Tag: Critical minerals

Vecco deal moves NQ minerals facility towards operation

Written by Industry Queensland on 30 June 2026. Posted in All News, Logistics, Processing / Manufacturing.

Townsville’s Queensland Resources Common User Facility is moving from construction towards operation after Vecco Group signed as its foundation customer.

Major construction has been completed at the facility, known as QRCUF, in the Cleveland Bay Industrial Park within the Townsville State Development Area.

The demonstration-scale plant is designed to allow emerging miners to test and refine processing methods, produce larger mineral samples and gather technical information before committing to commercial facilities.

Main image: Vecco Group managing director Thomas Northcott and Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last at the facility.

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Drill results add spark to Millennium graphite hopes

Written by dev on 23 February 2026. Posted in All News.

A diamond drilling program has delivered high-grade graphite intersections near surface at the Millennium project in North-West Queensland.

Highlights include 13.1m at 12.23 per cent TGC (total graphitic carbon) from 1m in drillhole MI25DD03 and 30.85m at 14.11 per cent TGC from 60.4m in MI25DD04.

Drilling and assaying for the critoical battery metal at Millennium was majority funded under a $275,000 Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grant.

Key points:

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Crunch time for critical minerals aspirations

Written by dev on 12 February 2026. Posted in All News, Critical minerals.

Australia has a narrow window to lock in its position as a critical minerals powerhouse, according to BDO analysis.

BDO’s Annual Mining Report 2026 shows that global mining is at an inflection point, driven by accelerating demand for critical minerals essential to electrification, defence and large-scale data centres, alongside record gold prices and rising government intervention.

Australia faces both an opportunity and a test, according to BDO global leader of natural resources and energy Sherif Andrawes.

“We have world-class resources, stable regulation and strong ESG credentials, but future competitiveness will depend on how quickly we move beyond. . .

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Japanese battery plans for Queensland graphite

Written by dev on 4 February 2026. Posted in All News.

Esmeralda mine developer Graphinex is joining forces with Idemitsu, Marubeni and NSC to build an Australia-Japan graphite supply chain for the battery sector.

The deal will see Graphinex advance development of its natural graphite projects in Queensland with support from Idemitsu.

This will link with Marubeni and NSC’s plans to establish a new downstream graphite anode manufacturing facility in Japan.

Key points:

Strategic partnership between Idemitsu Australia, Idemitsu Kosan, Marubeni, NSC and Graphinex

Aims to establish a. . .

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Maiden resource out for Orient East silver-indium site

Written by dev on 30 October 2025. Posted in All News, Copper, Exploration, Gold, Processing / Manufacturing.

Iltani Resources has announced a maiden resource for its Orient East silver-indium deposit, hot on the heels of the QIC committing $8 million towards the potential critical minerals development.

The mineral resource estimate for Orient East stands at 19.8Mt at 98g/t silver equivalent (using a 30g/t silver equivalent cut-off grade).

It takes the total mineral resource estimate for the Orient project, in the Herberton area, to 62.5Mt at 81.5g/t Ag Eq. (30g/t Ag Eq. cut-off grade).

Iltani managing. . .

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Invest in community to support mining

Written by dev on 3 March 2025. Posted in Copper, Processing / Manufacturing.

Resources communities are first about communities and then about resources.

That comes from economic development agency The Next Economy which has worked in regions as diverse as the coalfields, Gladstone and Mount Isa to help plan more diverse economies.

The Next Economy recently developed the Mount Isa Future Ready Economy Roadmap in response to Glencore’s staged closure of Mount Isa Copper Operations starting in the new financial year.

Regional centres like Mount Isa and the now redundant Mary Kathleen in the north, as well as Dysart and Blackwater among others in Central Queensland, were built by companies as dormitory. . .

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Diatreme moves towards 2025 approvals

Written by dev on 21 November 2024. Posted in All News.

Diatreme Resources is shaking off the dust of the 2024 Metallica Minerals takeover and looking forward next year to getting regulatory approvals with a view to starting operations on Cape York in early 2026.

Diatreme has silica sands plays near Cape Flattery including the flagship Northern Silica Project (NSP) which the company reported has an indicated resource to 120.5Mt and a maiden measured resource of 49.5Mt.

Main image: Diatreme's Northern Silica Sands Project.

The company said it reinforced NSP’s position as. . .

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Julia Creek projections compared to the Bowen Basin

Written by dev on 21 November 2024. Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

A Queensland junior miner says vanadium will be to northern Queensland what coal is to the Bowen Basin.

Critical Minerals Group (CMG) is planning an integrated mine-to-battery manufacturing process from its Linfield lease north of Julia Creek in the state’s North West to a battery assembly plant planned for Logan south of Brisbane.

Main image: Spread of critical minerals in Queensland.

It was validating for the company to have attracted investment from Japanese energy giant Idemitsu and. . .

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Critical minerals needing critical minds for development

Written by dev on 27 September 2024. Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

James Cook University (JCU) would likely provide technical expertise to staff and develop a vanadium industry in North Queensland.

JCU Head of Earth and Environmental Sciences Associate Professor Ioan Sanislav was speaking after the Trailblazer Universities Program met in Townsville this week.

The $370 million program is designed to ‘build additional capacity to focus on the problems that matter to the nation by driving research excellence and real-world impact.’

Main image: Vecco Group - vanadium electrolyte facility in Townsville

In this case the focus was. . .

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Chinese export ban whets appetite for antimony

Written by dev on 22 August 2024. Posted in All News, Exploration, Gold.

Great Divide Mining is among the Australian exploration companies eyeing opportunities in antimony after news of China's impending export ban on the critical mineral.

Drilling at the Banshee prospect, within Queensland's Coonambula project, has revealed grades of up to 5.1 per cent antimony together with 1.5 per cent gold, according to chief executive officer Justin Haines.

Used in solar panels, military equipment and munitions, and as a fire retardant, antimony was already in short supply at the beginning of 2024 and trading at $US22,000 tonne.

The prices are expected to climb after the world’s. . .

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Water, water everywhere but not for miners

Written by dev on 12 July 2024. Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

Richmond Shire Mayor John Wharton has come out in support of vanadium junior miners in the region and their pursuit of water.

A wet towel had been draped over their plans to develop an industry in the central North West of the state by the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, Cr Wharton said.

The department was represented at a recent meeting of stakeholders held in Julia Creek where six vanadium companies asked for 19,000ML/year to support their operations.

Councillor Wharton said that amount was less than half the allocation given to some individual graziers drawing from. . .

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Resources outlook is clear with possible storms

Written by dev on 12 July 2024. Posted in All News, Coal, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

Government policy and regulatory uncertainty are the biggest concerns for the state’s resources sector according to the Queensland Resources Council (QRC).

It threatens new investment and jobs the newly released State of the Sector report shows.

On the positive side, QRC member companies remained confident about continued strong demand for Queensland’s commodities the report said.

The report made note that there was good reason to be optimistic about the industry’s future with a few caveats QRC Chief Executive Officer Janette Hewson said.

“As. . .

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Queensland Pacific Metals exports sample HPA

Written by dev on 8 December 2023. Posted in All News, Energy.

Prospective battery metals producer Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) has ventured into high purity alumina (HPA) production.

QPM and energy tech company Lava Blue have recently completed the first campaign of HPA Demonstration Plant operation, which successfully produced 62 kg of 4N HPA.

Lava Blue is planning to develop its production facility in North Queensland and is aiming to produce at least 5,000 tonnes per annum of HPA.

QPM told the Australian Stock Exchange that the primary objectives of this initial work were to confirm the HPA flowsheet for the . . .

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Queensland Major Contractors Association critical minerals briefing

Written by dev on 8 September 2023. Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

More than 150 delegates from top tier suppliers met at Brisbane's Victoria Park function centre this morning to get an update on the Queensland critical minerals industry.

The function was sponsored by the Queensland Major Contractors Association.

Main Image: Geoff Snowdon (Turbulent Consulting), Jason Frecklington and John Cotter (Initiative Capital)

Department of Resources director general Warwick Agnew and managing director of vanadium group QEM Gavin Loyden addressed the forum.

It was followed by a panel session that included speakers and Association Mining and Exploration Companies state director Sarah Gooley.

Delegates included:

. . .

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Subsidies needed to keep up with international competition

Written by dev on 4 August 2023. Posted in All News, Coal, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

The need to continue to provide subsidies for mineral exploration has been brought home to government this week.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane told the Queensland Exploration Council’s Tech Summit that the state’s economy relied on a healthy mining industry.

Mr Macfarlane, a former federal coalition industry minister, said he. . .

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SMI faces down the net zero Goliath

Written by dev on 2 August 2023. Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

The Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) based at Queensland University is gamely facing down a critical minerals conundrum in its bid to help the transition to a renewable economy.

It goes like this. A 2050 deadline has been put on net zero carbon emissions and the world is looking for energy alternatives to replace fossil fuels.

Existing alternatives require a far greater commitment to mining critical minerals and these require left-of-field thinking to develop processes that can extract said elements.

This mining and processing will require a lot. . .

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