Australia's government has released a prospectus of critical mineral projects to promote global investment into domestic projects, the country's resources minister Madeleine King said today.
Australia's prospectus covers 78 projects involving 14 critical minerals (see table). The projects outlined in the document are at or past the pre-feasibility study stage. But only three are currently under construction.
The prospectus is limited compared with Australian government forecaster the Office of the Chief Economist's (OCE) major projects list for 2025, which features 130 critical mineral projects. The OCE's list includes projects at an earlier stage of development than those in the prospectus.
King launched the prospectus alongside Australia's trade minister Don Farrell on the sidelines of multilateral meetings in Washington, DC. It is a tool for drawing in investment from around the world to create new mineral supply chains, the ministers said.
Australia agreed to co-invest at least $3bn into critical mineral projects with the US government in October 2025. Government lender the US Export-Import Bank indicated that it would consider providing $2.2bn of co-funding to seven Australian projects at the time.
Australian and Japanese officials also aim to partner on critical mineral projects. Australia wants the next stage of its relationship with Japan to focus on economic security around critical minerals, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said in September 2025.
Australia's recent push for global critical minerals co-operation comes alongside government support for domestic mineral projects. The Australian government will launch a A$1.2bn ($770mn) Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve in 2026 to back developers. The government will secure offtake rights to Australian minerals and sell those rights to meet demand under the initiative. It plans to primarily support antimony, gallium, and rare earth element projects under the scheme.
The OCE expects Australian producers to earn A$5.9bn from critical mineral exports by the July 2026–June 2027 fiscal year, largely because of manganese and rare earth earnings, its December 2025 forecasts show.
| Critical Minerals Prospectus summary | |
| Category | Number of Projects |
| Development Stage | |
| Pre-feasbility | 18 |
| Pre-construction | 4 |
| Midstream | 29 |
| Feasibility | 24 |
| Construction | 3 |
| Care and maintenance | 1 |
| Mineral | |
| Rare earth elements | 16 |
| Cobalt | 13 |
| Vanadium | 10 |
| Graphite | 9 |
| High purity aluminium | 7 |
| Manganese | 7 |
| Lithium | 5 |
| Antimony | 2 |
| Gallium | 1 |
| Other | 9 |
| Source: Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus | |
