PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King this week met with key industry and community groups to discuss how to best develop Australia’s critical minerals sector.

King said the roundtables discussed how governments could help attract investment and support the development of critical minerals projects.

“Critical minerals represent the next great leap in mining, and Australia has an opportunity to add even more value to our world-class mining sector by capturing the benefits of the transition to net zero and by moving into downstream processing,” King said.

“The world will need our resources industry and our critical minerals to decarbonise, just as our domestic energy system will need lithium, vanadium, high purity alumina and platinum-group-element products for our own energy transition.

“Just like the iron-ore revolution of the 1960s and growth of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in recent decades, Australia's prosperity and our jobs of the future will rely on decisions we take now to support the development of our critical minerals industry.

“Without the resources industry there is no net zero.”

King noted this week that critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, silicon and rare-earth elements, among others, were essential components of low-emissions technologies such as storage batteries, electric vehicle motors, solar panels, and wind turbines.

She said demand for critical minerals was rapidly increasing. The International Energy Agency projects mineral demand for use in electric vehicles and batteries could grow at least 30 times by 2040. Lithium demand could grow more than 40 times by 2040, with graphite, cobalt and nickel demand growing by between 20 and 25 times.

King said the new Critical Minerals Strategy would focus on the government’s vision to grow the sector and ensure that the benefits are captured by all Australians.

The strategy will support growth in Australia’s minerals processing, domestic manufacturing and other industrial sectors, and will support emerging opportunities for the country’s regional and First Nations communities.

Furthermore, the strategy will highlight the central role that critical minerals will play in helping Australia and international partners achieve their emissions reduction targets, and Australia’s ongoing commitment to the highest environmental, social and governance standards.