Mining groups focused on Tasmanian projects have called on the federal government to expand the list of critical minerals to include tin and aluminium, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a funding boost for vital metals projects.
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Executive director of Stellar Resources Gary Fietz said tin mining and processing is highly concentrated in non-western-aligned countries such as China and Myanmar, and is a critical metal in many future technologies.
"Tin clearly is a technology metal, it is in my opinion a critical mineral for Australia and its trade partners,," Mr Fietz said.
"We want tin added to the list of critical minerals in Australia. It's currently not, but it is on the US list of critical minerals," he said.
The metal's primary use is in soldering, and demand for it is surging as more and more equipment is run using electronics.
He said as demand expands over the next decade, western nations will be keen to develop secure supply chains of tin.
Tasmania can help with this - Stellar is trying to develop the massive Heemskirk Tin Project in Western Tasmania.
It is one of the largest untapped tin resources in the world, and if developed, would make western partners much less reliant on supplies from China and Myanmar.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week announced an additional $2 billion to double the capacity of the government's Critical Minerals Facility to finance Australian critical minerals mining and processing projects.
He announced the decision during his trip to Washington, putting an emphasis on the geopolitical ramifications of critical minerals, amid concerns that production of many of the metals needed for smartphones, electric cars and wind turbines is concentrated in non-western-aligned nations such as China.
China is by far the world's biggest producer of rare earth elements, used in the production of magnets, catalysts, superconductors and alloys vital for many cutting edge technologies.
It has previously cut off supply of rare earth exports to Japan for what many claimed were political reasons.
The 26 metals on the Australian government's critical list presently does not include tin or aluminium.
Mr Fietz said if tin were added to the list, it would allow his company access to low-cost finance though the Facility, potentially speeding up development of Heemskirk.
Another Tasmanian-focussed company was ABx Group, which is exploring for rare earth elements west of Launceston, and is also conducting a pilot study of reprocessing aluminium smelting waste into alumina.
ABx chief executive officer Dr Mark Cooksey said the industry has been lobbying to have aluminium, bauxite and alumina added to the government's critical minerals list.
"If that did happen that could help us absolutely, not right now at the pilot stage, but when the get to building the commercial plant and we need $100 million, that would help," he said.
His exploration project outside Launceston is seeking various rare earth elements whose production is currently concentrated in China.
For many western countries, that concentration in China is seen as a risk, particularly as demand for these types of metals is set to increase.
"Because of all the electric vehicles and wind turbines and everything else that we plan to build, the demand [for rare earths] is just projected to skyrocket," Dr Cooksey said.
"There are different projections, but it could be by a factor of 5 in ten years."
He said the federal government's decision to boost the Critical Minerals Facility would be of immense help to his company once the rare earth projects reached a more advanced stage.
The Facility does not currently finance exploration.
The Rockliff government also welcomed the Albanese government's decision, with resources minister Felix Ellis saying that Tasmania punched above its weight when it came to deposits of metals vital for future-facing technology.
"Many of the critical minerals currently listed either in Australia or overseas are found in Tasmania with these resources already supporting new jobs and investment," Minister Ellis said.
"These include tungsten from the Dolphin Mine on King Island and rare earth elements that are the subject of current exploration activity."
Other companies are already mining critical minerals, he said, including cobalt from the Avebury nickel mine and germanium and indium from Rosebery's zinc ore mining.
He said the government was putting the "final ouches" on the state's critical minerals strategy.
"The strategy will help identify resources, drive private investment and grow jobs, particularly in regional Tasmania," he said.
The state's Exploration Drilling Grants Initiative (EDGI) has also been revised to incentivise exploration for vital metals, Mr Ellis said.
