Cathryn Tilmouth: Critical minerals represent the Territory’s economic future
The Northern Territory’s emerging critical minerals sector is positioning for an exciting future. Read what’s expected.
Northern Territory
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The recently released 2024 Northern Territory Critical Minerals guide highlights 17 globally recognised critical minerals that are prospective in the Territory, including newly added graphite and gallium.
In 2023, the Territory’s first gallium resource was announced at Transition Minerals’ Barkly rare earths‑vanadium project while Kingsland Minerals has announced a significant graphite discovery at the Leliyn project near Pine Creek, with a pending mineral resource estimate underway.
Since the first edition of the guide was released last year, the NT has also increased its known resources for other key critical minerals, with rare earths resources up by five per cent on 2023, vanadium up 50 per cent and lithium resources up 84 per cent.
NT Minerals Council chief executive Cathryn Tilmouth, who is a panellist at the upcoming Future NT forum hosted by NT News, said critical minerals would drive economic growth globally for decades and the Territory was perfectly placed to benefit from the transition.
“Critical minerals are the commodities that have been identified as being strategically important for the operation of essential technologies, prosperity and the function of the Northern Territory,” Ms Tilmouth said.
“A lot of critical minerals identified in the NT are needed for electricity generation, storage and transmission, as well as for parts for emerging technologies in the clean energy future.
“Electric vehicles, and renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines are more mineral intensive then their traditional counterparts, so the demand for the commodities that go into these is high.
“The window of opportunity for the NT to capitalise on this demand is wide-open and there for the taking.”
While the rate of conversation from project to mine is relatively low in the Territory - there are currently only six operating mines compared to more than 100 in Western Australia and Queensland - there is worldwide interest in its resources.
Figures supplied by the NT Government showed mineral exploration expenditure in the Territory in 2023 increased 14 per cent to $228.1, well above the national average increase of five per cent.
The Government believes high levels of mineral exploration expenditure will led to strong interest and investment in the Territory’s critical minerals sector with the $9.5m Resourcing the Territory initiative stimulating private sector drilling and geophysical projects.
For the March 2024 quarter, mineral exploration expenditure in the NT was $41m, the highest ever, and brings the rolling annual expenditure to a record $231.2m.
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Originally published as Cathryn Tilmouth: Critical minerals represent the Territory’s economic future
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