Critical Minerals
Tasmania's mining value chain map
Critical minerals are essential for the technologies that power our modern lives—from smartphones and electric vehicles to defence systems and renewable energy infrastructure.
Each nation maintains a list of what it considers critical minerals and strategic materials, based on their priorities, access and market demands. The Australian Government regularly updates its own list, which can be viewed here.
Due to its complex geological setting, Tasmania hosts an abundance of critical minerals and strategic materials and will play a vital role in supporting their production and supply. The Tasmanian Government and Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT) are providing dedicated funding, expertise and a suite of initiatives that promote exploration, extraction and processing of critical minerals these include:
- Precompetitive data sets
- Exploration Drilling Grant Initiative (EDGI)
- The Critical Minerals Initiative, with dedicated funding of $3 million over three years to progress:
- Prospectivity Models
- Deposit Atlases
- Increased 3D models
- Sampling historic core
- Critical mineral deposit research
- Feasibility study into a Common User Processing Facility (CUPF) for critical minerals
Critical minerals strategy
Critical Minerals Strategy
The Tasmanian Government released its Critical Minerals Strategy in 2024. The Strategy is intended as a roadmap for unlocking the state’s potential in critical minerals which are vital to modern technologies, clean energy, and national security.
This strategy outlines the Tasmanian Governments commitment to:
- Grow exploration for critical minerals
- Support critical minerals projects
- Increase on-island processing and value-adding of critical minerals
- Increase Tasmania’s trade and investment footprint in critical minerals
