This report highlights the potential for Australia to become a major exporter of critical minerals products to meet growing industrial and technology needs.

This Productivity Commission study aims to identify effective regulatory approaches, highlight examples of best practice regulation in Australia and internationally, and examine where successful relationships have been developed between the resources sector and the communities in which resources companies operate.

Diversifying Western Australia’s economy to develop emerging new sectors including defence, lithium, big data and tourism would create more than 163,000 new jobs in Western Australia within the next five years, according to this report.

This research finds that the proposed Mulga Rock uranium mine is unlikely to be in the WA community interest. Aside from the environmental risks inherent in uranium mining, the feasibility study for the proposal uses improbable market scenarios and does not illustrate a credible range of project outcomes.

This report outlines environmental criteria that mine operators can use to demonstrate they have successfully and sustainably rehabilitated their site after mining. While the new guidance primarily targets the resources sector, other industries can potentially use the guidance when undertaking ecological restoration.