ASX critical minerals 2026 supply surge: design notes for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
ASX-listed critical minerals developers are lining up a 2026 supply surge, with projects such as Richmond Vanadium Technology’s Richmond–Julia Creek vanadium deposit and multiple lithium and rare earths plays moving towards final investment decisions. Developers are targeting battery-grade vanadium pentoxide, spodumene concentrate and mixed rare earth carbonate from Queensland and Western Australian orebodies, leveraging existing rail and port corridors to cut capex and time-to-market. For geotechnical and mine planners, the pipeline signals imminent demand for large-scale pit designs, tailings storage and processing infrastructure sized for multi-decade production.
Technical Brief
- With critical minerals trending on the agenda of governments across the globe, several ASX-listed developers are strategically positioning themselves for future projects.
Our Take
With Australia already prominent across the 388 Mining stories in our database, a 2026 supply uplift in ASX-listed critical minerals would likely reinforce the country’s role as a preferred jurisdiction for downstream processors seeking non-Chinese feedstock.
Richmond Vanadium Technology’s presence in this critical minerals piece suggests vanadium-based storage and steel inputs could feature more heavily in future Australian project pipelines, which may influence how OEMs structure offtake timing around the 2026 horizon.
The related coverage of Solarh2e deploying SANY battery-electric haul trucks in Australia indicates that new critical minerals projects coming online around 2026 are likely to be evaluated not just on ore quality but also on their ability to integrate low-emission mine-to-port logistics from day one.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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