UK, Australia progress rare minerals partnership

The Australian and British governments have pledged to work together on critical minerals development, in a fresh commitment to boost secure global supply.

UK minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and Australian resources minister Madeleine King signed a statement of intent in Perth. The ministers promised to work together to secure supply chains of raw and processed minerals, by increasing investment and building downstream processing capabilities.

"We will work closely with the UK to build resilient, sustainable, and transparent supply chains for critical minerals, which help both the UK and Australia to lower emissions and achieve net zero commitments," King said.

The commitment builds upon the UK's Critical Minerals Strategy published in July 2022, which identified China's dominance of supply chains as leaving Britain vulnerable to market shocks, geopolitical events and logistical disruptions.

"Australia's unmatched production capacity, combined with the UK's mineral trading and finance expertise, will boost global supplies, help protect supply chains from future shocks, and support thousands of skilled high-paying jobs," Trevelyan said.

Australia is the world's top producer of raw lithium and is developing several new rare earth mines in the country's northern region.

The latest step in the partnership between the UK and Australia comes after a free trade agreement between the nations recently received Royal Assent in the UK Parliament. It also follows a similar minerals agreement inked between Britain and South Africa last year. UK and Australia also previously in 2020 formed a Critical Minerals Joint Working Group, aiming to strengthen collaboration on critical minerals.

The UK risks falling behind China and the EU in the race to bolster critical minerals supply chains, attendees at the Critical Metals and Minerals Conference held in London heard last month.

By Tom Major