The four-member alliance of the US, Australia, Japan and India — known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) grouping — has pledged to collaborate on securing and diversifying critical mineral supply chains, following a meeting of foreign ministers in Washington.
The launch of the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative is a reflection of how the countries have become "deeply concerned" about the future reliability of critical minerals supply chains, especially non-market policies and practices for critical minerals, certain derivative products and mineral processing technology.
Reliance on any single nation for critical minerals and derivative goods could enable economic coercion, price manipulation, and supply chain disruptions harming security, the Quad said.
Guaranteeing access to ores and having the ability to process and refine such inputs to useable material is critical for all technologies and for all industries, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said. Progress needs to be made on a "diverse and reliable global supply chain" of critical minerals, he said.
The official statement from the meeting did not identify which minerals the Quad is focusing on. Australia has identified 31 such minerals in its own policy, while a 2022 list from the US Geological Survey named 50 critical minerals.
Capacity to secure supply of 36 of the 50 was discussed as part of the Quad meeting, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said, without giving more details.
The meeting comes three years after the Quad pledged to build supply chains for clean energy systems to counter supply chain dominance by China.
Australia has attempted to use critical minerals access as a bargaining chip to avoid the Trump administration's planned tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium, but no deal has yet been reached on exemptions.
