Monash University launches critical minerals initiative

Monash University has announced a new cross-disciplinary research initiative focused on strengthening Australia’s critical minerals capability. The University says demand for critical minerals is surging, and geopolitical competition is intensifying, yet Australia’s processing capacity is falling behind, even as Australia is sitting on some of the world’s richest reserves of the critical minerals needed to power the global clean energy transition. However, exploration rates have fallen, processing capacity remains heavily concentrated offshore, and domestic capability is fragmented across institutions and sectors.

The Monash Critical Minerals Initiative (MCMI) brings together more than 40 researchers from the University’s faculties of Business and Economics, Science, Engineering and Arts. Its work spans the full minerals value chain, from resource discovery and extraction technologies to environmental stewardship, supply chain modelling, investment policy and social licence outcomes.

Professor Russell Smyth, Deputy Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Business and Economics, said the challenge could not be solved within a single discipline.

“The MCMI brings together expertise from across disciplines to help balance supply security with sustainability, ensuring that extraction, processing and recycling are efficient and responsible,” he said. “By drawing on the considerable expertise on critical minerals across Monash, the MCMI can tailor solutions that anticipate market volatility, reduce geopolitical risk, and accelerate the transition to clean energy technologies.”

The initiative is built around six research pillars: new mineral resources, future processing technologies, mine rehabilitation, environmental and social impact systems, policy and economics, and national security.

Researchers will work alongside partners including CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, Resources Victoria, the International Energy Agency, and the ARC Research Hub for Carbon Utilisation and Recycling.

Professor Sankar Bhattacharya, from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, said the initiative positions Monash as a leading Indo-Pacific hub for critical minerals research.

“Our focus is in developing and rapidly scaling-up fundamental scientific proof-of-concept into future processing technologies that are environmentally sustainable and economically feasible,” Bhattacharya said. “This confidence is backed by our publications and patents harnessing critical metals from low-value and legacy wastes from other industries.”

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