Collaborative development program

The Collaborative development program (CDP) is now open for applications. The program offers funding to recover remaining mineralisation found in mine waste in an effort to accelerate the development of Queensland's critical minerals sector.

The funding will provide support to companies that want to extract critical minerals and reprocessing opportunities in mine waste that remains in-ground. It will help to facilitate secondary prospectivity, while supporting Queensland jobs and economic development.

The program will remain open until the end of June 2026, or until funds are exhausted. Applications will be assessed on a merit basis by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development.

How to apply

The following documents provide more information for those wanting to apply:

For all questions related to the program, email GSQ@nrmmrrd.qld.gov.au.

Chief Government Geologist Tony Knight shares with us details about the new Collaborative Development Program.

  • We're launching a new initiative of government grants program called the Collaborative development program. It's designed to help industry help people recover value from what's been called wastes. Not just mine waste though but other industrial processing waste as well.

    There's a lot of value left behind in the minerals in this mine waste material, for example we've mined copper in Queensland for about 100 years or more yet in that all that copper there's also cobalt which hasn't been recovered. That cobalt now sits in tailing dams and other waste depositories across the state.

    The Collaborative development program is designed to help explorers and those who hold mine waste depositories to recover value from those wastes. It's really important for the future.

Funding recipients

Funding has been awarded to the following 3 companies who have successfully demonstrated how their project will advance the recovery of critical minerals in mine waste.

Extracting critical minerals from Swanbank coal ash

Recipient: Lava Blue Limited

Lava Blue are investigating the reprocessing of Swanbank’s coal ash to high purity alumina (HPA).

The coal ash being investigated is a by-product of coal combustion from the Swanbank Power Station, located near Ipswich, Queensland. Coal ash primarily consists of fine particles that are collected after coal is burned to generate electricity. While traditionally considered waste, this ash can contain valuable minerals, including alumina, silica, and rare earth elements, which can be extracted and repurposed for advanced manufacturing and other industrial applications.

With global demand for high-purity alumina (HPA) rising, this work being investigated by Lava Blue presents a significant opportunity to advance not only circular economy innovation but also presents a significant advanced manufacturing opportunity in Australia.

Profiling critical minerals in Bowen Basin coal tailings

Recipient: Coreo

Coreo proposes a basin-wide mineralogical profiling initiative building on the success of the Bowen Basin Circularity Project. The program will characterise metallurgical coal tailings and fine rejects across multiple sites, focusing on identifying and quantifying critical minerals.

This will be the first coordinated, basin-scale assessment of its kind in Queensland, directly supporting the state’s priorities for critical minerals development.

The Bowen Basin generates an estimated 11.8–23.5 million tonnes of tailings and fine rejects each year. Previous studies have consistently identified high-value materials, including rare earth elements, vanadium, prime coking coal, aluminosilicates, quartz, residual carbon, and titanium-bearing minerals.

Although critical minerals occur at low grades, their recovery becomes viable when integrated into broader, full-volume resource recovery pathways. This program aims to map those pathways and unlock new value for Queensland.

Reprocessing Kunwarara magnesite tailings to produce magnesium metal via electrolysis

Recipient: QMAG

QMAG is undertaking an initiative to investigate the reprocessing of fine tailings from its Kunwarara magnesite mine, near Rockhampton in Queensland, to produce magnesium metal through electrolysis. This work will characterise and test the fine tailings—a by-product of the magnesite beneficiation process—to identify fractions suitable for producing high-purity magnesium chloride for use as feedstock in magnesium metal production.

Historically, electrolysis of magnesium chloride accounted for nearly 75% of magnesium supply. Electrolysis is significantly less energy-intensive and polluting than conventional processes. The QMAG magnesium project offers a cost-effective, sustainable pathway for magnesium production, supporting Queensland’s critical minerals priorities and generating new economic opportunities in the region.