[ferro-alloys.com]A major report on the future of Australia’s mining sector has backed industry calls for State and Federal governments to help invest in downstream processing of battery minerals and provide the next generation of high-tech jobs in WA and across the nation.

The Resources 2030 Taskforce report, to be delivered to Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan today, recommends the Federal Government act quickly to help develop “strategic plans” to ensure Australia refines the commodities it mines and moves up the manufacturing chain to produce higher value products.

The report supports the arguments of WA’s lithium and nickel producers, who have been pushing the Federal Government to help support industry efforts to establish a new industry producing higher value components for lithium batteries.

The WA Government established its own taskforce to develop a local strategy, due to report late this year, and the Resources 2030 report says the Federal Government should work towards the same outcome.

“The benefit to Australia of large-scale resources development has been enormous and there’s weight behind the argument to extend this beyond just extraction and into infrastructure development and commercial downstream processing,” the report says.

The Federal Government is not expected to respond to the report’s recommendations immediately but Senator Canavan said it provided the basis for the first long-term plan for Australia’s resource sector in 20 years.

“The mining boom is not over,” he said. “However, the taskforce’s report shows that future opportunities will not fall into our lap. We cannot let complacency turn into missed opportunity.”

The report also recommends the Federal Government work with the States and mining companies to expand the work of Geoscience Australia to help build a national exploration database and make it quicker and easier for junior explorers to find new mineral deposits in under-explored regions.

• [Editor:王可]