By Peter Roberts Some years into Australia’s newfound awareness of critical mineral supply chains and their importance to electrification and new technologies, have things changed all that much? Mostly, despite the hype of our being a battery or other materials ‘superpower’, Australia still supplies the raw materials and others do the economic value adding in…
Critical minerals prospectus showcases 55 projects The federal government has launched a new digital Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus, showcasing more than 55 investment-ready projects to potential investors and buyers from around the world. The digital Prospectus features an interactive online map, shining a spotlight on all of the investment ready projects. The tool can be…
A six-month critical minerals accelerator run by BHP has begun accepting applications for next year’s cohort. The Xplor program for early-stage explorers will run for a third year, and is open to companies seeking to uncover “new sources of critical minerals crucial for a sustainable future”. According to statement from BHP on Tuesday, companies receive…
By Professor Akbar Rhamdhani You might not know it, but critical minerals are the hidden engine powering our daily lives. They drive the functionality of our electronics, medical devices and renewable energy systems. Without them, our world would grind to a standstill and the technology we rely on every day, such as smartphones and laptops,…
Australia’s newly minted Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia Tim Ayres believes opportunities such as the revitalisation of manufacturing come around rarely. Today is one of those opportunities he argues in this excerpt from his address to the National Manufacturing Summit. As the Prime Minister said back in April – we need to…
The first round of Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) grants is now open to researchers and industry in key areas identified by the federal government such as refining and processing of critical minerals, renewable hydrogen, and green metals. $180 million in funding is available for university researchers and their industry partners to commercialise research related to…
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,…
By Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition leader Peter Dutton might have been hoping for an endorsement from economists for his plan to take Australian nuclear. He shouldn’t expect one from The Economist. The Economist is a British weekly news magazine that has reported on economic thinking and served as…
By Sanjoy Paul, University of Technology Sydney and Priyabrata Chowdhury, RMIT University The shift towards net zero emissions and greater international competition have created new opportunities for clean energy industries – poised to shape the global economy in the coming decades. To harness these opportunities, the government has developed a long-term strategic initiative called the…
By Marina Yue Zhang, University of Technology Sydney; David Gann, University of Oxford, and Mark Dodgson, The University of Queensland Globalisation is on shaky ground. As China rises, the United States and its allies are moving to reduce their reliance on the world’s factory. The rivalry between the US and China is wide-ranging, from competition…