The Federal Government has announced that antimony and gallium will play a central part in its $1.2 billion critical minerals strategic reserve.
The past few years have seen the development of a growing number of critical minerals and rare earths projects across Australia, as industry and investors have moved quickly to meet surging global demand.
A flurry of trade and diplomatic activity over the past year has reinforced the importance of critical minerals in building high-tech economies, while the need to secure resilient supply chains for Australia’s trading partners has further fuelled growth across the sector.
The signing of the US–Australia Critical Minerals Framework agreement last year provided another huge boost to the sector.
Here are five promising gallium- and antimony-focused projects, at various stages of development, currently underway across the country.
Alcoa’s WA gallium project
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described Alcoa’s planned gallium recovery project at Wagerup in Western Australia as a “game-changing” development for Australia’s critical minerals sector, highlighting its potential to significantly boost domestic processing capability.
The project centres on establishing a dedicated gallium processing facility co-located with Alcoa’s existing alumina refinery, extracting gallium — a strategic metal used in semiconductors, defence systems and advanced technologies — from bauxite processing streams.
The facility is backed by a trilateral partnership involving the Australian government, the United States and Japan, with up to $200 million in concessional equity financing from Canberra and expected equity support from Washington to help bring the project into operation.
Victory’s North Stanmore project
Victory Metals announced in March last year that it had successfully produced gallium in its final mixed rare earth carbonate product from the North Stanmore project in Western Australia.
The company has since strengthened its strategic partnership with one of Japan’s leading trading houses to advance the North Stanmore heavy rare earth project, moving beyond an earlier memorandum of understanding to a more defined agreement.
A non-binding letter of intent has been entered into with Sumitomo Corporation, marking what Victory has described as a transformational step and building on a non-binding memorandum of understanding signed in December 2024. The partnership is focused on future cooperation and offtake of mixed rare earth carbonate, with both parties aiming to progress toward pilot-scale product testing and early sales ahead of full commercial production.
Larvotto’s Hillgrove gold-antimony project
Larvotto Resources has revitalised the historic Hillgrove underground mine in northern New South Wales, marking a major milestone as underground development activities resume after years of dormancy.
The company has undertaken decline and lateral development across multiple underground zones as part of an initial four-year program, building on existing infrastructure where ore is already developed and ready for stoping.
This work represents a key step toward restarting operations and delivering antimony-rich ore to the processing plant, with the project on track to begin production in 2026.
Nyrstar’s Port Pirie processing plant
Multi-metal producer Nyrstar has achieved Australia’s first commercial antimony production milestone, successfully casting its first antimony metal from a pilot plant at its Port Pirie multi-metals facility in South Australia.
The project repurposes existing lead smelting infrastructure to recover and refine antimony, marking an important step in building domestic processing capability for the critical mineral.
Initial batches of antimony metal are expected to be exported in the first half of 2026, with production targeted to ramp up to 2000 tonnes per annum by the end of 2026 and potential expansion to 5000 tonnes per annum by 2028.
Black Cat’s Halls Peak project
Black Cat Syndicate is positioning itself to capitalise on rising antimony prices by advancing its Halls Peak project in New South Wales, where antimony-rich mineralisation has been confirmed alongside silver, zinc and copper.
Recent drilling has highlighted substantial widths of antimony-bearing veins, bolstering confidence in the project’s potential to host a commercially viable antimony resource.
The company plans to use the results to refine geological models, expand drilling and define higher-confidence mineral resources that could underpin future production, reflecting the project’s strategic importance amid tightening global supply and elevated market interest in critical minerals.