Australia to prioritise antimony, gallium, rare earths in A$1.2 billion reserve

[MELBOURNE] Australia will prioritise antimony, gallium and rare earth elements as part of its A$1.2 billion (S$1 billion) strategic reserve, it said on Monday (Jan 12), as its Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepares to join a G7 meeting to discuss critical minerals.

Australia and several other countries are joining a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven advanced economies in Washington on Monday on the subject, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend.

Most of the G7, which includes the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada – with the European Union also taking part – are heavily dependent on rare earths supplies from China. The group last June agreed on an action plan to secure their supply chains and boost their economies.

Australia, among the world’s leading producers of critical minerals, has been developing a strategic reserve to mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, which it plans to make available to allies.

“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,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement.

The first minerals in focus are crucial for clean energy and high-technology manufacturing as well as advanced military equipment, the treasurer’s office said.

“The reserve will operate by securing rights to minerals produced in Australia and on-selling those rights to meet demand, giving an added boost to Australia’s critical minerals sector and strengthening reliable supply chains for our trading partners,” it said.

Australia plans to introduce legislation that will expand the powers of its export finance agency (EFA) and the department of industry, which will oversee reserve-related transactions, Minister for Resources Madeleine King told a press briefing in Perth.

The reserve, originally targeted for launch by mid-2026, will be operational by year-end, King said.

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The EFA will enable offtake agreements with fixed or floating prices trading in forward contracts, she said, which are those set for future delivery of physical supply.

It will also manage offtake agreements and intermediary demand and supply aggregation, as well as stockpiling and contracts for difference, King said.

Contracts for difference are a tool that helps manage price risk from when a contract begins, to when it is delivered.

Australia signed an agreement with the US in October aimed at countering China’s dominance in critical minerals. It included an US$8.5 billion project pipeline and leverages Australia’s proposed strategic reserve, which will supply metals that are vulnerable to disruption. REUTERS