What are critical minerals?
Geoscience Australia defines critical minerals as metals, non-metals and minerals that are considered essential for the functioning of modern technologies, economies or national security, which are in demand from our strategic international partners and that are vulnerable to supply chain disruption due to geological scarcity, geopolitical issues, trade policy or other factors.
Among these important commodities are metals and semimetals used in the manufacture of wind turbines, electric vehicles, solar panels, rechargeable batteries, mobile phones and computers, flat screen monitors, fibre-optic cables, semi-conductors, defence industry technology and products, as well as aerospace, medical and high-tech applications.
The Australian government’s critical minerals list includes 31 minerals. Additionally, Australia’s strategic materials list includes aluminum, copper, phosphorus, tin and zinc.
Criticality is a subjective concept and individual countries develop their own lists of critical minerals based on the relative importance of particular minerals to their industrial and strategic requirements. Assessments of criticality are also essential snapshots at a particular time and are subject to change. A summary and comparison of the minerals currently defined as critical by some of Australia’s important trading partners is shown here. (Critical Minerals in the NT 2024)
Harnessing tailwinds in the critical minerals sector
Tivan closely engages with all levels of government in Canberra, Darwin and Perth to pursue our mission.
Our project has been designed in lockstep with the refresh of the Critical Minerals Strategy, where we contributed a public submission in February 2023.
Tivan’s priorities are aligned with government and we will be forging new paths in many areas.
Global tailwinds in the critical minerals sector are overwhelmingly strong, and the team at Tivan is prioritising networks in the Japan, South Korea and the US.
As Tivan embarks on this journey, we seek engagement from willing partners to achieve enduring change.
