“Will Australia take up a leadership mantle beyond simply being a large producer of critical minerals and apply its expertise, technology, environmental, social and governance credentials and global corporate reach to help other nations contribute to secure and sustainable critical minerals supply chains?”
This question, posed in Ian Satchwell’s Special Report: “Reclaiming leadership: Australia and the global critical minerals race”, captures a key theme at last week’s Darwin Dialogue on critical minerals and rare earth elements.
Tellus’ Ryan Bloxsom and Jade Ritchie last week joined policymakers, diplomats and business leaders from Australia, Japan, Korea, and the United States in participating in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s flagship forum on critical minerals in Darwin.
ASPI‘s Darwin Dialogue promotes open discussion about opportunities for Australia to cooperate with international partners to develop secure critical mineral supply chains, which will continue to fuel the clean energy transition and underpin our collective security.
In considering how to balance protecting ‘country’ with creating economic opportunities, Ryan and Jade had the opportunity to share Tellus’ perspective on our Chandler project on Titjikala country near Alice Springs. It’s designed to provide both Australia and its strategic partners with world-class hazardous waste facilities which can support environmentally sustainable mining and mineral processing activities.
As Jade notes:
“First Nations people have been living sustainably for over 60,000 years and were trading well before colonisation. We have land assets, environmental knowledge and a unique way of doing business that makes us valuable shareholders. Whilst land tenure, legislation and navigating cultural heritage can seem overwhelming, engaging the right experts, building meaningful and respectful relationships and simply listening can unlock great opportunity.”
Tellus thanks Dr John Coyne, Justin Bassi and Jason Schoolmeester for the opportunity to participate.
