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Australia’s Critical Minerals List and Strategic Materials List

Date published:
20 June 2023
Date updated:
20 February 2024

Topics

Minerals
Mining, oil and gas

Publisher

Critical Minerals Office

The Australian Government maintains 2 lists of minerals that are important for Australia’s modern technologies, economies and national security. 

They are the:

  • Critical Minerals List
  • Strategic Materials List.

The minerals on these lists support:

  • our transition to net zero emissions
  • advanced manufacturing
  • defence technologies and capabilities
  • broader strategic applications.

The government will review the lists at least every 3 years and may update them in response to global strategic, technological, economic and policy changes.

We updated the critical minerals and strategic materials lists on 20 February 2024 in line with the Minister for Resources’ decision of 16 February 2024.

Critical Minerals List

Australia’s Critical Minerals List contains minerals:

  • essential to our modern technologies, economies and national security, specifically the priority technologies set out in the Critical Minerals Strategy
  • for which Australia has geological potential for resources
  • in demand from our strategic international partners
  • that are vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

The Minister for Resources may also update the Critical Minerals List in response to global strategic, technological, economic or policy changes.

Table 1: Australia’s Critical Minerals List
Critical mineral On US list[1] On EU list[2] On India list[3] On Japan list[4] On Republic of Korea list[5] On UK list[6] Australian geological potential[7] Australian economic demonstrated resources (2022)[8] Australian production (2022)[9] World resources (2022)[10] Global production (2022)[11]
High-purity Alumina No No No No No No High HPA ore:[12] 16,700 kt 0 No data No data
Antimony Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Moderate 139.4 kt 2.3 kt 1,800 kt 110 kt
Arsenic Yes Yes No No No No Moderate No data No data No data 61 kt
Beryllium Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Moderate No data No data No data 280 t
Bismuth Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Moderate No data No data No data 20 kt
Chromium Yes No No Yes Yes No Moderate 0 0 560,000 kt 41,000 kt
Cobalt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 1,742 kt 5.8 kt 8,480 kt 185 kt
Fluorine[13] Yes Yes No Yes No No Moderate 343 kt 0 126,000 kt 4,000 kt
Gallium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High No data No data No data 550 t
Germanium Yes Yes Yes Yes No No High No data No data No data No data
Graphite[14] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Moderate 8,500 kt 0 332,000 kt 1,300 kt
Hafnium Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Moderate 14.5 kt No data No data No data
Indium Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Moderate No data No data No data 900 t
Lithium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 7,046 kt 75 kt 27,000 kt 143 kt
Magnesium Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes High Magnesite: 284,000 kt Magnesite: 500 kt Magnesite: 6,800,000 kt Magnesite: 25,000 kt
Manganese Yes Yes No Yes Yes No High Manganese ore: 496,000 kt Manganese ore: 4,500 kt Manganese content: 1,716,000 kt Manganese content: 18,700 kt
Molybdenum No No Yes Yes Yes No Moderate 687 kt 0.28 kt 12,200 kt 250 kt
Nickel Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No High 24.1 Mt 0.15 Mt 104 Mt 3.3 Mt
Niobium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unknown (interpreted moderate)[15] 216 kt No data Over 17,000 kt 79 kt
Platinum-group elements[16] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Moderate 359.3 t 0.492 t 71,269 t 400 t
Rare-earth elements[17] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 5,700 kt 16 kt 127,000 kt 300 kt
Rhenium No No Yes Yes No No Unknown (interpreted moderate) 157 t No data No data 58 t
Scandium Yes Yes No No No No High 36.65 kt 0 No data No data
Selenium No No Yes Yes Yes No Unknown (interpreted moderate) No data No data 81 kt 3.2 kt
Silicon No Yes[18] Yes Yes Yes Yes High No data No data No data 8.8 kt
Tantalum Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 110 kt 0.1 kt No data 2 kt
Tellurium Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Unknown (interpreted moderate) No data No data 32 kt 0.64 kt
Titanium Yes Yes[19] Yes Yes Yes No High

Ilmenite: 303,300 kt

Rutile: 39,000 kt

Ilmenite: 700 kt

Rutile: 200 kt

Ilmenite: 1,106,600 kt

Rutile: 55,900 kt

Ilmenite: 14,900 kt

Rutile: 600 kt
Tungsten Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 568 kt 0.23 kt 3,800 kt 84 kt
Vanadium Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High 8,510 kt 0 26,700 kt 100 kt
Zirconium Yes No Yes Yes Yes No High Zircon: 88,300 kt Zircon: 500 kt Zircon: 115,300 kt Zircon: 2,200 kt
  1. J Burton, US Geological Survey releases 2022 list of critical minerals, United States Geological Survey (USGS), US Department of the Interior, Federal Government of the United States, 2022, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  2. Fifth list 2023 of critical raw materials for the EU, European Commission, 2023, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  3. Critical minerals for India [PDF 16.2 MB] Ministry of Mines, Government of India, 2023, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  4. Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), International Resource Strategy – national stockpiling system, International Energy Agency (IEA), 2020, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  5. Opportunities in Korea for Australian critical minerals, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, 2023, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  6. Resilience for the future: the UK’s critical minerals strategy, United Kingdom Department for Business & Trade and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2023, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  7. Geoscience Australia, Overview of critical minerals, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2023, and additional correspondence. ↵
  8. Geoscience Australia, Overview of critical minerals, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  9. Geoscience Australia, Overview of critical minerals, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  10. Geoscience Australia, Australia’s identified mineral resources 2023, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  11. Geoscience Australia, Australia’s identified mineral resources 2023, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2023. ↵
  12. HPA ore refers to high-purity alumina ore. In Australia this is primarily kaolin, but other ore types are also possible.↵
  13. The United States and the European Union identify fluorspar as a critical mineral.  ↵
  14. The European Union identifies natural graphite as a critical raw material and Japan identifies carbon (which forms graphite) as a critical mineral. ↵
  15. Unknown geological potential owing to lack of data. Interpretation is based on knowledge of Australia’s geology, known mineral associations and historical information. ↵
  16. The platinum group elements include ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium and platinum. Several partner lists separately identify the platinum group elements and/or only identify certain platinum group elements as critical minerals. ↵
  17. The rare earth elements include yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium. Several partner lists separately identify the rare earth elements and/or only identify certain rare earth elements as critical minerals. ↵
  18. The European Union identifies silicon metal as a critical raw material. ↵
  19. The European Union identifies titanium metal as a critical raw material. ↵

Strategic Materials List

The Strategic Materials List contains minerals:

  • that are important for the global transition to net zero and broader strategic applications, specifically the priority technologies set out in the Critical Minerals Strategy
  • for which Australia has geological potential for resources
  • in demand from our strategic international partners.

However, their supply chains are not currently vulnerable enough to meet the criteria for the Critical Minerals List.

The government will continue supporting the extraction and processing of these minerals and monitoring their market developments.

Australia’s strategic materials are:

  • aluminium
  • copper
  • phosphorus
  • tin
  • zinc.

Data on these strategic materials is available through:

More information

We consulted stakeholders on the 2023 update of these lists
Read Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–2030
Find out about the work of the Critical Minerals Office