US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed Oct. 25 that their governments would advance cooperation on critical minerals supply chains.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States and Export Finance Australia are working to establish "a single point of entry for critical mineral supply chain projects involving Australian or US interests," the White House said in a fact sheet about Albanese's state visit to Washington, DC.
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Geoscience Australia and the US Geological Survey are also "increasing cooperation" on critical minerals production and processing, and they intend to jointly research critical minerals processing topics, the fact sheet said.
"We're accelerating action on climate change. ... In May, we established the climate [and] critical mineral compact to elevate our climate cooperation alongside our defense and economic cooperation, and we're already beginning to see the impacts," Biden said during an Oct. 25 joint news conference.
Biden and Albanese signed the Australia-US Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May. The agreement is geared toward expanding US investment in Australian critical minerals.
The White House also highlighted key institutions for continued collaboration along the critical minerals supply chain: the Minerals Security Partnership the Australia-US Taskforce on Critical Minerals, which held its inaugural meeting Oct. 23; and the Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI), a public-private collaborative initiative launched in 2021. Australian metals companies Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. and South32 Ltd. signed on to CEDI principles as US and Australian government partners, according to the fact sheet.
"We're working closely with the United States to build end-to-end, sustainable, reliable and transparent supply chains for critical minerals," Albanese said during the news conference. "Of course, Australia has abundant supplies of these critical minerals that will drive our economies throughout this century. ... We want to connect that with American markets, investors and technology in a way that creates new jobs and opportunities for industry and workers in both of our nations."
The day before Albanese's US visit, the Australian government said it would invest an additional A$2 billion in its Critical Minerals Facility, which helps fund critical minerals projects.
Albanese will visit China from Nov. 4–7 and will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Biden administration has prioritized limiting dependence on China for critical minerals imports.
"It is in Australia's national interest — as well as China, but I believe in the global interest — for us to have a relationship where there is dialog," Albanese said in response to a question on US-China competition. "I welcome the fact that I have been invited to China."
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