Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A re elected federal Labor government has promised to set
up a national reserve of critical minerals by offering voluntary
agreements to operations to buy some of their output to
create a national stockpile. We know the Northern Territory is
incredibly rich in critical minerals, with a number of projects
nearing a final investment decision. And joining me in the
(00:20):
studio to talk a little bit more about this is
the Minerals Council of the Northern Territory's executive director, Catherine Tillmouth.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning to you, Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now tell me
is a national reserve a good idea.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Look, we are yet to see all the details of
the strategic sorry the reserve ye announcement that was made
before the election. But what we do know is the
Northern Territory does have seventeen critical minerals. Don't ask me
to name them all of the Domamain.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's not a science exam this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Of the top of my head. But look, this could
be a really good opportunity for the Northern Territory. We
do have, as you said, a lot of projects that
are looking to get off the ground. What this scheme
looks at is securing the critical minerals for the security
of Australia, creating some stop piling for the Australia, creating
(01:21):
some off take agreements with these companies. You know, this
could be something that a huge player in the Northern
Territory like OURFURA could participate in and so securing that
off take, so having Australia be a customer rather than
looking at an overseas buyer. So that's potentially what they're
(01:42):
looking at. You know, the details haven't been worked out yet,
they haven't really figured out which of the critical minerals
could be a player. So you know, potentially this could
be a really really good thing for the Northern Territory.
But the things that also need to be considered, especially
in place like the Northern Territory, is in all order
for this to work, the framework for these projects, the
(02:04):
things that have been a hurdle for them getting off
the ground are still in place. So you know, energy
security electricity is still a big, a big ticket item
for these projects. You need to have affordable, reliable energy.
You need to be able to get through the approvals processes,
jump through those hoots and get things off the ground,
(02:27):
you know, you still need to be able to get
your project from start to finish feasibility and those things
haven't changed.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And they need to happen in a reasonable amount of time,
which we know over the years here in the Northern
Territory has not been the case, right Like some of
these approvals processes have been taking years.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Oh absolutely, And if you're an investor, you know you
still need to be able to attract an investor to
these projects. So if you're investor and you're looking at
a project, even if it is now you know, looking
at potentially Australia being a cut stomer yep and going wow,
critical minerals Austraia might be a customer for that. If
it's going to take a very long time to get
(03:06):
a Northern Territory project up, you might look at maybe
a critical minerals in Western Australia or Queensland, those sorts
of things. So you're still looking at that same sort
of framework. So that's while we're we're looking at the
Labor government being in power again, we just wanting to
make sure that there's no surprises now that they're in
government again that they haven't changed the goalpost that they're
(03:27):
not going to make things harder, that there's not going
to be another approvals hope to jump through, that they're
not going to change anything that they haven't announced prior
to government or prior to their spectacular win on the
weekend coming in, that's going to make things in their
Northern territory harder than it already kind of has.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, So when it comes to I mean, when you
look at those approvals processes and you look at what
some of what we're dealing with here in the Northern Territory,
do you think that comes more from the federal or
the local approvals processes in some ways or is it
sort of a combination of bot.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It's definitely a combination of both. You've got the EPBC,
which definitely covers both. Some of the things that were
talked about prior to the election were things like the
nature positive legislation and the potential for a national EPA.
So that's an overarching over the top. So that's for
things like the EPBC where you would have the federal
(04:23):
government have an overarching say over things, and you know
we have that lovely we are a territory. So Camber
can takeover.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Which could be really difficult for us. Then with some
of these projects, I mean, do you think the fact
that the Labour Party though has won on such a
huge majority and they don't look at like they're not
reliant in any way, shape or form on the Teals
or the Greens, do you think that that potentially helps
them in terms of just being able to get moving
and not feeling like they're being held to ransom. I
(04:54):
know that's playing politics a little bit gap. You might
not want to get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, well, look I know you and I have once
upon a time in previous life, played in the played
in the other the space a little bit. You know,
it may come down to decisions of who's made, who
gets to be the minister, and the faction, the bits
and pieces that play into that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, look, we can only hope that we sort of
see some of these things. You know, nobody is saying
that you want approvals processes to be so easy that
there aren't environmental concerns looked at. Absolutely needs to put corners. Yeah,
no one's trying to cut corners, but you don't want
to make it so difficult that people are questioning whether
to do business in the Northern Way. Absolutely, So tell
(05:39):
me in terms of you know this looking at the
National Reserve, I mean, what did it effectively mean that
minds like that we're sort of underwriting minds by guaranteeing
demand or.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Pretty much it's it's it's a customer. You know, when
you're making those sort of business decisions, you need to
know that you've got somebody at the end that's going
to buy your product. So if you're part of that system,
I suppose, as I said, the details still need to
be worked out and not to be worked out by
the federal government, but it would sure up that you've
at the end of the day, you've got a customer
(06:13):
for your product, which is part of the difficulty of
making business decision that somebody's going to buy what you're making.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yep. So Kat, in terms of now sort of moving
forward for the Northern Territory's minerals sector, I guess it's
a wait and see who ends up the minister and
then potential sitting down with them and you know, talking
them through the huge projects that we could have getting
underway in the NT and the benefits to the rest
of Australia.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, definitely, you know and I think that's going to
be I suppose one of the benefits of having Luke
Gosling being re elected. You know, he's very familiar with
all the projects that we have in the NTS, very
very very familiar with with I suppose everything Northern Territory
being in his role as the Member for Solomon for
such a long time, so his job will be definitely
(07:01):
to fly the flag for the NT in that caucus room,
and you know with whatever role he gets within that
room is to do that alongside business and alongside industry.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, we'll wait and see. Minerals Council of the Northern
Territory's executive director, Catherine Tilmouth, good to catch up with
you this morning. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Excellent. Thank you, Katie,
A re elected federal Labor government has promised to set
up a national reserve of critical minerals by offering voluntary
agreements to operations to buy some of their output to
create a national stockpile. We know the Northern Territory is
incredibly rich in critical minerals, with a number of projects
nearing a final investment decision. And joining me in the
(00:20):
studio to talk a little bit more about this is
the Minerals Council of the Northern Territory's executive director, Catherine Tillmouth.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning to you, Good morning Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now tell me
is a national reserve a good idea.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Look, we are yet to see all the details of
the strategic sorry the reserve ye announcement that was made
before the election. But what we do know is the
Northern Territory does have seventeen critical minerals. Don't ask me
to name them all of the Domamain.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's not a science exam this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Of the top of my head. But look, this could
be a really good opportunity for the Northern Territory. We
do have, as you said, a lot of projects that
are looking to get off the ground. What this scheme
looks at is securing the critical minerals for the security
of Australia, creating some stop piling for the Australia, creating
(01:21):
some off take agreements with these companies. You know, this
could be something that a huge player in the Northern
Territory like OURFURA could participate in and so securing that
off take, so having Australia be a customer rather than
looking at an overseas buyer. So that's potentially what they're
(01:42):
looking at. You know, the details haven't been worked out yet,
they haven't really figured out which of the critical minerals
could be a player. So you know, potentially this could
be a really really good thing for the Northern Territory.
But the things that also need to be considered, especially
in place like the Northern Territory, is in all order
for this to work, the framework for these projects, the
(02:04):
things that have been a hurdle for them getting off
the ground are still in place. So you know, energy
security electricity is still a big, a big ticket item
for these projects. You need to have affordable, reliable energy.
You need to be able to get through the approvals processes,
jump through those hoots and get things off the ground,
(02:27):
you know, you still need to be able to get
your project from start to finish feasibility and those things
haven't changed.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And they need to happen in a reasonable amount of time,
which we know over the years here in the Northern
Territory has not been the case, right Like some of
these approvals processes have been taking years.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Oh absolutely, And if you're an investor, you know you
still need to be able to attract an investor to
these projects. So if you're investor and you're looking at
a project, even if it is now you know, looking
at potentially Australia being a cut stomer yep and going wow,
critical minerals Austraia might be a customer for that. If
it's going to take a very long time to get
(03:06):
a Northern Territory project up, you might look at maybe
a critical minerals in Western Australia or Queensland, those sorts
of things. So you're still looking at that same sort
of framework. So that's while we're we're looking at the
Labor government being in power again, we just wanting to
make sure that there's no surprises now that they're in
government again that they haven't changed the goalpost that they're
(03:27):
not going to make things harder, that there's not going
to be another approvals hope to jump through, that they're
not going to change anything that they haven't announced prior
to government or prior to their spectacular win on the
weekend coming in, that's going to make things in their
Northern territory harder than it already kind of has.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, So when it comes to I mean, when you
look at those approvals processes and you look at what
some of what we're dealing with here in the Northern Territory,
do you think that comes more from the federal or
the local approvals processes in some ways or is it
sort of a combination of bot.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It's definitely a combination of both. You've got the EPBC,
which definitely covers both. Some of the things that were
talked about prior to the election were things like the
nature positive legislation and the potential for a national EPA.
So that's an overarching over the top. So that's for
things like the EPBC where you would have the federal
(04:23):
government have an overarching say over things, and you know
we have that lovely we are a territory. So Camber
can takeover.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Which could be really difficult for us. Then with some
of these projects, I mean, do you think the fact
that the Labour Party though has won on such a
huge majority and they don't look at like they're not
reliant in any way, shape or form on the Teals
or the Greens, do you think that that potentially helps
them in terms of just being able to get moving
and not feeling like they're being held to ransom. I
(04:54):
know that's playing politics a little bit gap. You might
not want to get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, well, look I know you and I have once
upon a time in previous life, played in the played
in the other the space a little bit. You know,
it may come down to decisions of who's made, who
gets to be the minister, and the faction, the bits
and pieces that play into that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, look, we can only hope that we sort of
see some of these things. You know, nobody is saying
that you want approvals processes to be so easy that
there aren't environmental concerns looked at. Absolutely needs to put corners. Yeah,
no one's trying to cut corners, but you don't want
to make it so difficult that people are questioning whether
to do business in the Northern Way. Absolutely, So tell
(05:39):
me in terms of you know this looking at the
National Reserve, I mean, what did it effectively mean that
minds like that we're sort of underwriting minds by guaranteeing
demand or.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Pretty much it's it's it's a customer. You know, when
you're making those sort of business decisions, you need to
know that you've got somebody at the end that's going
to buy your product. So if you're part of that system,
I suppose, as I said, the details still need to
be worked out and not to be worked out by
the federal government, but it would sure up that you've
at the end of the day, you've got a customer
(06:13):
for your product, which is part of the difficulty of
making business decision that somebody's going to buy what you're making.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yep. So Kat, in terms of now sort of moving
forward for the Northern Territory's minerals sector, I guess it's
a wait and see who ends up the minister and
then potential sitting down with them and you know, talking
them through the huge projects that we could have getting
underway in the NT and the benefits to the rest
of Australia.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, definitely, you know and I think that's going to
be I suppose one of the benefits of having Luke
Gosling being re elected. You know, he's very familiar with
all the projects that we have in the NTS, very
very very familiar with with I suppose everything Northern Territory
being in his role as the Member for Solomon for
such a long time, so his job will be definitely
(07:01):
to fly the flag for the NT in that caucus room,
and you know with whatever role he gets within that
room is to do that alongside business and alongside industry.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, we'll wait and see. Minerals Council of the Northern
Territory's executive director, Catherine Tilmouth, good to catch up with
you this morning. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Excellent. Thank you, Katie,
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