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Federal Government’s critical minerals list gets a reshuffle with a secondary ‘strategic’ bundle added

Fri, 15 December 2023 7:30PM

The Federal Government has updated its critical minerals list, including a surprise addition, and, in a boon for a plethora of WA miners, will up its support for other battery metals developments.

Heading into 2024, the government will knock helium from its critical minerals list and add rare earth elements molybdenum, selenium, and tellurium, as well as fluorine and arsenic.

Helium — used predominately in MRI machines — has been removed from critical mineral list after the Government said only a few natural gas fields in the world have enough of the element to make separating and producing it profitable.

The only helium production plant in the southern hemisphere, in Darwin and operated by Santos, was last week switched off after its gas supply was exhausted.

The majority of helium supply comes from the United States and Qatar.