CMEWA chief executive officer Rebecca Tomkinson said the pathway to net zero went straight through WA.
"WA is already a world-leading jurisdiction for the upstream production of critical and battery minerals globally, a factor that will continue to increase in importance to our nation's trading partners," she said.
"But Australia is a high-cost environment by international comparison, and state and federal policy initiatives supporting the further development of the sector fall short of the scale on offer in jurisdictions such as Europe and the US."
According to a critical minerals position paper released by the CME, Australian policymakers have a crucial role to play in positioning the nation's critical mineral assets, to play a key role in the global clean energy transition.
The paper said most of those assets were hosted in WA.
Tomkinson said this was the time to capitalise on the opportunities.
"WA is already a critical minerals powerhouse as we host almost all the commodities on Australia's critical minerals list, as well as others that will support the global energy transition, but it is clear that several challenges remain and success is not guaranteed," she said.
"To capitalise on the potential share of economic value to be captured domestically, a continued commitment to both sustainable, competitive upstream raw materials production and downstream processing infrastructure is crucial."
Tomkinson said policy efforts should focus on areas of WA's competitive strength as it being a tier-1 mining jurisdiction.
"Globally, the investment landscape is competitive and within Australia, regulatory uncertainty, delays and costs associated with project development continue to weigh on the viability of critical mineral operations - from new project development to expansion of existing assets," she said.
"WA-based critical minerals producers, alongside the broader industry, are also under pressure to rapidly decarbonise their mining, processing and refining activities, which will in turn require access to clean sources of energy at an unprecedented scale."
CME recommendations to accelerate development and enhancement of critical minerals capabilities are:
- Facilitation to drive critical minerals projects that were in the national interest;
- Action by government to identify and communicate market opportunities flowing from the incentives and legislation in other jurisdictions;
- Addressing cost competitiveness for capital investments through measures such as grants and tax incentives;
- Establishing regional clean energy hubs and transmission infrastructure to support decarbonisation of critical minerals projects; and
- Maintaining a focus on areas of competitive strength and ensuring policies recognise the importance of upstream supply to downstream ambitions.
Tomkinson said there was an enormous opportunity for WA to have a world-leading, sustainable, value-adding critical minerals sector, however, the window was closing.
"CME and its member companies are applying urgency and collaboration in their partnership with governments and key stakeholders to ensure that WA remained an attractive investment jurisdiction that fostered ongoing expansion of the critical minerals sector," she said.
"Collaboration between all tiers of government is needed to address project development bottlenecks, enhance our state's attractiveness as an investment destination and fully realise WA's potential in the global critical minerals supply chain."
