Australia, EU push to turn critical minerals pacts into funded projects: officials

Australia and the EU are working to translate their critical minerals partnership into concrete projects, processing capacity and coordinated investment as both jurisdictions seek to diversify supply chains amid escalating geopolitical and trade risks, government officials said at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney Oct. 27.

The policy architecture includes an Australia-EU memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership for sustainable critical and strategic minerals and the conclusion of free trade agreement negotiations earlier in 2026, Angus Campbell, Australia's ambassador to the EU, NATO, Belgium and Luxembourg, said.

Those arrangements were designed to create an enabling commercial environment, including for critical raw materials entering the EU and investment flowing between the two jurisdictions, Campbell said. The central challenge was now moving "from the framework into delivered projects and actions that change the critical minerals scene."

Australia wants to expand beyond raw-material extraction into downstream activities while allowing trusted international partners to move upstream through technology, investment and demand support, Campbell said.

Austrade's October 2026 critical minerals prospectus identifies 94 projects across 72 companies that are investment-ready or approaching investment readiness, with 36 in the midstream, he said. Australia has also established an investor "front door" intended to provide a single pathway for engaging governments on regulation and possible public funding support.

Downstream demand

The French mineral intelligence center OFREMI is analyzing supply chains across technological, market, economic and geopolitical dimensions to identify vulnerabilities and guide investment priorities, director Stéphane Bourg said.

Australia's upstream position and Europe's downstream industries created opportunities in tungsten, rare earths and battery materials, Bourg said.

In tungsten, additional mines were needed, but refining capacity to produce ammonium paratungstate was even more strategically important because Europe lacked that capability, he added.

Limited resources made accurate analysis essential to focusing government action, Valere Moutarlier, Deputy Director General at the European Commission, said. The discussions showed Australia-EU cooperation was moving "from paper to projects."

Germany secures raw material funds

Germany views Australia as a reliable and preferred partner as European industry becomes increasingly conscious of supply-chain security, Parliamentary State Secretary Stefan Rouenhoff said.

Supply disruptions had demonstrated that access to raw materials was necessary to sustain European economic growth, he added.

Rouenhoff cited Arafura Rare Earths' Nolans project as an example of concrete cooperation that could help diversify rare earth supply chains. German companies were increasingly prepared to work with the government to implement raw-material partnerships, he added.

Berlin plans to increase its raw materials fund to €1.5 billion from €1 billion, Rouenhoff said. The fund uses equity investment to support projects considered important to German industry, subject to German industrial offtake. Germany also offers loan guarantees and is considering price floors or corridors to reduce project risk.

Governments needed a more active role because dependencies were increasingly being used as leverage and companies could no longer base sourcing decisions solely on the lowest cost, Rouenhoff added.

Stockpiling could provide emergency supply to companies and serve as a market intervention tool when prices fall to levels that threaten project viability, he said.

Strategic reserves, market integration

Australia's planned critical minerals strategic reserve would not primarily consist of physical material stored in the country, Campbell said. Instead, it could use offtake agreements, forward contracts and supply-and-demand aggregation, with physical reserves considered in exceptional circumstances.

The initiative is initially focused on gallium, antimony and rare earths, although its priorities could evolve alongside requirements in Europe, North America and North Asia, with the reserve a potential "shock absorber" that Australia wanted to coordinate with emerging European mechanisms, Campbell said.

Only about 9% of Australia's critical minerals resources currently flow to Europe, leaving considerable untapped potential, Campbell added.

Italy, Poland expand bilateral ties

Italy is prioritizing permanent magnets, automotive batteries and specialty steels used by the automotive, energy and defense sectors, Special Envoy on Critical Raw Materials Alberto Castronovo said.

Australia's lithium, nickel and cobalt production offered a basis for battery cooperation, while Italian technology and industrial capabilities could support collaboration in magnets and specialty steels, Castronovo said. Italy is developing two battery gigafactories and is also interested in cooperation on stockpiling, he added.

Italy has launched a €900 million private-equity critical raw materials fund and can draw on national financial and export-credit institutions, Castronovo said. He cited a joint venture between Alkeemia SPA and International Graphite for a graphite processing hub in Italy, as well as Australian mining company Altamin's six Italian exploration projects, as examples of bilateral activity.

Poland adopted a national critical raw materials exploration program in September with a budget of nearly $50 million covering drilling, geophysics and geochemistry, Michal Nowosielski, head of raw materials policy and international affairs at Poland's Ministry of Climate and Environment, said.

Poland is a European producer of copper, silver, coking coal, helium and rhenium and has expertise in metallurgy and byproduct recovery but remains highly import-dependent for many critical materials, Nowosielski said.

Potential cooperation with Australia includes geological mapping, deposit modeling, mineral processing, battery materials and extracting resources from mining waste, he said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed NdPr oxide FOB China at $112/kilogram Sept. 30, unchanged month over month.