The owner of the yet-to-be-financed Dubbo Project has ditched the practice and is working towards becoming a "fully integrated mine-to- manufacturer supplier of critical metals".

ASM plans to start construction of a metal plant in South Korea in mid-2022 with replicas earmarked for North America and Toongi, south of Dubbo.

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The company's in-ground polymetallic resource of zirconium, rare earths, niobium, hafnium, tantalum and yttrium at Toongi would feed into the plants.

In Dubbo this week, Mr Woodall indicated why ASM was looking to mine and manufacture. He said oxides sold to a third party "ultimately will go into China for further treatment".

"Buyers will demand a discount because they then take that to China where they pay VAT (Value Added Tax)," he said.

"If you produce low-value products in Australia and you sell them on the open market you can get discounted.

"With the metal we get full value.

"We take our products into our plant and then we sell metals."

Mr Woodall said Australia was a "smart country".

"We punch above our weight in terms of our patents and innovation," he said.

The ASM boss is keen to see Australia "grow a new manufacturing base".

"We can't rely on dig and ship for too long," he said.

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