The future of Australia’s role in critical mineral supply chains may depend less on matching China’s scale and more on proving that secure, trusted supply with ESG credentials is worth paying for.
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.
A polymetallic deposit in the heart of Queensland’s North West Minerals Province is shaping up as a future supplier of high-grade lead-silver and copper-gold concentrates, with resource confidence, metallurgy, and mine planning advancing in lockstep.
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.
