Tantalum
When PLS chief executive Dale Henderson told the WA Mining Club’s November luncheon that it’s “easier to get things done in Brazil than in Western Australia,” the room went quiet for a moment.
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.
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.
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.
As global demand for clean energy technology intensifies and geopolitical tensions rise, the importance of critical minerals has reached new heights.
The 2025 South Australian State Budget has landed with all the fanfare of a damp squib for the state’s mineral exploration and mining sector.
Australia has solidified its status as a global leader in the resources sector, emerging as the world’s largest holder of vanadium resources and a dominant force in critical minerals essential for clean energy and advanced technologies.
