Australia remains wary of Chinese investment in vital minerals sector: ‘we’re competing with China here’

Australia is the world’s biggest lithium producer, mining more than half of the metal used in electric vehicles, smartphones and grid-scale batteries
But the vast majority is still shipped to China, which dominates downstream processing. Canberra and Washington want to break that monopoly

Australia

Bloomberg

Published: 4:30pm, 20 Jun, 2023

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Chinese investment in Australia’s minerals sector must be considered “strategically” as the countries compete directly in lithium refining, said Resources Minister Madeleine King.

She made the comments in an interview following the release of Australia’s long-awaited Critical Minerals Strategy, which includes a target to lure A$500 million (US$340 million) of funds for projects that are vital to the energy transition.

The strategy calls for foreign investment from “like-minded partners” to boost domestic mining and refining of battery metals like lithium and cobalt. When asked if Chinese involvement would be welcomed, King said Australia had to take a strategic approach.

“We’re competing with China here,” she said. “We also want to be a producer of lithium hydroxide. It’s only natural that we would want to advance our ambitions in that space.”

A lithium hydroxide processing plant run by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia at the Kwinana Industrial Park near Perth. Photo: Tianqi Lithium

Australia is the world’s biggest lithium producer, mining more than half of the metal used in electric vehicles, smartphones and grid-scale batteries, with the government forecasting output will double by 2028. But the vast majority of that is still shipped to China, which dominates downstream processing into battery-grade chemicals.

Canberra and Washington are trying to work with diplomatic and economic partners to build their critical minerals industries and break China’s monopoly in certain areas that produce materials vital to hi-tech manufacturing in the defence, aerospace and green economy sectors.

Chinese firms have already invested in lithium hydroxide refineries in Western Australia and future decisions would be made by the Foreign Investment Review Board, King said. But Beijing had spent 30 years investing and building its critical minerals industry, and Australia was “behind the game” and needed to catch up, she said.

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Australia’s gross domestic product could grow A$133 billion (US$90.9 billion) by 2040 and more than 260,000 jobs might be created if it builds more downstream processing capacity in critical minerals and secures a greater share of trade and investment, according to the strategy.

However, Canberra’s target for more investment is well below the billions of dollars the US will spend to boost its critical minerals industry under the Inflation Reduction Act. King said that while she understood calls for even greater funding, A$500 million was “nothing to sneeze at”.

“We can’t outspend the US,” she said. “Its investment in the Inflation Reduction Act is really important, but we don’t have an economy of that magnitude to spend that much money.”