On Tuesday Mr Coulton, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan visited the Fifield site of the Clean TeQ Sunrise mine and processing project.

During the visit Mr Coulton highlighted the jobs it would generate in the region with up to 1000 workers expected to be needed in the construction phase and 300 in the production phase. “Local businesses will also benefit as suppliers of goods and services,” he said.

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On Friday Mr Coulton urged Dubbo businesses to tap into the opportunities presented by the project and suggested its need of the likes of chemists, scientists and engineers could boost the city’s population.

“It’s close enough for Dubbo businesses to be in line to supply goods and services,” Mr Coulton said as he travelled in the Parkes electorate. “Dubbo businesses already go much further afield than Fifield.”

Mr Coulton said skilled workers employed by the mine would choose to relocate their families to Dubbo and establish “primary residences”, as others currently working in communities further west had done. “I think the mine will be a huge shot in the arm for Dubbo and Narromine,” he said.

The federal government considers the mine has the the “potential to put Australia at the heart of clean energy development” through the production of cobalt and nickel sulphates.

They are critical to the production of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles.

The federal government reports that the mine near Parkes will be one of the largest producers of high grade nickel and cobalt outside Africa and one of the world’s largest producers of high-grade scandium. Scandium, when alloyed with aluminium, is used to create stronger and lighter metal products like bicycle frames and aircraft parts.

The construction phase of the project is scheduled to begin in early 2019 with production expected to start in 2021. The mine has an estimated life of more than 40 years and is forecast to deliver revenue of more than $18.8 billion in its first 25 years of operation.