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    WA gallium powerhouse push: retrofit flowsheet takeaways for process engineers

    June 15, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    WA gallium powerhouse push: retrofit flowsheet takeaways for process engineers

    First reported on Australian Mining

    30 Second Briefing

    Western Australia is positioning itself as a gallium processing hub through a Curtin University–Nimy Resources research programme backed by $550,000 from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia and co-funding from Nimy and Curtin’s Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer. The work targets extraction of gallium as a by-product from existing orebodies, aiming to develop flowsheets that can be retrofitted to current concentrators rather than relying on greenfield plants. For miners and process engineers, the project signals future value-add options for low-concentration gallium streams within established base metal operations.

    Technical Brief

    • Funding package totals $550,000 from MRIWA, supplemented by Nimy Resources and Curtin Trailblazer contributions.

    Our Take

    Curtin University is emerging as a central technical node in Western Australia’s critical minerals push, with our database also showing its recent work on rare earths (with Victory Metals) and lithium–zircon geochronology, which can de‑risk early-stage targeting for gallium-bearing systems.

    Western Australia already dominates much of Australia’s iron ore and broader critical minerals coverage in our database, so positioning it as a gallium source likely means gallium will be pursued as a by-product stream from existing or planned operations rather than as stand‑alone mines.

    The involvement of MRIWA alongside Curtin University signals that gallium in Western Australia is being framed as a sovereign supply and technology-materials issue, which typically helps projects access state-backed research funding and pilot-scale processing support earlier in the development cycle.

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    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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