NSW investment opportunities

New South Wales (NSW) as an investment destination for safe and sustainable exploration and mining

A key priority for the NSW Government is establishing NSW as a world leader for investment in safe and sustainable exploration and mining.

NSW has a diverse range of untapped critical minerals and high-tech metals, including some very rare deposits, and a thriving metalliferous mining industry. Combined with highly skilled workers and world-leading safety and environmental standards, NSW is well positioned to be a major exporter of responsibly sourced and value-added critical minerals and high tech-metals.

Why invest in NSW?

		Significant critical mineral and high-tech metal potential NSW has significant critical minerals and high-tech metal resources with an abundance of copper, cobalt, silver, rare earth elements, scandium and other critical minerals to meet increasing demand for current and future technologies to enable renewable energy opportunities.
		Extensive mineral endowment NSW is ranked first nationally in economic demonstrated resources of scandium and niobium, ranked second for copper and silver, and ranked third for cobalt, lead, nickel and zinc. Our state also has a long history of gold discoveries and mining.
		NSW is largely underexplored Geologically, there remains significant untapped potential in New South Wales, with less than 7% of all drilling for minerals across the state at depths greater than 150 metres, leaving untested potential at depth.
		Well-developed geological survey programs and data The NSW Government has a well-developed understanding of the state’s minerals potential with a wealth of pre-competitive data, and provides industry assistance during the project development phase.
		Strong ESG credentials Mines developed in NSW have strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, with high environmental standards and mining regulatory governance that promotes positive long-term relationships with communities.
		NSW Renewable Energy Zones Five Renewable Energy Zones will provide significant amounts of energy close to mining operations across NSW, unlocking up to 3,000 MW of new network capacity in the Central West-Orana region alone.
		Strong METS sector NSW has a mature METS sector, with at least 25% of Australian METS headquartered in NSW.
		Skilled workforce NSW has a strong workforce, with about 30,000 people employed in the mining industry, and a large pool of skilled workers in industries with transferrable skills across regional NSW.

NSW critical minerals and high-tech metals investment-ready projects

Download the Critical minerals and high-tech metals in NSW map (PDF, 10.4 MB)

NSW Mining Investor Register

The NSW Mining Investor Register (edition 2, 2022) provides information on several non-coal mining projects in NSW that have a reported resource, have completed or are completing a scoping study (at minimum), and have commenced the approvals process to obtain a development consent and a mining lease. 

Download the NSW Mining Investor Register (PDF, 9.32 MB) (English version)

NSW州鉱業投資投資家レジストリー  (PDF, 9.92 MB) (Translated in Japanese)

NSW 주 광업 투자자 명부 PDF, 1847.17 KB (PDF, 8.94 MB) (Translated in Korean)

Additional resources

Advanced mineral projects and exploration highlights in NSW

The NSW Geological Survey regularly updates the Advanced Mineral Projects and Exploration Highlights map (3MB PDF).

The map outlines recent exploration results released to the ASX, in the form of drilling intercepts and resource figures. These are presented along with resource figures for operating mines on the map. The information is sourced from publicly available exploration results and resource calculations published in company reports.

MinView

MinView is a web mapping application providing free access to over 100 unique and informative map layers, including critical minerals, to view, search and download a comprehensive range of geoscientific, title and investment related data.

DIGS

DIGS (Digital Imaging Geological System) is a publicly accessible online collection of reports, publications and data. It includes exploration, geological, geotechnical and mining reports, publications, maps, plans and heritage records, as well as company exploration reports, data and mine plans.

Australian Critical Minerals Strategy

Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy will grow Australia’s critical minerals sector, expand downstream processing and help meet future global demand.

Contact Us

Contact the MEG Industry Development team at mining.concierge@regional.nsw.gov.au