NSW Minerals Strategy
NSW’s significant mineral potential
Global demand for metals is growing. High technology industries require a broad range of elements for smartphones, electric cars, solar panels, batteries, satellites and other applications that are increasingly all around us. Fuelled also by a growing world population, the demand for many minerals is already outstripping supply.
NSW has a diverse range of untapped minerals, including some very rare deposits, and a thriving metal mining industry. Combined with highly skilled workers and world-leading safety and environmental standards, NSW is well positioned to be a major exporter of ‘high technology’ minerals.
A growing minerals industry in NSW will have widespread benefits. As well as creating many thousands of jobs, especially across regional NSW, everyone benefits from the royalties paid that support essential services like schools, hospitals and transport.
About the Minerals Strategy
The NSW Minerals Strategy (PDF, 1.83 MB) aims to unlock the state’s metals potential. Through better data, improved communication, supporting a skilled workforce and an effective and efficient regulation and services, the government will promote investment in metals mining in this state.
The NSW Minerals Strategy builds on this government’s response to the 2015 Minerals Industry Action Plan. It clearly signals that NSW is very much open for business when it comes to sustainable development of the state’s mineral resources.
This strategy focuses on metals with high technology applications including:
- copper, silver and gold
- rare earth elements, including scandium
- platinum group elements
- cobalt, lithium, titanium and zirconium.
This strategy focuses on metal minerals rather than fossil fuels.
Download the NSW Minerals Strategy (PDF, 1.83 MB) (1.75MB PDF)
The Mineral Strategy’s goals
This strategy will help support the sustainable growth of the minerals industry and ensure NSW is well placed to benefit from the increasing global demand for metals.
These actions are summarised in six key themes:
- providing data and information
- improving authorising services
- promoting investment in NSW
- ensuring best practice regulation
- improving communication and engagement
- supporting a skilled and diverse workforce.
NSW High-tech Metals Map
The strategy is accompanied by a NSW High-Tech Metals Map. This is a new product, produced by the Geological Survey of NSW, which highlights the areas of NSW that currently produce, or have the potential to produce, high-tech metals.
Geological Survey of NSW review
One of the actions in the NSW Minerals Strategy is to conduct a review of the Geological Survey of NSW (GSNSW) work program.
Mining, Exploration and Geoscience (MEG), formerly the Division of Resources and Geoscience, commissioned an independent review of GSNSW in 2019. The aims of the review included an assessment of GSNSW’s roles, products and services to determine whether they are delivering the best public value.
The review included a comparison of GSNSW with geological surveys in other Australian jurisdictions and consultation with NSW Government, industry, research and other stakeholders.
The review is largely positive, finding GSNSW produces high quality, objective products and services as well as trusted expert advice that for the most part delivers public value to NSW.
The review makes seven recommendations, including recommending the publication of an overarching strategy for GSNSW, and a change to GSNSW’s structure. MEG supports or partly supports all the review recommendations.