Mining new opportunities with the Republic of Korea
On 4 June, the Hub hosted a workshop in Perth with a visiting Korean delegation, led by Dr Kyeong Woo Chung and Dr Sujeong Lee from the Korea Institute for Geosciences and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), which included representatives from the Korean Ministry of Trade, industry and Energy (MOTIE), the Korea Maritime and Ocean University and POSCO Holdings.
KIGAM plays a central role in advancing Korea’s strategy for securing critical mineral supply chains, and its research spans laboratory-scale analysis to pilot-scale processing, including cutting-edge hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical methods and environmentally responsible recovery technologies
The workshop was attended by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and all Hub agency partners (CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and ANSTO) and explored opportunities to promote technical cooperation – one of the four pillars of the Korea-Australia MOU on Critical Minerals Cooperation of April 2022.
The workshop showcased Australia’s critical minerals research capabilities, including projects funded by the Hub, and considered ways to leverage complementarities between Australia as a minerals producer and Korea as a resource constrained country with a mature electric vehicle industry. The workshop outcomes included a commitment to undertake collaborative research projects that are of mutual strategic interest to both countries.
While at the CSIRO Waterford site, the Korean delegation toured the Cathode Precursor Production Pilot Plant, which is demonstrating Australia’s ability to produce precursor cathode active material (pCAM) for the battery industry, and CSIRO’s graphite purification facility, which is developing and scaling up methods to purify natural graphite for use in battery anodes.
The Hub also sponsored the Australia-Korea CSIRO/KIGAM Joint Symposium in Perth on 3 June which builds on a long-standing relationship between the two science institutes. The Symposium was attended by close to 80 participants and focused on rare earth collaboration. The event included presentations from the research institutes, as well as academics and PhD students.
The Hub is now preparing for a science mission to Korea from 30 June to 5 July, which will build on this momentum. The Australian delegation will comprise 13 representatives from the science agencies and Australian universities and the program will have a mid-stream processing focus and include meetings and tours with Korean industry, universities and a reciprocal visit to KIGAM.
The visit will build connections with key research and industry players in supply chains for Australian critical minerals. The group will also participate in Money Today News (MTN), an annual forum on Australia, which this year will focus on the theme of the battery value chain.
