Urban mining to diversify Australia's critical metal supply chain
Rare earth elements (REEs) — comprising the 15 lanthanides, along with scandium and yttrium, are essential to modern technology. Often described as the “vitamins of the 21st century industry”, these metals play a critical role in sectors ranging from renewable energy and national defence to semiconductors and consumer electronics, including smartphones and electric vehicles. The global REE market is currently valued at approximately US$12 billion, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3%, reflecting their increasing strategic and economic importance.
For decades, a handful of countries has maintained a dominant position in the global supply chain, accounting for approximately 70% of worldwide production. However, recent geopolitical tensions and trade disputes have exposed the fragility of this dependence, prompting a re-evaluation of global sourcing strategies. The strategic importance of these materials has rendered their supply highly politicised and increasingly monopolised by a limited number of processing nations, underscoring the urgent need for diversified and resilient supply chains.
Australia plays a pivotal role in this landscape, accounting for 5.14% of global REE production and holding around 4% of the world’s reserves. It ranks as the fourth-largest producer after China, the United States and Myanmar. China continues to dominate the midstream and downstream segments of the value chain, controlling nearly 90% of global refining capacity and over 50% of downstream applications.
The extraction and separation of rare earth elements demand advanced technical expertise and sophisticated infrastructure, rendering it a high-barrier industry. In response, resource-rich nations such as Australia are prioritising the development of independent processing capabilities to reduce strategic vulnerabilities. The Australian Government, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and supported by the Hon. Madeleine King (Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia), has committed AU$22 million to advance domestic REE processing infrastructure.
Currently, global demand is met primarily through the commercial mining of rare earth-rich ores. However, these resources are finite and insufficient to sustain long-term demand, with projections suggesting only two to three decades of viable production at current rates. This raises two critical questions: what volume of REEs is available in national stockpiles? And how can Australia safeguard its economic interests in an increasingly competitive global landscape?
In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, national self-sufficiency and resource sovereignty are paramount. It is therefore imperative to conserve Australia’s limited natural endowment while strategically diversifying supply chains, investing in technological innovation and embedding circularity into resource management systems.
Motivated by the imperative to develop sustainable critical mineral supply chains, two researchers at Monash University have pioneered an environmentally responsible process for extracting REEs from secondary resources. These secondary resources — comprising end-of-life products and legacy industrial waste — form the basis of what is known as urban mining. Bennet Thomas and Professor Sankar Bhattacharya, from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, have developed a novel, provisionally patented process that recovers REEs from mine tailings, coal fly ash and electronic waste. Their approach integrates first principles of thermodynamics and mass and energy balance to achieve high extraction efficiencies across all 17 REEs, while significantly reducing environmental impact.
In their recent publication in Hydrometallurgy and Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, the researchers demonstrate the viability of using coal fly ash — a low-cost, abundant waste by-product — as a feedstock for REE recovery. In Victoria alone, approximately 1.3 million tonnes of brown coal fly ash have been generated annually since the late 19th century, much of it stored in ash dams. Remarkably, the REE concentrations in some of these ashes are comparable to those found in commercially mined ores, yet without the radioactive by-products typically associated with uranium and thorium found in REE mineral ores. This makes urban mining not only environmentally advantageous but also commercially compelling.
Their process has the potential to produce an additional 45,000 tonnes of REEs per year from coal fly ash alone — more than double of Australia’s total REE output in 2021 (19,958 tonnes), and nearly one-third of China’s production (~152,407 tonnes), the current global leader. This innovation could position Australia to play a transformative role in reshaping the global rare earth supply chain.
The process technology developed by Thomas and Bhattacharya represents an engineering breakthrough, with laboratory-scale results demonstrating good efficiency in REE recovery. Initially developed at a 100 mL reaction scale, the team has scaled the process to 30 L with over 90% extraction of rare earth metals into leachate. The work has won Thomas a prestigious Victorian Royal Society Young Scientist prize. Further processing of leachate has so far resulted in 40% separation of selected rare earth metals. The team is currently finalising the engineering design for continuous operations at the 100-litre scale with plans to construct a demonstration facility at Monash University, marking a critical step towards commercialisation. The results will enable credible economic analysis.
At this pivotal stage, the researchers are actively seeking engagement with investors and government stakeholders to initiate strategic dialogues. The team is collaborating with multiple partners to advance the technology and facilitate its deployment within Australian markets, contributing to national efforts to build a resilient and sovereign rare earth supply chain.
Deakin and Country Road create high-value fine Merino yarn
Deakin University has partnered with Aussie brand Country Road to trial a fully domestic process...
Closing the sustainability gap
Despite growing momentum behind sustainability, and increasing needs for security, infrastructure...
Smart device captures water from air using sun's energy
A sponge-like device developed by RMIT University is said to capture and store water from thin...
