Taiko Critical Minerals and Westland Minerals Sands eye slice of $80m regional infrastructure fund

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Resources Minister Shane Jones said in a statement the move is tied to “increasing interest by a number of countries in securing supplies of critical minerals and rare earths”.

The Government has confirmed it is in talks with the United States to establish a framework for co-operation on critical minerals. It has not disclosed what elements this might contain, including any specific investment commitments.

However, an agreement struck between the US and Australia on critical minerals last year included an undertaking by each country to invest US$1b to help beef up critical minerals strategic reserves. The countries also committed to curb China’s acquisition of new mining assets.

The Government’s funding announcement coincided with a considerable blow to its hopes to build the country’s critical minerals production.

Trans-Tasman formally notified the Environmental Protection Authority of its withdrawal of the Taranaki VTM project for fast-track consideration.

The company had aimed to mine 5 million metric tonnes of vanadium-rich titanomagnetite from ironsands from the Taranaki seabed.

The withdrawal was not a surprise and follows a draft decision from the fast-track panel rejecting Trans-Tasman’s plan.

Critical minerals are those widely considered economically and geopolitically important, especially in an age of high-tech manufacturing, high-tech weaponry and huge increases in electrification.

Taiko Critical Minerals has resource consents to mine mineral sands from ancient onshore beach deposits near Greymouth and to build a nearby mineral separation plant.*

It expects to list on the NZX within weeks and it also plans to expand its consented acreage through a fast-track application for consents in April.

Taiko’s mineral resource estimate across part of its proposed project area identifies the valuable heavy minerals ilmenite, garnet and zircon, and indicates some gold.

WMS currently has a small surface mine south of Westport and plans to expand the mining operation to a larger area near Hokitika and build a mineral processing facility to better capture the value of the resource, currently exported as a bulky heavy mineral concentrate.

WMS targets ilmenite, zirconium, garnet and sand, as well as rare earth elements (REE).

All but garnet are on New Zealand’s list of 37 critical minerals (ilmenite is a primary ore for producing titanium, which is listed, and zirconium is derived from zircon).

Not all of New Zealand’s listed critical minerals overlap with those prioritised by potential partner countries such as the US and Australia: Kiwi one-off idiosyncrasies include metallurgical coal, gold, aggregate and sand.

The first minerals to be the focus of Australia’s Strategic Reserve of stockpiled minerals are antimony, gallium and rare earth elements, all of which are important for clean-energy, high-tech manufacturing and advanced military equipment.

Canadian mining company Rua Gold and Australian-based Siren Gold are targeting antimony alongside gold prospects on the South Island.

Simon Delander, Rua’s vice-president risk stakeholder regulatory affairs, told the Herald the company is considering applying for funding from the new RIF allocation.

He said any application would likely focus on research and development and antimony ore processing, which is not currently done in New Zealand.

Siren CEO Zane Padman also welcomed the ring-fenced funding as a “great initiative” and said the company would consider making an application.

*This story has been updated, it previously said Taiko has a partially-consented mine plan.