Solar Auctions Surge by 229% in Q1 2024, Tender Activity Up 122%

Global Wind Installations Reached 1 TW Milestone in 2023

Funding and M&A Roundup: Nexamp Secures $520 Million

Project Finance Brief: Arevon Secures $352 Million for Posey Solar Project

Indian Oil Issues Empanelment Tender for Solar Power Projects

Southern Railway Seeks Bids for 1.2 MW Rooftop Solar Projects in Chennai

Husk Secures $4 Million from Electrifi to Scale up Mini Grids in Rural India

Doubling Transmission Capacity of Existing Grid Through Reconductoring: Report

Daily News Wrap-Up: BJP, Congress Bet Big on Renewables in Election Manifestos

As ISTS Waiver Nears End, Developers Need Extension Amid Lack of Substations


					<table id="amazon-polly-audio-table">
						<tr>
						<td id="amazon-polly-audio-tab">
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-label">Listen to this article</div>
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-container">
			<audio class="amazon-ai-player" id="amazon-ai-player" preload="none" controls   controlsList="nodownload" >
				<source type="audio/mpeg" src="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/amazon_polly_59854.mp3?version=1698321401">
			</audio>
		</div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-subscribe-tab"></div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-by-tab"></div>
						</td>
						</tr>
					</table><p>The Australian Government has announced an AU$2 billion (~$1.26 billion) expansion in financing critical minerals, including rare earths.</p>
<p>This expansion of the funding facility, announced by Prime Minister Albanese after the meeting of the Australia-United States Taskforce on Critical Minerals, takes the government&#8217;s value-adding investments in Australian resources to AU$6 billion (~$3.79 billion).</p>
<p>The funding facility,  managed by Export Finance Australia and funded with AU$2 billion (~$1.26 billion), supports projects aligned with Australia’s  Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030 by bridging gaps in private finance.</p>
<p>This expansion aligns with the Australian government&#8217;s commitment to establishing a secure critical minerals supply chain with the U.S., which is crucial for the manufacturing sectors of both countries.</p>
<p>Australia and the U.S. recently agreed to strengthen the critical minerals industry in a bid to diversify supply chains. This pact also allows Australian mineral and renewable energy suppliers to be treated as domestic suppliers under the U.S. Defense Production Act.</p>
<p>Australia, with ample critical minerals for renewables, can <u><a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/australia-can-rival-china-for-renewables-sector" target="_blank" rel="noopener">become</a></u> a global supply chain partner and China alternative, according to a report by the think tank Climate Energy Finance. The report recommended that Australia implement strong policy agendas like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the REPowerEU Plan in the European Union to endorse proposals of strategic national interest around the export and critical mineral mines.</p>
<p>In March, India and Australia advanced their Critical Minerals Investment Partnership, focusing on five projects, including lithium and cobalt, to develop supply chains for critical minerals processed in Australia to aid India&#8217;s electric vehicle manufacturing and emissions reduction objectives.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, China <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/china-curbs-export-graphite-ev-batteries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> temporary export controls on sensitive graphite products for electrical vehicle batteries, citing national security concerns, reflecting the global competition for critical minerals and supply chain security in the clean energy sectors.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn">
<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
<p style="height: 17px">
</div>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Australia Announces $1.26 Billion Financing to Boost Critical Minerals Sector


					<table id="amazon-polly-audio-table">
						<tr>
						<td id="amazon-polly-audio-tab">
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-label">Listen to this article</div>
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-container">
			<audio class="amazon-ai-player" id="amazon-ai-player" preload="none" controls   controlsList="nodownload" >
				<source type="audio/mpeg" src="http://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/amazon_polly_47774.mp3?version=1673860207">
			</audio>
		</div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-subscribe-tab"></div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-by-tab"></div>
						</td>
						</tr>
					</table><p>Significant deposits of rare earth elements which are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines are located in the Kiruna area, a Swedish government-owned mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (<a href="https://lkab.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LKAB</a>) said.</p>
<p>The company reported that this is the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe with mineral resources exceeding one million tonnes of rare earth oxides.</p>
<p>The rare earth elements in Per Geijer occur together with phosphorus in the mineral apatite, in what is mainly an iron ore deposit.</p>
<p>The identified deposits would be sufficient to meet a large part of the EU’s future demand for manufacturing the permanent magnets that are needed for electric vehicles and wind power turbines.</p>
<p>“This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region, and the Swedish people but also for Europe and the climate… it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition,” said Jan Moström, President and Group CEO of LKAB.</p>
<p>According to the European Commission’s assessment, the demand for rare earth elements for electric cars and wind turbines is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2030.</p>
<p>Currently, no rare earth elements are mined in Europe, coupled with expectations of a dramatic increase in demand as a result of electrification which runs the risk of global undersupply.</p>
<p>The continent is dependent on imports of these minerals, where China dominates the market, thereby increasing the vulnerability of European industry.</p>
<p>“Electrification, the EU’s self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine. We need to strengthen industrial value chains in Europe and create real opportunities for the electrification of our societies,” said Minister for Energy, Business and Industry, Ebba Busch.</p>
<p><strong>A Long Road to Mine</strong></p>
<p>It is expected to take at least another 10-15 years before the process of mining can begin and the delivery of raw materials to the market can take place.</p>
<p>A change in the permit process to ensure increased mining of rare raw materials in Europe becomes crucial for both the competitiveness of European industry and the climate transition said Moström of LKAB.</p>
<p>LKAB is currently exploring the deposits and their studies show an increase from 400 million tonnes of mineral resources with high iron content to over 500 million tonnes of existing operations in Kiruna.</p>
<p>Additionally, the deposit contains up to seven times the grade of phosphorus compared to the orebodies that LKAB mines in Kiruna today.</p>
<p>Phosphorus is one of three nutrients in mineral fertilizers necessary for food production and is on the EU’s list of critical minerals.</p>
<p>LKAB has started to prepare a drift, several km long, at a depth of approximately 700 meters in the existing Kiruna mine to be able to investigate it in detail but has not been able to see the full extent of the deposit.</p>
<p>However, promising results from the ongoing exploration in Kiruna and Gällivare were presented.</p>
<p>Last year in July, the European Commission <a href="https://mercomindia.com/european-commission-invest-1-8-billion-innovative-clean-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> it would invest €1.8 billion (~$1.804 billion) in 17 large-scale innovative clean energy projects worldwide.</p>
<p>In 2020, the World Bank Group <a href="https://mercomindia.com/mineral-demand-soar-renewable-world-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a report that said demand for key minerals used in clean energy technology could grow almost 500% by 2050 to meet growing demand.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Sweden Finds Large Rare Earth Metals Deposits Used in EVs and Wind Turbines

rare-earth-metals

Get the most relevant India solar and clean energy news.

RECENT POSTS