The Australian Government is funding 3 innovative research projects through the Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub.
The government is investing in research to:
- support the growth of Australia’s critical minerals industry
- supply minerals that are crucial to lowering carbon emissions.
The new research will help Australia further develop critical minerals and rare earths processes and encourage downstream processing to produce components for clean technologies.
Successful projects
Three projects have been awarded funding:
- $13.9 million for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) for a research project to accelerate the discovery, extraction and processing of rare earth elements from lower grade deposits
- $5.2 million to CSIRO to develop intellectual property and know-how to help downstream industries produce high-purity metals and materials. This will extend value chains for lithium and rare earths and add value to tungsten ores and refractory metals
- $2.7 million to Geoscience Australia to investigate the feasibility of a domestic industry for critical minerals such as gallium, germanium and indium. These are often by-products of processing commodities such as bauxite and zinc.