China tensions drives Australian push for rare earths
The government is willing to support plans that would see rare-earths metals and magnets produced in Australia.
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt says the government is willing to support plans for rare-earth metals and magnets to be produced in Australia, amid fresh sabre-rattling from China over the supply of the crucial materials.
Mr Pitt told The Australian that the government, through the Critical Minerals Facilitation Office, was working to connect potential Australian rare-earths producers to strategic partners in key economies.
“We are working with counterparts in a number of countries, in the US, South Korea, Japan and a number of others,” he said. “We are taking a very strategic position around critical minerals and rare earths, and we will continue to act in our national interest.”
The geopolitical sensitivity around rare earths was back in the spotlight last week amid tensions between China and US aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin. China’s provocative state-owned Global Times newspaper said Lockheed Martin might have its supplies of rare-earths products cut off in response to its decision to sell $US620m ($876m) of missiles to Taiwan.
China dominates global supply of the materials, which are used in a wide array of technologies, including defence systems, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and bolstering Australia’s production of rare earths has been a key priority of Mr Pitt and his predecessor, Matt Canavan.
But the focus on developing rare-earths mines across Australia has drawn warnings that the new supply would do little to shift China’s control of the market without a commensurate development of processing and refining facilities outside China.
Among the rare-earths companies weighing up the development of processing facilities as well as a new mine is Australian Strategic Materials, which owns the big Dubbo rare-earths deposit in central-western NSW.
ASM managing director David Woodall said recent tension between Australia and China, and overtures out of China about putting pressure on Australia’s education, tourism, agriculture and coal sectors, reinforced the need for Australia to develop its own rare-earths processing chain.
Rare-earths manufacturing also could fit neatly into the government’s plans for the post-pandemic economic recovery, he said.
An as-yet-unnamed South Korean group will start a study this month into rare-earths processing facilities that would take concentrate from ASM’s Dubbo project, and potentially other Australian mines, and produce rare-earths metals and magnets.
The study is being funded out of South Korea’s $US5bn Industrial Technological Program.
Mr Pitt said the potential growth of a rare-earths processing industry in Australia also would rely heavily on improvements in the affordability of energy.
“If we want to be successful in this country in downstream processing and manufacturing, whether it’s rare earths or otherwise, it’s all about the gas price for manufacturers, the power price for manufacturers, red and green tape, and the availability of workforce,” he said.
“They are the critical elements we need to tackle for all industries.”