Australia, a superpower exporter of iron ore and coal with rich mining traditions believes it is well-placed to join the race to exploit minerals that provide critical parts for electric vehicles and wind turbines.

“This could certainly be a game-changer for Australia. We are relatively well-endowed in rare earth elements,” says Gavin Lockyer, managing director of Arafura Resources.

“This could really put Australia front and centre in the renewable sector.

“It is relatively easy to discover a rare earths deposit. What is difficult is finding a deposit that has economic quantities of the valuable materials.”

Rare earths are a collection of more than a dozen elements on the periodic table. They are not particularly rare, but actually fairly plentiful in the Earth’s crust.

Geoscience Australia, a government research agency, says they have broad industrial, medical, domestic and strategic applications “because of their unique catalytic, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and luminescent properties”.

They are used in “magnets and super magnets, motors, metal alloys, electronic and computing equipment, batteries, catalytic converters, petroleum refining, medical imaging and lasers”.

Europium is found in fluorescent lighting, gadolinium in nuclear power rods and ytterbium in solar panels.