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October 2024

Person standing in front of a backlit cabinet at a conference booth at IMARC. There is a brochure stand to the left and two people in the booth behind talking. Words on the cabinet read 'Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub'.

Welcome to our final newsletter for 2024.

The year started with the announcement of the Hub’s second tranche of funding for research projects being conducted by Hub partners, CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and ANSTO. All seven research projects are now well established and making excellent progress against the Hub’s quest to deliver step change and technical innovation needed to build Australia’s critical minerals industry and secure supply chains. This newsletter provides some updates on the great work being done by our Hub scientists on lithium metallisation, mineral by-products potential, high purity alumina and quartz. More information on all our projects is available on our website.

International engagement has been a particular focus over the past few months. In June the Hub received a $2.5 million grant to promote R&D cooperation with Australia’s strategic partners. That has allowed us to provide essential technical advice to support government-to-government engagement, with the Hub and science agencies joining Australia’s delegations to official dialogue meetings held in the margins of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Sydney in October and EU Raw Materials Week in Brussels in December.

We have some exciting reports and initiatives planned to help promote international R&D cooperation, so please keep an eye out for details on our webpage and follow us on LinkedIn.

Lucy O’Connor

Manager, Australian Critical Minerals R&D Hub

News and events

The Hub will have a booth alongside Geoscience Australia and ANSTO at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) being held at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Sydney from 29-31 October.

If you are at IMARC, look out for us in the program with the Hub panel session Supporting Critical Minerals R&D
Date: Tuesday, 29 October
Time: 4.00-4.30pm.

Panellists are:
Chris Griffith, Principal Consultant, ANSTO
Chris Vernon, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO
Allison Britt, Director: Mineral Resources Advice and Promotion, Geoscience Australia

Details are in the conference program and our website.

AusIMM Critical Minerals Conference

The Hub sponsored Critical Conversations as part of the AusIMM Critical Minerals Conference held in Brisbane in August and experts from the Hub’s partners also gave presentations on their projects as part of the official program. The presentation Developing Australia’s Ionic Clay and Clay Hosted Rare Earth Deposits is available on our website.

Resources

By-product potential

Researchers working on the Hub’s by-products project visited Nyrstar's multi-metal smelter in Port Pirie, South Australia. By-products are strategically important but with small markets. Hub research is addressing these challenges and providing insights into Australia’s supply chain potential.

Learn more

Downstream with lithium

The Hub is developing the intellectual property and knowhow needed to help downstream industries produce high purity metals and materials. One of those metals is lithium. Learn more.

Learn more

High Purity Alumina

The Hub is investigating new pathways to produce High Purity Alumina. Using alternative feedstocks, researchers are developing new, lower-energy techniques with a reduced environmental impact.

Learn more

Features