A ball mill turns during processing at a mine in Mountain Pass, California, on Friday. Photo: Bloomberg
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https://scmp.com/news/china/article/3014111/reduce-reliance-china-us-will-team-canada-and-australia-boost-output-key China
To reduce reliance on China, US will team up with Canada and Australia to boost output of key minerals
- US will share mining expertise to help other countries discover and develop resources like rare earth elements
- Plan seeks to ensure global supply for minerals can meet world demand, which is projected to surge with growth in hi-tech goods
Excavators move iron ore in Port Hedland, Australia, in March. Photo: Bloomberg
The United States will team up with Canada and Australia to help countries around the world develop their reserves of minerals like lithium, copper and cobalt, the US State Department said on Tuesday, part of a multipronged strategy to reduce global reliance on China for materials crucial to hi-tech industries.
Washington grew more concerned recently about its dependence on mineral imports, especially the so-called rare earth minerals, after Beijing suggested using them as leverage in the trade war between the world’s largest economic powers. This would interrupt the manufacture of a wide range of consumer, industrial and military goods, including mobile phones, electric vehicles, batteries and fighter planes.
“Over 80 per cent of the global supply chain of rare earth elements … is controlled by one country,” the State Department said in a fact sheet outlining the effort, which it has dubbed the Energy Resource Governance Initiative.
“Reliance on any one source increases the risk of supply disruptions.”
Under the plan, the United States will share mining expertise with other countries to help them discover and develop their resources, and advise on management and governance frameworks to help ensure their industries are attractive to international investors.
Doing so will help to ensure that global supply of the minerals can meet world demand, which is projected to surge alongside the growing take-up in hi-tech goods.
“Demand for critical energy minerals could increase almost 1,000 per cent by 2050,” according to the fact sheet.
Frank Fannon, the US assistant secretary of state for energy resources, said in an interview that tensions with China show the US should be producing more rare earth minerals and help others ensure a secure supply.
“We need to do more and we are not alone in this,” Fannon said.
Canada and Australia, two major mining countries, were partnering in the effort and other allies could join later, a US official said.
Canada’s ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, said that Canadian authorities have met State Department officials several times to discuss critical minerals and environmental issues concerning global mining and that he looked forward to advancing the initiative.
Representatives of Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brine pools from a lithium mine belonging to US-based Albemarle Corp in the Atacama desert in Chile in August 2018. Photo: Reuters
The plan was first reported on Tuesday morning by the Financial Times.
The plan comes a week after the US Commerce Department recommended urgent steps to boost US domestic production of “critical minerals”, including by providing low-interest loans to mining companies and requiring defence companies to “buy American”.
The Commerce Department report also recommended that US agencies review areas that are now protected from development and assess whether those restrictions should be lifted or reduced to allow for critical minerals development.