Why are rare-earth magnets strategically critical?

NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) permanent magnets are essential to electric motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, F-35 actuators and missile guidance systems. China controls about 87% of global magnet production. Townsville closes the chain using rare-earth metal and master alloy from the Geraldton precinct (which processes Iluka's Eneabba feedstock) — sovereign magnets from sovereign rare earths.

What are vanadium flow batteries?

Vanadium redox flow batteries are long-duration grid storage — 8 to 12 hours of discharge per cycle, versus 2 to 4 hours for lithium. They use Australian-mined vanadium electrolyte and last 20-25 years without capacity degradation. Townsville's flow-battery line covers the storage spectrum lithium can't economically serve — overnight and inter-day shifting.

How does Townsville fit Defence's northern logistics needs?

Townsville hosts Lavarack Barracks (one of Australia's largest army bases) and is the main staging point for Pacific operations. The precinct expands Defence sustainment infrastructure, builds Pacific humanitarian logistics capacity, and co-locates rare-earth magnet manufacturing that feeds directly into the F-35 supply chain.

Growing Australia

Growing Australia is a fully-costed $190.1B sovereign industry plan to reduce cost-of-living pressure by rebuilding domestic capability in energy, manufacturing, cyber, food and regional partnerships.

The platform contains 48 investments across 26 Growth Precincts, with full costing assumptions and primary-source citations.

Costing model
Citations and sources
Powering Australia
Making It Here
Cyber Australia
Feeding Australia
Our Neighbourhood