Rare Earth Elements
In mining, every generation gets its own frontier.
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.
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.
Approvals in mining have long been described as a maze of red tape and delays, but at AMEC’s Nature Positive and Environmental Regulation Forum in Perth, regulators signalled that change is finally starting to cut through.
After a shaky start to 2025, the Australian exploration sector appears to be tentatively turning a corner.
When it comes to critical minerals in emerging nations, geology is often the easy part - what makes or breaks a project is navigating the politics, markets, and risks that sit behind the orebody.
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.
Rare earth metallurgy is unlike any other field in mining, and as Damien Krebs told AusIMM’s Metallurgical Society in his webinar Rare Earth Metallurgy 101, every single deposit is a puzzle that defies cookie-cutter solutions.
