Australia’s next mining boom coming for electric vehicles and energy storage batteries

Australia is number one globally for many resources but experts warn there are some roadblocks holding us back to reap the rewards of the next mining boom.

More than 260 new lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper mines will be needed by 2030 if the world is to meet global demand for minerals-intensive electric vehicles and energy storage batteries.

A Future Critical report by the Minerals Council of Australia released this month shows Australia is number one globally for resources of recoverable nickel, zircon (zirconium), rutile (titanium), uranium, gold and zinc.

Australia is in the top five global producers of lithium, copper, bauxite, cobalt, tungsten, ilmenite, vanadium and manganese.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable warned deepening investment uncertainty, exhaustive environmental approval delays and proposed industrial relation law changes were “combining to blunt Australia’s ability to fully capitalise on this once in multiple generation mining boom”.

“As our global competitors ramp up their investment and development, time is running out for Australia to catch the wave of mining investment needed to achieve our collective global pursuit of net zero emissions,” she said.

Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable. Picture: Nigel Hallett

But if a major mining expansion occurred, the report forecasts households would be $11,700 better off, real wages would be 9.4 per cent higher and the economy $290bn larger by 2030.

SA Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis said some people naively believed the transition to renewables would end mining.

Tom Koutsantonis MP, SA Minister for Energy and Mining. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

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“The truth is the minerals that we needed in the past are not the same minerals we need now. Just take electrification. There is no conductor like copper. So, cars that are aspirated with fossil fuels like petrol and diesel, if you replace them with batteries, they need copper,” he said.

“If you look at just the base order of electric vehicles there is not enough copper and lithium to build the vehicles that are needed over the next decade.

“We have to find more out of the ground now than we’ve ever found in human history.”

Hundreds of disused mines across Australia are being exploited again in the hunt for critical minerals. Leftover residue, or tailings, are being re-examined.

BHP Minerals Australia President Edgar Basto.

Global mining giant BHP’s $9.6bn takeover of OZ Minerals, finalised in May, could produce 500,000 tonnes of copper annually from northern South Australia.

BHP chief operating officer Edgar Basto said the area was home to some of the world’s best copper resources and, certainly, Australia’s best.

“Copper is an essential component of solar panels and wind turbines, as well as electric vehicles, which use around four times as much copper than petrol-based cars,” he said.

Mr Basto said delivering more Australian copper to global customers ultimately would bring “new jobs, skills, local business opportunities, and economic growth”.

Originally published as Australia’s next mining boom coming for electric vehicles and energy storage batteries