A new report from PwC has revealed that there is a gap between Australia’s critical minerals ambitions and the number of projects progressing towards construction and production, as international markets seek secure supplies of minerals needed for the energy transition. Securing Australia’s critical minerals future, shows that Australia has more than 900 critical minerals projects in its pipeline, but only 13 are currently at a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) stage and may still be two to four years away from reaching a Final Investment Decision (FID). Of the 907 critical minerals projects identified nationwide, 675 or 74 per cent of them remain in exploration or reserves development. It also identified ageing refining and smelting sites as potential locations for new critical minerals processing capacity. PWC said while the Federal Government has been proactive in developing critical minerals policy, existing incentives are largely directed towards projects that are already producing rather than those in earlier stages of development.