Federal critical minerals strategy positions WA as global supply chain anchor

Western Australia has been formally recognised as the cornerstone of Australia's National Critical Minerals Strategy, with the federal government's updated strategy identifying 15 priority minerals — including lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, and manganese — the majority of which WA produces in world-significant quantities and which are essential to the clean energy and defence technology supply chains of Australia's allies.

Resources Minister Madeleine King, who holds a Perth electorate, said Australia was sitting on the raw materials the world needed for the energy transition but was still exporting too much of the value in the form of unprocessed ore and concentrate. The strategy's processing ambitions aimed to capture more of that value in Australia. "WA digs it up. The question is whether we can do more of the refining, the manufacturing, the value-adding before it leaves our shores," she said.

The strategy commits $2 billion from the National Reconstruction Fund to support processing facility investment in WA, with applications open for projects covering lithium hydroxide production, nickel sulphate refining, rare earth separation, and manganese processing. The funding is expected to catalyse approximately $8 billion in private investment, based on co-investment ratios seen in comparable programs in Canada and the United States.

Several lithium and rare earth producers already operating in WA have indicated they are assessing downstream processing expansion, with the NRF funding and the US Inflation Reduction Act's critical minerals incentives — which give preferential treatment to products from Australia as a free trade agreement partner — creating a compelling case for WA-based processing.

The strategy also addresses workforce, with $180 million for TAFE and university training programs in metallurgy, chemical engineering, and process operations aligned to the processing sector's needs.

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