Nyrstar welcomed the introduction of Australia’s new Critical Minerals Strategy, highlighting the need to swiftly recognise zinc’s contribution to Australia’s critical minerals vision.
Nyrstar said the Australian Government‘s emphasis on improving critical mineral processing in Australia and the importance given to upgrading the current Critical Minerals List to reflect global strategic shifts represents considerable progress in safeguarding Australia’s energy transition.
Additionally, according to the company, recognising that critical minerals sectors may require transitional assistance to deliver metals required for Australia’s low-carbon future is timely.
Earlier this month, Nyrstar published a white paper outlining the significant effects that the growth in renewable energy was having on metals markets around the world, as well as the opportunity that this presented Australia to increase its processing of strategic metals and establish itself as a global leader in critical minerals.
Nyrstar’s Co-CEO Dale Webb said, “the world is seeing a disruption in traditional markets for commodities like we have not seen before. Tackling disruption requires a different approach and this is what we have seen with the Critical Minerals Strategy’s new and welcome emphasis on processing as a key part of Australia’s critical minerals endeavour.”
“A step-change in the growth of critical minerals and metals processing would be significant in ensuring Australia moves beyond a traditional extract and export approach to resources. Targeted support to expand existing infrastructure and modernise our metals processing can support the stability of supply of minerals and metals critical to the production of low emissions technologies, and at the same time deliver greater economic benefit from the extraction of Australia’s resources,” Webb stated.
Nyrstar supported the formation of a process to update Australia’s Critical Minerals List, which was listed as a critical action in the Critical Minerals Strategy.
According to Nyrstar’s recent white paper, Australia would gain from the huge growth in metals demand driven by low-emission technology if it acted fast to add zinc and other industrial metals to a critical minerals list, as has happened in the United States, Canada, and Korea. The research cited in the whitepaper showed that the annual global demand for zinc would increase by 20% by 2030 compared to now.
“Australia needs to go beyond investing in the supply of traditional battery materials and explore the full range of renewable energy technologies and the type and volume of minerals and metals that their growth will demand. Zinc is one of those metals that is playing an increasingly important role in the world because of its requirement in the development of renewable energy technologies and its ability to unlock other critical minerals like germanium and indium,” Webb said.
He added, “We look forward to providing input into the review of Australia’s Critical Minerals List. But Australia must move quickly as key metals central to delivering the growth in renewable energy are today being drawn down at increasing pace, while supply is becoming more and more concentrated in just a few countries.”
