may be that a minimum amount of investment is made in domestic downstream value-add potentially through to finished battery product. This can only be done as part of a major strategy agreed to by the Federal and State Governments to make the most out of New Energy metals and to ensure that strategic and defence issues are not compromised. 3.2.7. European Union Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Ensure the EU define Australia as a Critical Raw Materials supplier. The EU Commission publishes a list of CRM that are important for the EU economy and may have supply risk concerns. In the latest EU Commission report 5 Australia isn’t seen as a major supplier even though Western Australia has all the CRMs. 6 It is therefore recommended that the Federal Government immediately write to the EU, to note the lack of CRM supplier status. Further, the Government could request that to assist in facilitating diversified supply of these critical materials there should be a commitment for EU companies to seek a better return for investment, technology and secondary processing facilities in Australia. Due to the environmental regulations and restrictions in Europe it may be advantageous to process in WA (where environmental laws are also strong) than export to Europe. As part of a geostrategic agreement with the EU, e-waste from the EU could be reprocessed in WA as part of a long-term concession to justify WA investment. 3.2.8. National recycling policy Implement a harmonised nationwide recycling approach, potentially using the EU regulations as a guide and using e-waste as the exemplar. The recent blocking of waste exports to China has exposed a lack of maturity in Australian waste treatment and recycling. e-waste in particular can be considered a resource for manufacturing into raw materials either for domestic usage or export. There are also likely to be synergies with new technology manufacturing and New Energy metals processing. In order to enable e-waste recycling as part of the new SIP area in Kwinana or associated with it somewhere else in WA, there needs to be a national strategy developed. The choice of sites and management of such a facility would be a state responsibility, hence the focus shifts to WA. 3.3 State Government 3.3.1. Lithium Valley as a WA brand Establish a branding and information program for Lithium Valley WA needs to grasp the opportunity provided by the New Energy economy and the extraordinary mineral resources it has to supply this, to establish the brand of Lithium Valley as a clear part of Western Australia’s identity and future. By establishing this brand and following through on the more detailed recommendations below the State can be seen to have established a base for companies wanting to be part of the value chain in the New Energy economy. This can be taken around the world and help to show how WA has moved from its major dependence on the boom and bust mineral export economy. 5 European Commission (2017), COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the 2017 list of Critical Raw Materials for the EU, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX- :52017DC0490. (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 6 Although natural rubber is not grown commercially in WA, the CSIRO has previously identified the potentially viabil - ity of a local industry. http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory/industries/minor_crops/guayule . (Accessed: 01 May 2018)
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