Human Centred Design Exploration: Investors in Australian Critical Minerals Opportunities

⁠⁠⁠Geoscience Australia is seeking a Human Centred Design (HCD) team to work with our Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division and with our Digital Experience team to create an actionable understanding of current and potential financial investors in the Australian critical mineral sector, including their motivations and information needs.

This body of work will contribute to defining digital products related to critical minerals and inform Geoscience Australia’s HCD digital service experience strategy.

The results of this work will be a typology of financial investors, and their information needs that will provide insight on:

• WHAT: Current state and size of the investment ecosystem and stakeholders in financial investment in the Australian critical mineral sector including relevant geo-political, macro-economic, and technological factors that determine and shape investment. This ecosystem should include the tripartite approach of raising funds by mining-government investment mechanisms and equipment manufacturers.
• HOW: Common investment processes, decision points, risk considerations, and key milestones that shape financial involvement in Australian critical mineral opportunities as they move from early, speculative exploration through to mature, commercially viable resource projects.
• WHO: Types and proportions of investors in this ecosystem, and when, how, and with what criteria and information different types of investors choose to invest (or divest) in opportunities across the development pipeline. This ecosystem involves banks, equity firms, private capital, major mining companies, stockbrokers, and government finance agencies.
• WHY: Understanding the drivers of investor behaviour and the criteria and information used by specific investors at each stage of development
• GAP: What data or information could improve and promote confident decision-making in Australian critical minerals projects, but are currently unavailable, difficult to source, or otherwise challenging to incorporate and/or communicate? What role do investors see for Geoscience Australia in providing such data or information?