What is Flexi-Lab?
Why Processing Matters So Much
The Broader National Push
The Commercial Logic for Regional Queensland
Challenges That Remain
Conclusion
References and Further Reading
On 18 February 2026, the Queensland Government officially opened the Flexi-Lab minerals processing facility in Mackay. It is a development that, on the surface, looks like another regional infrastructure announcement but sits within a much larger and more urgent national story. Australia has spent decades extracting and exporting critical minerals in raw or semi-processed form, shipping value offshore to be captured by others. Flexi-Lab is one part of a growing effort to change that.
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What is Flexi-Lab?
The Flexi-Lab is a common-user pilot-scale processing facility located within the Resources Centre of Excellence's (RCOE) Stage 2 Future Industries Hub in Mackay. It is designed to enable industry, researchers, and technology developers to test and refine processing techniques for a range of critical and strategic minerals, including cobalt, nickel, zinc, vanadium, molybdenum, silica, alumina, and rare-earth elements.1
The word "common-user" matters here. Rather than being tied to a single company or commodity, the facility is available to multiple proponents, allowing smaller companies and research groups to access pilot-scale infrastructure they could not afford to build themselves. This lowers the barrier between laboratory-proven concepts and commercially viable operations, which is precisely where many Australian critical minerals projects have historically stalled.
The RCOE itself has been building toward this point since opening in mid-2020. A $5.7 million commitment in the 2022-23 Queensland State Budget funded the Stage 2 Future Industries Hub, with construction completed in August 2025.2 The formal opening of Flexi-Lab within that hub in February 2026 marks the culmination of a multi-year infrastructure investment aimed at giving Queensland's resources sector a place to test ideas before committing them to full commercial scale.
Resources Centre of Excellence CEO Steven Boxall described the facility as bridging "the gap between laboratory research and commercial deployment," with the specific aim of de-risking investment and accelerating the commercialization of processing technologies.1
Why Processing Matters So Much
The case for in-country processing of critical minerals has become harder to ignore. Australia is the world's largest producer of lithium and a top-five producer of cobalt and rare earths, yet it currently processes only around 15 % of its mined critical minerals domestically, with the bulk exported as raw ore or concentrate.3
The economic cost of that gap is significant. Industry analysts estimate that processing raw materials domestically could potentially triple their economic value compared to extraction and export alone.3 At present, much of that value is captured offshore, primarily in China, which controls approximately 60 % of rare earth mining globally and 85 % of processing capacity.4
The Reserve Bank of Australia noted in its October 2025 Bulletin that IEA projections suggest Australia's processing and refinery capabilities will grow only modestly until 2040 unless deliberate structural change occurs, with most refining of lithium, rare earths, and cobalt expected to continue in China, Indonesia, and Malaysia under current trajectories.
The RBA also flagged that high input costs and a lack of specialized processing skills remain practical barriers to expanding domestic capacity.5
These are the conditions that give a facility like Flexi-Lab its purpose. It addresses both the technical and workforce dimensions of the processing gap by providing shared infrastructure and supporting skills development alongside technology testing.
The Broader National Push
At the federal level, Australia's Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–2030 targets $500 billion in export potential and has been backed by a $17 billion production tax credits program to incentivize domestic processing.3 In October 2025, Australia and the United States signed a framework agreement to jointly strengthen critical minerals supply chains, with each country committing a minimum of US$1 billion in financing to qualifying projects within six months of signing. The agreement also includes mechanisms to accelerate permitting and protect domestic markets from non-market pricing practices.4
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Queensland's contribution to this national agenda includes Flexi-Lab, as well as the Queensland Resources Common User Facility being developed in Townsville, which is initially focused on vanadium processing. Together, these facilities represent an attempt to develop a distributed processing infrastructure across the state's regions rather than concentrating capability in a single location.
The Commercial Logic for Regional Queensland
Mackay sits at the edge of the Bowen Basin, one of Australia's most productive mining regions. The argument for situating Flexi-Lab here is straightforward: proximity to the minerals, the mining workforce, and the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector that supports operations across the region.
The facility is also explicitly designed to support legacy tailings reprocessing - the recovery of critical minerals from existing mine waste. This opens a specific commercial opportunity. As commodity prices for certain critical minerals fluctuate and as demand for battery materials continues to grow, reprocessing tailings that were previously considered uneconomic becomes viable. A pilot-scale facility that can test those recovery techniques without the cost of a dedicated commercial plant is a genuine asset.
Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last framed the facility's value in straightforward investment terms:1
Flexi-Lab gives industry a place to test ideas, refine technology and prove up projects, so they can move faster from concept to commercial reality.
Challenges That Remain
The enthusiasm around critical minerals in Australia needs to be balanced against practical constraints. The RBA noted that some late-stage lithium projects were delayed in 2024 due to price weakness, and several operating mines paused production.5 Price volatility is a persistent feature of these markets, and a pilot processing facility does not resolve the underlying economics of projects facing commodity headwinds.
Workforce availability is another ongoing concern. The Queensland Government has flagged a $2 million expansion of the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy, with the first regional hub at the RCOE in Mackay, to help develop a pipeline of skilled workers for the sector.7 Flexi-Lab's role in training and skills development is therefore as significant as its technical testing function.
The broader processing ambition also requires substantial capital investment that government-backed infrastructure alone cannot deliver. Australia currently processes roughly 15 % of its critical minerals domestically, and raising that figure to 50 % by 2030, the stated national ambition, will require private sector investment at a significant scale.3
Conclusion
Flexi-Lab is a measured, practical step in a difficult transition.
Australia has the geology. It has the mining expertise. What it has struggled to develop is the downstream processing capability that multiplies the economic return from extraction.
Common-user pilot facilities like the one in Mackay are a useful mechanism for closing that gap, reducing the commercial risk for individual companies, developing the local skills base, and demonstrating that viable processing pathways exist for the minerals global markets need. Whether the facility translates into a sustained processing industry in regional Queensland will depend on investment conditions, commodity prices, and the pace of skills development. But the infrastructure is now there to find out.
References and Further Reading
- Queensland Government, Mackay's new mining lab puts Queensland in the critical minerals fast lane, Ministerial Media Statement, 18 February 2026. https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/104538
- Connecting Mackay, Resources Centre of Excellence – Stage 2 Future Industries Hub, Project Updates 2024–2025. https://www.connectingmackay.com.au/rcoe-stage-2
- Discovery Alert, Australia's Critical Minerals Processing Strategy: Building Sovereign Capability, 12 September 2025. https://discoveryalert.com.au/news/australias-critical-minerals-processing-strategy-2025/
- Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Energy Transition Insights: United States–Australia Critical Minerals and Rare Earths Framework, 23 October 2025. https://www.sullcrom.com/insights/memo/2025/October/United-States-Australia-Critical-Minerals-Rare-Earths-Framework
- Reserve Bank of Australia, The Global Energy Transition and Critical Minerals, Bulletin, October 2025. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2025/oct/the-global-energy-transition-and-critical-minerals.html
- Queensland Government, Future of critical mineral processing unveiled in Mackay, Ministerial Media Statement, 31 January 2024. https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/99608
- Queensland Government, Jobs pipeline boost for the Queensland minerals and energy sector, Ministerial Media Statement, 3 July 2025. https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/102971
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