrapping the waste export levy threatens Australia’s emerging lithium battery recycling industry

By Yasir Arafat, Edith Cowan University and Daryoush Habibi, Edith Cowan University As electric vehicle (EV) demand accelerates, so does the need for lithium batteries. But these batteries contain valuable critical minerals, as well as toxic materials, so they should not be treated as common waste. Unlike China and some European countries, Australia lacks a…

Australia’s place in the semiconductor world: Research strengths and a supportive environment

Today in Australia’s place in the semiconductor world, we hear from Dr Jane Fitzpatrick of series sponsor ANFF. Here she writes of the importance of Australia’s R&D community to commercial activity in semiconductors, a topic we are sure to return to in future articles. There’s no argument that to help key domestic industries like defence,…