Albanese unlocks his Future Made in Australia plans with critical minerals

The Prime Minister will travel to Gladstone in Central Queensland to announce $400 million in new loans for local company Alpha HPA to deliver Australia's first processing facility for the critical mineral, high-purity alumina. The mineral is used in applications such as LED lighting, semiconductors, and lithium-ion batteries required for electric vehicles and renewable energy.

The government has also ticked off $185 million for Adelaide-based Renascor Resources to fast-track the early development of its Siviour Graphite Project in South Australia. It adds to an original loan that was approved in February 2022. Purified graphite is used in lithium-ion batteries.

Just last week, Mr Albanese unveiled plans for a Future Made in Australia Act, proposing taxpayer-funded incentives to underwrite new investment in clean energy and local manufacturing before the year is out.

"We are building a future made in Australia with secure jobs in our regions. Today we are demonstrating what that means here in Gladstone and in South Australia," he said in a statement.

"The global race for new jobs and new opportunities is on. Our government wants Australia to be in it to win it.

"These two critical minerals projects will help secure good and secure jobs in manufacturing, and clean, reliable energy."

Stating there is not "unlimited time" and there is a moment of opportunity that will pass, Mr Albanese had last Thursday flagged a commitment to backing all that is homegrown in a local version of the US Inflation Reduction Act.

He had warned that "sharper elbows" will be needed and the government must evolve and "break with old orthodoxies" if Australia is to advance in a "profoundly" challenging decade ahead.

The Alpha HPA plans, boosted by the loan, are expected to create around 490 jobs during construction and more than 200 jobs on completion, while the company plans to use Australian owned IP and technology to process the alumina.

The funding to be announced by the Prime Minister, with Queensland Premier Steven Mile by his side, will be financed by the government's $4 billion Critical Minerals Facility as well as others.

"My government has backed Alpha HPA from the very beginning, by providing State Development Land for this critical minerals facility, more than $21 million in funding to get stage 2 of the Alpha HPA First project off the ground and a $30 million investment to assist Alpha in making sapphire glass, right here in Gladstone," Mr Miles said.

Stage one of the Renascor Resources project is expected to deliver around 150 construction jobs and 125 jobs once operational in Arno Bay on the Eyre Peninsula.

The Critical Minerals Facility has now backed projects in Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.