13 projects awarded funding to grow our critical minerals industry
Thirteen projects will receive funding over the next 3 years, putting money towards activities like:
- feasibility studies
- engineering design work
- building pilot or demonstration facilities.
Critical minerals are essential for many clean-energy technologies, including batteries and electric vehicles. These projects will:
- grow Australia’s critical minerals industry
- increase the diversity and sustainability of supply chains
- help Australia transition to net zero emissions
- create jobs and economic opportunities in regional communities.
The grants support Australia’s new Critical Minerals Strategy, which will be launched soon.
Successful projects
- Australian Energy Storage Solutions Pty Ltd – $5.5 million for a pilot manufacturing plant for precursor cathode active material in Kwinana, Western Australia
- Australian Strategic Materials Ltd – $6.5 million to help mine, separate, refine and produce critical minerals in Dubbo, New South Wales
- IGO Ltd – $4.6 million for its integrated downstream nickel-cobalt refinery at Kwinana in Western Australia, which will produce high-value nickel-cobalt-manganese precursor cathode active material
- Clareville Pty Limited – $2 million to test and scale up its novel flotation separation additive, which can recover more critical minerals without increasing carbon emissions or environmental impacts
- Tungsten Metals Group Pty Ltd – $1.2 million to produce ferrotungsten powders used to manufacture aerospace, medical, energy and defence products
- Magnium Australia Pty Ltd – $6.25 million to develop a magnesium refinery pilot plant in Collie, Western Australia and commercialise CSIRO technology that extracts magnesium metal cleanly
- Queensland Pacific Metals Limited – $5 million to engineer and design the first phase of a full-scale refinery at its Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub
- Ecograf Limited – $2.9 million towards a graphite qualification facility at Lucas Heights in New South Wales
- International Graphite Limited – $4.7 million towards its mine-to-market battery graphite materials project in Western Australia
- Evolution Mining Limited – $2.2 million to retrieve cobalt from mine waste at its Ernest Henry operation in Queensland
- High Purity Quartz Ltd – $1.2 million for a pre-feasibility study to build solar PV grade quartz sand processing and silicon metal production facilities, in order to start making solar cells in Townsville, Queensland
- Northern Minerals Limited – $5.9 million towards the Browns Range Heavy Rare Earths Project at Halls Creek, Western Australia
- Tungsten Mining NL – $1 million for test work at its Mount Mulgine Tungsten Project in Western Australia