Cobalt
If you think the most exciting innovations in critical-minerals exploration are happening in labs or boardrooms, you might want to take another look at the drill pad.
When global power plays, policy whiplash and economic shocks collide, opportunity hides in the chaos — and for Australia’s critical minerals sector, survival now depends on strategy as much as supply.
There’s a moment in every technological revolution when optimism meets reality - when the glossy promise of transformation hits the grit of practical deployment.
It takes a certain type of confidence to suggest the future of clean energy metals might lie four kilometres below the Pacific Ocean – confidence, and perhaps a streak of stubbornness.
It’s not every day that a government geoscience leader talks about AI assistants, rare earth mapping, and century-long prosperity in the same breath – but that’s exactly what Melissa Harris did in Perth.
When a government commits to a multi-billion program over 35 years to a single initiative, it’s worth paying attention.
When reliable environmental performance data doesn’t exist, simulation can step in – and according to IGO Nova’s Zachary Hearne, it could give Australian producers a market advantage.
China quietly built the world’s most powerful critical minerals supply chains while other nations - including Australia - dozed through a geopolitical shift that now threatens economic security, trade independence, and defence readiness.
Global tariffs, record gold highs, and shifting battery metal fortunes are reshaping mining in 2025, with big implications for projects and suppliers.
Western Australia’s listed companies have defied commodity headwinds to post a three point seven percent rise in collective market capitalisation, closing the 2025 financial year at A$362+ billion, according to the Deloitte WA Index Diggers & Dealers Special Edition.
