WA miner nails the timing as in-demand critical mineral flagged on government’s wish-list

With the federal government’s announcement of a $1.2 billion strategic reserve for critical minerals, the question over where those minerals will come from has become the next immediate focus.

Antimony, gallium and rare earths have been flagged as the first three minerals to be focused on under the new plan, with the Australian government identifying them as crucial to clean-energy and high-technology manufacturing, as well as advanced military equipment.

WA-based company Larvotto Resources currently holds the largest antimony mineral resource in the country at its Hillgrove project, near Armidale in New South Wales.

Managing director Ron Heeks said the company expected to begin production at the site by mid-year. The government’s announcement that antimony was a key mineral of focus was music to his ears.

“In six months from now we will be the only critical minerals producer in Australia coming on in the antimony space,” he said.

“We have about 90,000 tonnes and we are just in the final permitting stage with the New South Wales government, so as soon as they permit the project, we are good to go.”

At full production, the company expects to produce almost 5000 tonnes of antimony each year over a current initial eight-year mine life. The operation is looking to produce between 5 to 7 per cent of global mine supply of the mineral.

Heeks said antimony had a raft of uses in the manufacturing world, which had led to the price of the critical mineral exploding in recent years.

“In the last seven or eight years, solar panels have come on and that is now about 40 per cent of the market,” he said.

“It has always been used as a fire retardant, and it has also been used as a metal hardener, particularly [with] lead.

“It is also used in every bit of military lead, so whether it is a bullet, explosive shell or whatever, it has somewhere between 2.5 and 6.5 per cent antimony in it.

“You have also seen a decline of about 40 per cent in production because these deposits have been mined for 20, 30 or 40 years and that surface deposit has been depleted.”

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the government intended to introduce new legislation to make the proposed critical minerals reserve a reality this year.

“That legislation will expand the powers of Export Finance Australia and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources will be overseeing the strategic reserve transactions,” she said.

“All of these products are low volume. So we won’t target volume specifically. It’ll be about demand and what can be produced as well.

“We also know a lot of the products we’re talking about, and especially in terms of antimony, gallium and rare earth elements, are very important within the AUKUS context as well.

“So making sure those products are available for the builds our three nations of AUKUS are doing in the submarines is also going to be important.”

Rare earths are also used to make high-performance permanent magnets, essential inputs to a range of technologies from fighter jets to MRI machines.

Antimony is used in household and commercial batteries, night vision equipment and high-performance flame-retardant materials.

Gallium is a key ingredient for advanced semiconductors used in radar systems and telecommunications.

The reserve includes $1 billion for transactions to be drawn from the expanded $5 billion Critical Minerals Facility, which provides government-backed loans and equity support for projects.

A further $185 million has been allocated for selective stockpiling of minerals, where required, and other implementation costs.

It also supports Australia’s collaboration with allies to diversify critical minerals supply chains, including Canada, Japan, Europe and the UK.

While Australia currently has no major production of gallium, it can be extracted during the bauxite-to-alumina refining process, with the material potentially coming from Alcoa’s operations in the Darling Scarp.

The nation has a number of rare earth projects in production, with Lynas’ rare earth processing facility in Kalgoorlie the first of its kind in Australia.

However, the government’s reserve plan appears to have a significant impact for the likes of Larvotto, which appears to be timing the production at Hillgrove perfectly to take advantage of the new legislation when it is introduced this year.

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