Australian innovation is needed to break China’s grip on critical minerals

(Robert Monterosso – ASPI The Strategist) No single country—regardless of its wealth or will—has the combination of mineral reserves, scale, and low-cost labour and energy to compete with China’s centrally planned critical-minerals industry. To break China’s grip on critical minerals, Australia, the United States and its allies need to shift their focus to innovation. The current focus on treaties, subsidies and tariffs can be positive in the short term, but long-term success will depend on how quickly we can develop innovative critical-mineral processing technologies. Australia should position itself as the world’s laboratory for developing and commercialising these new mining technologies. The US is attempting to build a critical minerals trade bloc, termed FORGE, ahead of the resumption of China’s rare-earth export controls in November this year. This initiative, while still in development, seeks to circumvent China’s dominance through import tariffs, price floors and subsidies. – Australian innovation is needed to break China’s grip on critical minerals | The Strategist