Submission to the Federal Government consultation on green metals

The UNSW SMaRT Centre contributed to the Australian Academy of Science's submission to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources consultation on Green metals - A Future Made in Australia: Unlocking Australia’s Green Iron, Steel, Alumina and Aluminium Opportunity.

Two of the seven references used in the Academy's submission are from the SMaRT Centre, which also highlighted an emphasis on ensuring materials assessments should look at the green metals supply chain holistically, from mine to end-use products to recycling, addressing every step in the process. 

This could include, for example, focusing on minimising environmental degradation during extraction, reducing energy consumption, water usage, and greenhouse gas emissions during processing and refining, prioritising the use of electric vehicles, solar panels, and green products, and emphasising recycling to reduce the need for new resource extraction. 

Read the submission

The Academy also published a webpage summary of the submission, while the SMaRT Centre itself also made a 17-page submission directly to the Department. 

Excerpt from SMaRT's own submission:

We support the intent of the consultation paper, however, we believe it has omitted a vital aspect to enhance and secure national capability and capacity for future green metals production. And that omission is that it fails to consider the “other” green elements related to metals production. The consultation paper only primarily considers the elements of renewable energy as a production power source and the use of scrap metals in the manufacturing process.

The vital element not included – and which is crucial when considering true sustainability and in creating a circular economy – is the ability to use a variety of waste resources as feedstock within the production and manufacturing processes of various metals. Indeed, the alignment of recycling and manufacturing with respect to metals is a concept that can most readily shift the sustainability dial for “unlocking Australia’s iron, steel, alumina and aluminium opportunity”. The ability to harness the vital materials needed for sovereign capability and renewable energy infrastructure and components is now even more important since the announcement by BHP to close its Australian nickel operations, in addition to foreshadowed copper mine closures.

It is essential we strive to develop a circular economy – or many localised circular economies – in which we keep materials in use for as long as possible via decentralised new green manufacturing technologies and use these recovered materials to establish new business supply chains. Using “waste as a resource” to build the components and infrastructure needed to electrify our communities is really the only effective safe and sustainable solution for green metals opportunities for Australia. Such an approach would help to create new jobs, along with other economic, social and environmental benefits.

Some emerging technologies and capabilities are available to reform much of the valuable materials contained in many of the “hard to recycle” waste types not subject to traditional waste and recycling processes, such as electronic waste (e-waste), and battery and PV wastes, as well as recovering metals and polymers from millions of tyres, mattresses, appliances and auto waste, into new products and manufacturing feedstock needed to create a truly viable, long terms and sustainable clean energy industry.

But what is missing is the practical, implementation stage for R&D for industrial application, so that existing university-developed technologies can be industrialised and scaled. By successfully piloting and implementing such technologies means local SMEs using these emerging capabilities can become part of new supply chains and help develop ‘green manufacturing’ capability by adopting solutions like those developed by the UNSW SMaRT Centre, such as our decentralised MICROfactorie^TM Technology solutions (including for Green Metals) for creating value from waste, especially at sites where wastes are located, as well as its Green Steel Polymer Injection Technology^TM.