Resources Minister Madeleine King says there has not been a decision yet on which minerals will be stockpiled, while acknowledging it will be a helpful negotiation tool with the US administration.
Australia will spend $1.2 billion establishing a national stockpile of coveted minerals needed in products as diverse as electric batteries, computers and military equipment as it seeks to help break China’s stranglehold over global supplies.
Albanese on Wednesday announced a critical minerals strategic reserve to purchase and hold minerals like lithium, rare earths, nickel, cobalt and graphite via special agreements with local producers.
Resources Minister Madeleine King.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Speaking on ABC Radio National, King said there had not been a decision on which minerals to stockpile.
“The reason for that is we do need to go through an extensive consultation process, and also international circumstances change as to which minerals come under particular kinds of pressures in the international markets.
“We know that international markets in critical minerals are subject to a lot of market manipulation.”
Asked if this was aimed at boosting the relationship with the US, King said it was about all countries. Australian officials had attempted to use the nation’s rich critical minerals supply as a sweetener to gain an exemption from Trump’s tariffs earlier this year.
“I want to be really clear on this aspect of it – this is an Australian asset being built in Australia’s national interests, and it’s not designed for any one particular set of negotiations, but there is no doubt it can come in helpful for negotiations with the US administration,” she said.
“But equally with other partners who have already participated really actively and very reliably in our critical, minerals, industry and tech, for example, Japan.”
