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Seaweed isn’t something we inherently think of as valuable (perhaps we don’t think of it at all, unless it gets caught in our feet while we’re swimming).
However, in recent years, marine algae have become a sought-after commodity group across the world, and increasingly in Australia – yielding products for use in the pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and bioplastics industries, amongst others.
A global industry on the rise
A reflection of this is the rapid growth of seaweed farming – an industry which currently spans 44 countries, alongside the market for seaweed itself, which is expecting to nearly double between 2022 and 2030 as an additional A$16 billion is added to its value.
However, it should be noted that there is plenty of scope for expansion, even in terms of the seaweed species targeted for commercial use – with the current market focusing on only 27 of the 12,000 species identified worldwide.
Indeed, most seaweed comes from one of five species groups – Laminaria saccharina and Undaria (brown seaweeds), together with red seaweeds Eucheumatoid, Gracilaria, and Pyropia.
Commercial production is also increasing, nearly doubling between 2010 and 2021.
In terms of location, Southeast Asia still dominates the market, having first invested in the commercial production of seaweed 50 years ago.
As of 2020, approximately 98% of farmed seaweed production came collectively from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, North and South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.
Australia’s investment in seaweed at a state level
New South Wales has recently taken a dive into promotion of this industry, with Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty launching a ‘Seaweed Prospectus’ in December 2024 which outlined a modelled scenario in which the state could make between A$900 million and A$2.3 billion by securing 6% to 14% of the projected global market for future seaweed derived products.
These would mostly coalesce around biostimulants or biofertilisers, animal feed additives, nutraceuticals and bioplastics. By 2030, the market value is estimated to be A$2.7 million, A$1.7 billion, A$5.9 billion, and A$1.1 billion, respectively.
According to the state government, NSW is in a strong position to leverage its natural environment in this way, being home to 230 of Australia’s 1,500 native species of seaweed, including the highly valued Ulva spp, Ecklonia radiata, and Asparagopsis.
And Australia as a whole could do well to jump into the industry, since it already produces 15% of the world’s seaweed species – although we are currently major importers of the products, to the tune of A$40 million.
Seaweed as a source of precious metals and critical minerals?
One ASX-listed company – BHP Global Ltd (ASX:BP8) – believes there is even more treasure to be found within marine algae, as it conducts ongoing research and development testing in Singapore, yielding high-grade assays of gold, silver, copper, and cobalt.
The biotechnology company reported in February that initial assays from laboratory testing had picked up assays of up to 12.67 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of silver and 13.68mg/kg of cobalt.
This was yielded from the seaweed species Sesuvium Portucalastrum, which had been cultivated in late 2024 by BP8’s R&D consultant Gaia Mariculture Pte Ltd – which is working on these tests together with Temasek Innovation Holdings, an operating company attached to Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore.
The hypothesis guiding BP8’s research is that seaweeds grown in polluted waters will contain higher concentrations of minerals than those grown in pristine waters.
To do this, BPH Global is now collaborating with TPIH, which is currently developing the technology to identify, separate, and extract minerals from the seaweed through the use of phycomining techniques.
To test this hypothesis, researchers cultivated seaweed using clean, filtered seawater from the Singaporean island of Sentosa, with testing at later stages to focus on another source: seaweed grown in polluted, brackish water in Johor, Malaysia.
Red and yellow metal on display in marine algae
Bolstered by these early results, BP8 continued its focus on the seaweed grown in pristine water, picking up new assays through inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) on samples which had already been processed through concentrated nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide.
Among these were assays of gold grading as high as 14.85 mg/kg, in addition to copper grading up to 10.88mg/kg.
In early April, the company reported data from Phase Two of this program, with results supporting its governing hypothesis.
Thus, significantly higher mineral content was yielded from seaweed cultivated in the polluted water from Johur compared to that which had grown in cleaner, filtered water – with the latter being the focus of Phase One’s sampling.
The Phase Two seaweed samples yielded assays of up to 123.16mg/kg of gold – more than eight times what had been seen in Phase One – while silver assays reached 80.58mg/kg – over six times the amount assayed in Phase One.
BP8 has vowed to continue its exploration into the uptake of minerals from seaweed, which it believes can act like a sponge in capturing gold, silver, cobalt, copper and other commodities.
Their success continues to prove the potential for seaweed as a material to invest in.
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