As countries transition to low-carbon economies and high-tech industries continue to grow, Australia is attracting significant attention from major countries around the world. Australia is the world’s largest producer of lithium. Australia also ranks in the top five globally for the production and reserves of antimony, cobalt, lithium, manganese ore, niobium, tungsten, and vanadium, and is the second-largest producer of zircon and rare earth elements (RRE).
Rare earth elements and minerals play a crucial role in the development of electricity networks, battery performance, longevity and energy density, electronic vehicles, renewable energy and more. According to the International Energy Agency, a typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car and an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant.
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), states ‘Australia’s ‘net zero’ emissions can only be achieved through significant investment in technologies.’ These will be required to fill gaps and or augment current technologies to facilitate greater production levels, extraction efficiencies and processing both mid-stream and downstream. As the world transitions to new energy generation and the population grows, demand for wide-ranging goods that contain critical minerals will also grow.
A plethora opportunities are showcased in the report below – for example opportunities in:
- Mining and processing equipment
- Re-processors to work with battery manufacturers for recycling solutions
- Renewable energy projects to supply mineral processing
- Battery manufacturing equipment
- Large-scale tailing re-processing solutions
- Additive manufacturing with critical minerals
- 3-D printing for additive manufacturing
- Automated process equipment
This enviable position in the world of critical minerals means there are big business opportunities for Swiss SMEs in Australia now and will be well into the future.
