Australia said on Tuesday that it would refresh its critical minerals strategy to place greater emphasis on refining and processing, as competition for investment intensifies and supply chain concerns persist, Reuters reported from Sydney. The announcement came the same day the European Union’s ambassador to Australia, Lawrence Meredith, said the bloc expects a wave of investment into the Australian critical minerals sector as it pushes to diversify its supply chain away from China.
The trade architecture underneath the comments is already built. Australia and the European Union struck a free trade agreement in March after eight years of negotiations, removing tariffs on almost all goods and easing EU access to Australian critical minerals. Once both parties sign and ratify the agreement, expected early next year, a 5.5 percent EU tariff on critical minerals will be removed. Meredith called the agreement “a game changer,” and said talks are very close for Australia to sign a memorandum of understanding with the European Investment Bank, which would act as the bloc’s funding vehicle.
The money discussed is proposal stage, and the distinction matters. EU policy proposals have laid out as much as 10 billion euros, about $11.2 billion, for critical raw materials within a larger 409 billion euro competitiveness fund, as the EU debates its 2028 to 2034 budget. “The European Union will be massively investing in critical minerals. Since we wish to diversify away from China, then one of the most likely partners has to be Australia,” Meredith said. Australia is one of several critical minerals superpowers the EU is assessing, alongside Brazil, South Africa and Canada, and the bloc expects to invest along the supply chain including processing.
The initial focus is narrow and named: the minerals Australia will prioritise for its strategic reserve, namely gallium, antimony and rare earths. Meredith added that Australian companies moving faster through early project development would speed the investment process, which connects the strategy refresh to the project pipeline on display at this week’s IMARC conference in Sydney.
Jurisdiction watch: Australia’s move mirrors Brazil’s new critical minerals policy, confirmed by Lula’s re-election and also reported today, in one respect and differs in another. Both governments want more value captured at home from minerals they mine. Brazil is adding state screening of foreign control, while Australia is marketing itself to allied capital with a tariff free trade deal and a development bank partnership. Same industrial policy direction, opposite posture toward foreign investors.