Resources Minister King Urges Australia to Prioritise Terrestrial Mining over Subsea Exploration for Critical Minerals

Australia’s resource minister Madeleine King says the nation must focus on the rich critical minerals geology it has “above the ground” rather than on the seabed.

While the US government recently confirmed its interest in the potential search for critical minerals contained in subsea modules, Minister King said Australia will be sticking to more traditional terrestrial mining methods.

“We have the geology above the ground rather than the seabed, […] and we’ve worked really hard over many years to build this industry,” the Minister said on national radio.

Globally Significant Critical Minerals

Ms King added that Australia must focus on its globally significant terrestrial critical minerals and their potential to play a pivotal role in the global supply chain before it even thinks about turning its attention to deep sea mining.

“We have the mines operating right now with all the environmental approvals, all the safety regulations and jobs and communities that support them,” she said.

According to the minister, a number of concerns related to subsea mining and the lack of research on its effects on the environment remain.

“In my mind, it feels like a really scary place for us to go when we already know what we can control environmentally and work with above ground, as we have done for so many years.”

Ms King – who this week led a meeting of federal, state and territory ministers on the topic of Australia’s critical minerals industry – said the sector remains a national priority for the government and the Future Made in Australia policy.

Processing Industry Focus

The minister also confirmed the government’s major focus on developing a critical and rare earths processing industry in Australia.

“In Australia we’ve been mining them, but we haven’t moved along that processing path—so the federal government is determined that Australia will have a critical minerals and rare earths mining and processing industry that can start to compete with China.”

“We are a couple of decades behind here, so we’ve got to get moving and we’ve got to take up our responsibility to lead globally, because of those resources that our geology has gifted this country—it is really important for green technologies and also really important for defence applications.”

The minister said the government had recently invested heavily in developing a $17 billion program of production tax credits.

“We are developing that right now and have had a number of really productive meetings with industry on the critical minerals strategic reserve, which is about how the government’s investment vehicles can help lift the pricing of rare earths so that we are not all subject to that market manipulation.”