Resources Technology and Minerals Processing Road Map
4 March 2021
Overview
Today the Prime Minister has released the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing National Manufacturing Priority road map. This is a ten-year plan which outlines a plan for the sector, with incremental goals up to ten years and benchmarks for success.
This resource technology and minerals processing manufacturing road map forms part of Government’s existing $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy that was announced in October 2020. As part of the roadmap and the Manufacturing Strategy, the government announced today that applications for funding are available for manufacturing businesses in the resources and minerals manufacturing sector.
The Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Road Map
The road map provides an analysis of the sector, a vision for the future of the sector, goals and actions for sector growth. The government’s vision is for the sector to be a significant competitor in the global market, to produce inputs of future facing technologies and to capture the value of Australia’s raw materials.
In order to track the success of the goals the strategy will monitor sector specific data in two, five and ten year periods in the areas of jobs, new businesses, growth in exports and new resource technologies that the sector brings to the market.
The road map details the actions for growth by outlining the funding available through the modern manufacturing strategy that has been announced today. The further details of funding and the overall strategy are below.
Modern Manufacturing Strategy (MMS)
The Modern Manufacturing Strategy is an overarching strategy for three programs including the modern manufacturing initiative, manufacturing modernisation fund and the supply chain resilience initiative. The funding for today’s announcement relates to the modern manufacturing initiative.
The strategy relates to six sectors where the government seeks to boost manufacturing and funding is become available for each sector gradually. Today’s announcement relates only to the manufacturing sector of resources technology and critical minerals processing which is one of the six targeted sectors.
The aim of the program is to increase the manufacturing of rare earth materials and minerals that are mined here in Australia to create high value technology such as batteries, mining equipment or solar cells. For a detailed outline of the Modern Manufacturing Strategy, please see Barton Deakin’s previous brief on the topic here.
Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI)
The Modern Manufacturing Initiative is central to the Modern Manufacturing Strategy with $1.3 billion of funding. It aims to target six Australian sectors with an existing competitive advantage and to assist those areas in scaling up and commercialising. The initiative includes three separate streams of funding each with a different aim for the business. These streams are:
- The Manufacturing Collaboration Stream
This is business-to-business and business-to-research collaboration with funding. The Federal government shall fund a third of the costs of the project. This stream is not yet available however the government has announced that funding programs will be made available in the coming months.
- Manufacturing Translation Stream
This stream aims to support businesses to scale up and increase their competitiveness by aiding the translation of research and ideas into commercial outcomes.
Applications for this stream have opened today and close on 1 April 2021 at 5pm AEDT, see more details here.
- Manufacturing Integration Stream
This will focus on the integration of manufacturers into local and international supply chains and markets.
Applications for this stream have opened today and close on 1 April 2021 at 5pm AEDT, see more details here.
Funding and Applications
The manufacturing translation stream and the manufacturing integration stream have the same amounts of funding with identical conditions. The programs are both co-funded between the business and government with grants between $1 million to $20 million available for up to 50 per cent of the project costs.
Basic requirements for funding eligibility include the project to:
- be a business entity incorporated in Australia;
- be in the area of Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing; and
- have a minimum of $2 million in eligible project expenditure.
To see the further and more detailed eligibility requirements see the eligibility section of the program here.
For more information
- The Prime Minister’s Media Release
- Australia’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy
- Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Manufacturing Road Map
- Barton Deakin’s Brief on the Modern Manufacturing Strategy
For more information, contact David Alexander on +61 457 400 524, Grahame Morris on +61 411 222 680, Tahlia Robertson on +61 438 259 671, Cheryl Cartwright on +61 419 996 066 or Jack de Hennin on +61 424 828 127.