NSW Government announces new critical minerals strategy

The NSW Government has announced consultations will begin for its new Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy. The government says the strategy is a crucial document that provides the framework for the critical minerals and high-tech metals mining industry, and that the renewed strategy will provide certainty and direction for the industry as it continues to grow.

The strategy will include a sharper focus on domestic manufacturing, skills and training opportunities. Ensuring a stable supply of critical minerals and high-tech elements is necessary to translate the state’s natural competitive advantage to economic growth and regional employment.

The consultation on the NSW Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy will canvass new opportunities to:

• Create more local jobs by encouraging domestic processing and manufacturing of products with significant critical minerals inputs like solar panels
• Develop skills and training opportunities in the workforce to reinforce the state’s natural competitive advantages and the unique mix of deposits found in the state
• Further encourage greenfield critical minerals exploration across the state, including through the release of geological survey data
• Examine the economics of the industry and the best ways to leverage the government’s purchasing power to ensure investment growth
• Create additional certainty for the industry and support NSW’s strong environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) position
• Attract investment for innovation, research and development in NSW
• Entrench NSW’s role as a preferred supplier of critical minerals to global trading partners.
   

NSW has an abundance of critical minerals and high-tech metals, including 17 of the 26 nationally identified critical minerals. Resources like copper, silver and scandium are abundant in NSW and are crucial components in the products that will ensure NSW realises its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Recognising the crucial role copper and silver play in electrification and decarbonisation, NSW will focus efforts on these commodities as part of the new strategy.

The NSW Government will conduct a series of consultation meetings with key stakeholders, including mining companies, industry representatives, investors and workers. The consultation period will begin next week with submissions open until Friday, 17 November 2023. The government will also host a stakeholder roundtable on the sidelines of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC), which is being hosted in Sydney for the second time in October 2023.

More information on the critical minerals consultation process will be available on the Mining, Exploration and Geoscience launch website from next week.

“I’m excited by the opportunities created by critical minerals in NSW. The new strategy will ensure the state is able to best realise the gains of the next mining boom,” said Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos. “NSW is uniquely positioned to support global supply of critical minerals with our diverse mix of critical mineral and high-tech metal deposits and capacity to promote domestic processing and manufacturing.

“We will establish a clear framework on how the government can support the exploration and mining of critical minerals and high-tech metals in NSW. We will also consider how boosted skills and training opportunities throughout the state can drive the industry. Critical minerals mining requires a skilled labour force and that means more high-paying jobs for people in regional NSW.”

“NSW has the potential to become a world-leading manufacturer of products that leverage critical minerals and high-tech metals,” said Vince Allen, CEO of SunDrive, a solar technology company. “By building out a local solar manufacturing industry we can help shape the future of net zero for NSW, Australia and the world.”

Image caption: Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos.