China has halted rare earth exports, can Australia step up?
Summary
If elected next month, Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, intends to invest AUD 1.2 billion in a strategic reserve for critical minerals including rare earths. This announcement follows China's imposition of export restrictions on seven rare earth elements, which are crucial for advanced technologies like electric vehicles and robots.Key Facts
- Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has promised to invest AUD 1.2 billion into a strategic reserve for critical minerals if he wins the upcoming election.
- China recently imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements.
- Rare earth elements are essential in the production of advanced technologies, including electric vehicles, fighter jets, and robots.
- Australia intends to prioritize minerals crucial to its security, involving rare earths.
- While both China and Australia have rare earth reserves, 90% of their refinement, which makes them technology-useable, occurs in China, giving it considerable control over supply.
- Beijing claimed its rare earth restrictions were in response to Trump's broad tariffs on Chinese imports to the US, currently standing at 145%.
- The pause in China's rare earth exports has affected Tesla's ability to develop humanoid robots, as indicated by Elon Musk.
- The strategic reserve in Australia under Albanese's proposal will be accessible to domestic industry and international partners.
- Australia extract 33% of the global lithium but only refines and exports a small portion, while China mines only 23% but refines 57%.
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