Indium sourced from mine waste could spearhead Australia’s future home-grown solar panel manufacturing industry, according to a new study by the University of Queensland.
The soft metal is prized in solar panels due to its conduction of electricity and its see-through nature. Currently, Australia imports almost all of its indium from China, which is the world’s largest refinery producer of the metal.
The university study said that mining waste could be a key source of the mineral, with investigations revealing that indium hosts minerals at various scales.
A major zinc-refining by-product, there are currently no mines globally that produce indium as a primary commodity. The research found that reprocessing old mine waste may supply critical minerals faster than developing new deposits.
ARC Centre in Critical Resources for the Future research fellow Olivia Mejías has been developing tools to identify and characterise indium in mine waste, to support the search for a national source in existing copper and tin deposits.
Mejías said that for Australia to develop its own supply chains for critical minerals, it will need to look to mine waste extraction, as well developing known deposits.
“So more than indium, I think the big picture is to highlight the circular economy aspect: to extract and reprocess waste materials,” she said.
“Indium is a key component of solar panels, so if you can extract and use your own resources and you’re manufacturing your own product using green energy, it’s a win-win.”
The study found that Queensland’s Baal Gammon mine waste contains an average of 93 parts per million of indium, more than 1500 times higher than the usual abundance in the earth’s crust.
“We detected indium in the acid mine drainage waters at very high levels,” Mejías said.
She added that although indium dust is classified by Australian safety authorities as an airborne contaminant, the effects of water-borne indium on livestock, plants, and humans, are not well understood.
Mejías, alongside research co-authors Thomas Poulet and Anita Parbhakar-Fox said that while there is an environmental gap in indium’s impacts, UQ will continue to lead mine waste exploration.
She noted that current technology, X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) used for mineral exploration, is unable to detect indium, instead working on adapting handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) that would detect and quantify indium and other critical minerals.
In 2024, the Federal Government committed $1 billion to its Solar Sunshot program to lay the foundations for a solar manufacturing industry.
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