Critical Minerals Office  

We provide national policy and strategic advice and facilitation services for industry to grow Australia’s critical minerals industry.

What we do

We are the Australian Government's central coordination point to:

  • grow Australia’s critical minerals sector
  • promote Australia as a secure, reliable and ethical critical mineral’s supplier 
  • provide national policy and strategic advice
  • connect Australian critical minerals projects to:
    • investors
    • regulators
    • government financing facilities
    • Australia's strategic partners.
Critical Minerals Office logo

Our key activities include:

  • developing policy and regulatory settings that enable investment and unlock downstream opportunities
  • promoting investment and building diverse and secure global supply chains, in partnership with:
    • Austrade
    • the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
  • improving access to regulatory approvals and funding and investment information
  • supporting research and development.

Partnering on global supply chains

We’re working across government and with international partners to:

  • help address supply chain risks
  • advance research
  • promote ethical and sustainable practice.

We also maintain an active presence in multilateral initiatives, including:

  • IEA Critical Minerals Working Party
  • Conference on Critical Materials and Minerals
  • Minerals Security Partnership
  • Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance
  • Critical Minerals Strategic Advisory Group in the International Organization for Standardization
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Energy Resource Governance Initiative
  • Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
  • Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

Facilitating critical minerals research

We support research and development in partnership with:

  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
  • Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
  • Geoscience Australia.

This includes collaborating on the $50.5 million Australian Critical Minerals Research and Development Hub.

Latest news

Minister for Resources Madeleine King addresses the IEA Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Summit in Paris on 28 September 2023. On the left is Ms Victoria Pullen (General Manager, Critical Minerals Office; Chair of the IEA Critical Minerals Working Party) and to the right is Dr Fatih Birol (Executive Director, IEA). Photo credit: International Energy Agency.
Critical Minerals Office

Australia drives global critical minerals policy at international summit

Ministers, industry leaders and civil society meet in Paris to galvanise action on global critical minerals supply chains.
Minister for Resources Madeleine King signs the bilateral agreement with France’s Minister for the Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
Critical Minerals Office

Australia and France sign bilateral agreement on critical minerals

The Bilateral Dialogue on Critical Minerals signals stronger cooperation between the 2 countries.
Wind turbines in the outback at sunset
Critical Minerals Office

Australia’s Critical Minerals List: have your say

We want to hear your thoughts on updating our list of critical minerals. Submissions close 17 August 2023