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To solve this problem, Australia brought in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
In the early 90s, gallium was produced in Australia, but due to lack of demand, production ceased. However, 30 years later, the market has changed and now there is a high demand in the world for microcircuits for the production of which rare earth elements are used.
There are currently five alumina refineries operating in the country; another one suspended operations earlier this year. Australia is the world’s third-largest exporter of zinc, which reflects the large volumes of waste generated from its production and gives the country the opportunity to invest in technologies that will allow it to extract rare earth metals from them. It is expected that the development of this area will increase the profitability of the Australian mining industry in addition to providing the United States and its allies with an alternative to the supply of rare earth metals from China.