As technologies advance, the requirement for resources is also changing. Global demand for several critical minerals is rapidly growing, and Australian companies are in a perfect position to benefit from the significant opportunity this growth represents.

What are Critical Minerals and Why Are They Important?

According to Geoscience Australia, critical minerals may be metallic or non-metallic elements that have two key characteristics. First, they are essential to modern technologies, economies or national security. Critical minerals are used in mobile phones, computers, electric vehicles, solar panels and a range of defence, aerospace and medical applications.

The second defining characteristic of critical minerals is the risk of supply chain disruption – this is particularly true of minerals with production and processing confined to individual countries or companies. Other supply chain risk factors include political issues, social unrest, natural disasters, geological scarcity, pandemics and war.

Because of their use in a range of green technologies, critical minerals are integral to global efforts to combat climate change. The International Energy Agency notes demand for critical minerals is set to rise between two and four times current levels in coming years, largely due to increased investments in clean energy.

Global demand for lithium and graphite, for instance – both of which are used in electric vehicle batteries – is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. Other critical minerals include titanium, zirconium, cobalt, manganese, antimony, rare earth elements, tantalum, nickel, tungsten, vanadium and niobium.

Australia currently produces around half of the world’s lithium and is the second-largest producer of cobalt and the fourth-largest producer of rare earths. Further potential exists to capitalise on the strength of Australia’s world-leading resources sector by supporting local production of these and many other critical minerals.

Global Opportunities for Australia’s Mining Sector

The Australian government in 2021 committed $2 billion to a new critical minerals loan facility that will strategically help to fund projects that align with our nation’s Critical Minerals Strategy. In 2022, the first loans were issued to Australian companies to enable their expansion and the development of new processing facilities.

An additional $50 million over three years has been committed to establishing the National Critical Minerals Research and Development Centre, which will build on the world-leading research capabilities of the CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

International funding is also on the cards. Australia is an attractive market to invest in, not only for its rich resource deposits and skilled workforce, but also for its transparent regulatory environment and world-leading environmental, social and governance practices.

In 2020, China was estimated to control 55 per cent of the world’s rare earths mining capacity and 85 per cent of its refining. Recognising the inherent risks of this arrangement, the US government recently identified a need to diversify its supply away from China and potentially towards Australia and the UK. This move by the US towards Australian partnerships could involve new project funding or supply agreements.

The world’s growing appetite for critical minerals undoubtedly represents a boon for the Australian economy as a whole, as well as an incredible opportunity for resources companies to capitalise on increasing global demand and funding opportunities.

Since 80 per cent of the Australian continent is currently underexplored, according to Geoscience Australia, abundant opportunities exist for new mineral discoveries. However, vast potential also exists to recover critical minerals from existing mines and mining waste, including old tailings storage facilities.

Extracting Value from Old Tailings Storage Facilities

Geoscience Australia recently teamed up with The University of Queensland, RMIT University and the Geological Survey of Queensland to identify new opportunities to recover valuable minerals from mine waste – a concept known as secondary prospectivity.

The Atlas of Australian Mine Waste – which is being developed from the Australian Government’s $225 million Exploring for the Future program – will provide a national database of mine waste sites and the minerals that may be present. Once the economic viability of recovering each of these minerals is assessed, the Atlas will help to inform future business and investment decisions in the Australian resources sector.

Given the increasing financial payoffs of extracting sought-after critical minerals from waste, the reprocessing of mine tailings could prove to be more viable – both financially and environmentally – than other mine rehabilitation options.

Old tailings storage facilities could be transformed from environmental liabilities into valuable income-producing assets. Following the extraction of critical minerals, historic mine sites could be further remediated to align with modern standards.

According to Gavin Mudd, an associate professor at RMIT, ‘assessing how mine waste could be reprocessed to generate a potentially large new resource stream is one of the best ways of creating a sustainable supply chain, especially for critical minerals’.

How to Capture the Valuable Commodities in Mine Waste

Hall Water & Tailings works with mining companies to help them capture the valuable minerals left over in waste products. Our dredging and hydro-mining capabilities allow us to re-fluidise the mineral-rich bi-products from existing dams and closure landforms. This slurry can then be pumped directly to a nearby reprocessing facility, reducing the need for trucking operations.

Depending on the facility requirements, the mineral-rich slurry can then be dewatered via a range of backend technologies such as cycloning, filter presses, centrifuges and chemical separation techniques.

Our team also offers extensive expertise and capabilities in a range of tailings management solutions. Whether you require dredging solutions to maintain existing dams, re-fluidisation solutions to reprocess waste materials, or hydraulic placement solutions to facilitate the closure of existing dams, we are here to help.

Contact us on +61 (7) 5445 5977 to discuss your project.