Webinar | New Opportunities in Critical Minerals in Australia

On Thursday 2 December, Investment NSW presented “New Opportunities in Critical Minerals in Australia,” in conjunction with JETRO Australia and the Japanese Consulate-General in Sydney, with the support and active involvement of the AJBCC and Innovation Dojo.

This was the first in the “Nichi-Go Global” series of events that will continue into 2022.

The series features short-format focused events designed to showcase the latest startups/scaleups by sector thematic tailored toward the needs of the corporate sector. The format is simple. One brief market presentation followed by three companies per webinar. 15 minutes each presentation.  Following the pilot, which is NSW-focused, the series will be broadened to feature offerings from all states, to enable potential investors to see the best of what is on offer from across Australia.  

This webinar investigated the opportunities presented by the critical minerals sector.  As global supply chains adjust to the post-COVID world, securing strategic materials and building processing/refining capabilities are vital to ensure the transition to net zero. The following three NSW-based companies are not only ASX-listed but looking for long term partnerships.  Their CEOs spoke to the opportunities within each.

Cobalt Blue (COB)  – CEO Joe Kaderavek 

The COB operation is large-scale and will be one of the largest cobalt producers in the world. In fact, if Broken Hill were a country, it would rank number 5 for cobalt production. The operation is low-cost. COB’s process separates over 80% of the waste from the ore at the first step. This means we will refine less than 20% of the material brought out of the ground. The refinery then processes a 0.5% cobalt content concentrate. The operation is well-served with direct connection to rail transport, power and water. cobaltblueholdings.com

Red River Resources (RVR) – Managing Director Mel Palancian 

RVR’s Hillgrove mine in NSW is a Top 10 world deposit for antimony. Antimony has been identified as a critical raw material by the European Union, the United States and also by the United Kingdom and Japan, who have all published  reports ranking raw materials on key criteria including supply risk and economic importance. The presence of China as the dominant producer and its key importance, particularly in military applications. Antimony has been grouped with a number of higher profile critical raw materials including light rare earth elements (LREEs), heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), tungsten, cobalt and niobium. redriverresources.com.au

Sunrise EM (SRL) – CEO Sam Riggall 

The Sunrise Battery Materials Complex is ideally placed to become a major supplier of raw materials to the lithium-ion battery (LiB) market in the near future. The market is experiencing significant growth as the electrification of vehicle drivetrains become increasingly practical and cost-effective, particularly compared with conventional fossil fuel powered vehicles. The Sunrise Project will produce high quality, battery grade nickel sulphate (NiSO4.6H2O) and cobalt sulphate (CoSO4.7H2O), critical materials in the manufacture of the cathode in lithium-ion batteries. The Sunrise Project also hosts one of the world’s largest and highest grade accumulations of scandium ever discovered. While the potential applications of scandium are broad, Sunrise Energy Metals has focused on two key areas: aluminium scandium alloy for light-weighting the global transport industry and the use of scandium in solid oxide fuel cells. sunriseem.com

Resources

View the opening Investment NSW presentation from Alvin D’Almaida, Manager Investment Attraction, Mining, Exploration and Geoscience.
View the Cobalt Blue presentation
View the Red River Resources presentation
View the Sunrise Energy Minerals presentation