More mining, not less, is needed to support the world’s climate change targets and avert an energy shortage, a global summit has been told.

The shift to clean energy systems is gaining momentum, and unlike previous transformation it relies on critical minerals and rare earths, Resources Minister Madeleine King said on Monday at a mining symposium in Brisbane.

An onshore wind power plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power plant, Ms King said.

Each new megawatt of solar power requires 35-45 tonnes of steel, which still needs iron ore and coal despite “exciting developments” in hydrogen that may eventually lead to Australia producing green steel.

“That remains distant, so metallurgical coal will remain a necessary component of steel for some time to come,” she said.

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Critical minerals are “not a sideshow for clean energy, it’s really part of the main event”.