PRESIDENT Donald Trump has announced the United States will invest $AUD560 million to fast‑track developing a rare earth mineral near the tiny NSW village of Fifield, an hour’s drive west of Parkes and 36 minutes north of Condoblin, the seat of the Lachlan Shire
The US government via the Pentagon (the U.S. Department of Defense) is providing a US$400 million (approx. AU$560 million) loan to Sunrise Energy Metals to develop the Syerston scandium project in paddocks near Fifield in the NSW central-west.
Scandium is a rare earth element used to strengthen alloys for defence, aerospace and high‑tech manufacturing and is currently dominated by Chinese supply.
The construction stage of the project is expected to involve up to 1000 workers, scaling down to an operational workforce of up to 400 full‑time equivalent jobs as a minimum over a 32‑year mine life period.
Sunrise Energy Metals has already made some savvy insider investors rich, rising from just 21c a share in December 2024 to $18.68 last week – an 8795% increase. Site works have started and production of high grade scandium oxide is expected to start in 2028.
But how much of this wealth will translate into economic development for the Lachlan and Parkes shires is another matter. For comparison we can look at the nearby Northparkes Operations mine owned by Evolution Mining, a major copper, gold, and silver mining enterprise 27 kilometres northwest of Parkes,
Gemini AI tells us that more than 37% of the total economic output of Parkes Shire relies entirely on the mining sector, making the ongoing local procurement from the Northparkes Operations mine essential for keeping local family businesses operational.
A recent $634 million asset expansion at the mine is expected to inject an anticipated $40-$50 million annually into project labor, heavily benefiting regional contractors and service providers.
Parkes Shire Mayor Neil Westcott said back in February Evolution Mining’s announcement of a $634 million investment in Northparkes Operations, is “a transformational commitment that secures jobs, economic growth and long-term confidence for the Central West.”
Parkes is also the central hub and flagship city for the Inland Rail project, sitting at the intersection of the interstate east-west Trans-Australian Railway line and the north-south Inland Rail corridor and linked to that rail infrastructure is the Parkes Special Activation Precinct (SAP), a 4800-hectare master-planned industrial park designed by the NSW Government to leverage the intersection of the two major lines.
Parkes’ population peaked at 12,709 in 2015 and at last count in 2025 was 11,136 – a small town by international standards but a major regional centre for NSW. The town’s population appears set to rise in coming years.
In 2021, the biggest employment sector in Parkes Shire was not mining, but health care and social assistance at 805 or 13% of the local workforce – in other words government-funded jobs – a pattern seen across Australia.
Mining came in second at 528 or 8.5% of jobs, just three jobs ahead of public administration and safety – again a government sector also on 8.5% of local jobs.
Evolution Mining employs 440 people on site at Northparkes Operations and 180 contractors and there are more than 10 emerging or advanced critical mineral and precious metal exploration projects underway in the region, including the Syerston scandium project.
Trundle, a town of some 330 people between Parkes and Fifield (568 in district in 2021), appears to have escaped almost certain decline and death, largely thanks to a healthy district wheat and canola cropping industry which employs 41% of the district workforce, but also thanks to mining, which employs some 25 people in the town.
Trundle hosts two major regional music and cultural events that draw thousands of visitors annually to the small farming town: the famous Trundle ABBA Festival and Trundle Bush Tucker Day.
Condoblin (population 3140) being only 36 minutes drive from the new mine site, is also well-placed to benefit from the project.