“Ensuring we have a reliable reserve of these critical resources will strengthen supply chains and help to stabilise critical minerals markets,” Chalmers said.
“The world needs critical minerals. Australia has plenty of them and our critical minerals reserve will help us weather global economic uncertainty and help to boost trade and investment.”
Resources Minister Madeleine King said critical minerals were essential to the nation’s economic and national security.
“The strategic reserve’s initial focus on antimony, gallium and rare earths will give added certainty to Australian projects, help attract further investment and help the sector deal with potential future market disruptions,” she said.
The government announced last April that it would create stockpiles of certain key critical minerals and that it would enter into offtake agreements to acquire agreed volumes of critical minerals from commercial projects.
China dominates the supply chain for critical minerals, refining between 47 and 87 per cent of copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency.
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Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has repeatedly said Australia can offer access to the entire “periodic table” through its abundant access to critical minerals.
In a trade war between the US and China, Beijing imposed strict export controls to the US last year on several rare earths vital for defence and high-tech manufacturing.
Under a truce struck in November, Trump agreed to halve tariffs on Chinese imports while Chinese President Xi Jinping implemented a one-year pause on Beijing’s export restrictions on rare earths.
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