NSW Government releases $250m royalty deferral initiative
The NSW Government has released a $250m royalty deferral initiative, the first of the State’s new critical minerals and high-tech metals strategy.
Currently, there are 12 critical minerals mining and processing projects NSW that are ready for investment.
These projects need around $7.6b in capital investment and are expected to generate around 4600 jobs during construction and 2700 after that.
High initial investment costs for critical minerals projects are a challenge and the royalty deferral initiative will assist new projects in the early stages of development, ease financial pressures, attract investment to NSW and enhance the economic viability of the mining sector.
NSW hosts significant resource deposits for 21 of the 31 nationally declared critical minerals, with the strategy identifying rare earths, scandium, cobalt, copper and silver as priority minerals and metals.
Another action from the initiative is a joint Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure and NSW Resources assessment to deliver greater certainty to the sector surrounding the planning process for critical minerals projects.
The critical minerals and high-tech metals strategy focuses on five key pillars:
- Encouraging exploration by minimising investment risk in greenfield exploration and promoting exploration in new areas
- Incentivising production by creating an attractive investment environment and removing the barriers to help projects move from exploration to production
- Developing future-ready skills by providing training and education pathways to encourage careers in critical minerals mining
- Establishing resilient supply chains by examining local processing facilities, driving research and development, and investigating critical minerals by recycling
- Engaging local communities by ensuring responsible mining
The initiative will apply to critical minerals projects which can start production between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2030, predominantly mine commodities listed on the Federal Government’s critical minerals list and where the project has a market cap under $5b.
NSW Premier Chris Minns commented on the initiative.
“We’ve got the metals and minerals the world needs, and NSW is open for business,” he said.
“This is about backing regional jobs and manufacturing jobs, and taking advantage of the critical minerals boom.
“We want to make sure we fully realise the opportunities that critical minerals and high-tech metals have for NSW.”
The strategy was developed following a comprehensive consultation process that involved public submissions, targeted stakeholder engagement and a Ministerial roundtable.
The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) strongly advocated for and provided significant input into the strategy.
AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce says today’s announcement is important.
“The NSW Government has identified the absolute priority to assist exploration and mining companies in the early stages of developing projects,” he said.
“Recognising these companies need assistance at the ground level, to get projects up and running and create jobs in both the construction and operational phases.
“This is a clever and innovative way of getting more investment in critical minerals projects.”