Australia and the United States signed the United States–Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths in Washington on 20 October.
The framework will deliver a US-Australia secured supply chain for critical minerals and rare earths. These resources are essential for defence and other advanced technologies.
US and Australia will also each provide at least $1 billion in investments towards an USD$8.5 billion pipeline of priority critical minerals projects over the next 6 months.
The first 2 priority projects for Australia are:
- Alcoa-Sojitz Gallium Recovery Project in Wagerup, Western Australia
- Arafura Nolans project in the Northern Territory.
As part of the framework, a US-Australia Critical Minerals Supply Security Response Group will identify priority minerals and supply vulnerabilities. The US Secretary of Energy and the Minister for Resources will develop a coordinated plan to accelerate delivery of processed minerals.