Our opportunity for success

Queensland stands at the intersection of two powerful global trends:

• accelerating global demand for critical minerals and the value-added products they enable, supporting advanced manufacturing, defence capability, energy systems, digital technologies and emerging industries
• a fundamental restructuring of global supply chains.

For decades, international supply chains were built around cost and efficiency. Today, governments and industries are placing equal emphasis on domestic capability in processing and manufacturing, and the need to secure resilient global supply chains with trusted partners.

These trends are driving unprecedented investment.

Governments across North America, Europe and Asia are deploying hundreds of billions of dollars to secure access to the raw materials, processing capability and manufacturing capacity needed to support their future economic growth and national security objectives.

Queensland is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these opportunities.

How we can deliver

At the heart of this opportunity is Queensland's North West Minerals Province, home to an estimated $700 billion in resource potential—one of Australia's most transformative prospects. This immense opportunity is underpinned by Queensland's growing competitive edge in a focused set of key commodities, where world-class geology meets advanced capabilities, surging global demand, and bold ambition.

Find out more about Queensland's critical minerals.

Existing assets such as the Townsville Zinc Refinery, Mount Isa Copper Smelter, Townsville Copper Refinery, Boyne Aluminium Smelter and extensive state government-owned ports, power generation and transport infrastructure provide strong foundations for future growth.

At the same time, projects such as CopperString, the Mount Isa regional transformation agenda and new oil and gas discoveries in the Taroom Trough and Denison Trough have the potential to unlock new investment, strengthen industrial capability and support long-term economic development across regional Queensland.

By harnessing our strengths, Queensland is asserting its position as a global leader in critical minerals, fuelling the development of new applications and products in industries like defence, advanced manufacturing and energy systems.

Read our Spotlight on how strategic partnerships are delivering opportunities for our critical minerals sector.

Last updated

29 July 2026

Last reviewed

28 July 2026