NSW looks for new critical minerals projects

The NSW Government says it is commitment to the critical minerals industry which provides high quality jobs in regional NSW and mines the materials needed to build the net-zero future.
The NSW Government says it is commitment to the critical minerals industry which provides high quality jobs in regional NSW and mines the materials needed to build the net-zero future.

The NSW Government has launched a new $2.5m co-investment seed funding program to unearth the state’s next major critical minerals projects.

The new Critical Minerals Exploration Program is a key part of the government’s Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy.

The $2.5 million fund requires a 50% co-investment from successful applicants and is aimed at encouraging more exploration in the state by supporting companies to undertake drilling, geophysics and geochemistry, all crucial steps to determine the scale of a critical minerals deposit.

The $2.5m exploration program has four funding streams:

  • Exploration Geochemistry: Up to $50,000 per project
  • Exploration Geophysics: Up to $70,000 per project
  • Exploration Drilling — less than 250m depth: Up to $150,000 per project
  • Exploration Drilling — greater than 250m depth: Up to $250,000 per project

Exploration geochemistry, geophysics and drilling are important tools that explorers use to discover new critical minerals deposits. Intense exploration activities are required to confirm the strength of a minerals deposit and the viability of a project before it undertakes the planning process.

NSW critical minerals projects contribute to global supply chains which are required to manufacture products like wind turbines, batteries and solar panels and are needed to electrify the energy grid.

There are already dozens of critical minerals projects at different stages of the exploration, planning and production pipeline across NSW, including:

  • 190 exploration titles that are currently being explored, searching for the next big critical minerals, high-tech metals or rare earth elements deposit.
  • More than 10 critical minerals and high-tech metals projects that are ready for investment. This includes projects like ASM’s Dubbo Project searching for rare earth elements and a scandium project in Nyngan. These projects need around $7.6b in capital investment value and are expected to generate about 4,600 jobs during construction and 2,700 ongoing jobs.
  • 13 active major metals and critical minerals mines in NSW, employing more than 6,000 people, mostly across the state’s Central West and Far West.

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