As an Australian, you’re forgetting one really key part of the puzzle.

Australia is a FUCKING ENORMOUS lump of mineral rich dust. The country is literally tinted red when viewed from space because of all the iron in our dry, desolate, empty-ass country.

There is one, and I do mean ONE, advantage to being a developed western country that is also fucking empty and inhospitable.

All the NIMBY’s are atleast 1000km away from your mine…

You could put hundreds of open cut mines all over WA, SA, NT, and nobody would even notice because there’s fuckin-nuthin out there.