Driving critical minerals partnerships: leveraging the US-Australia alliance

On Wednesday 12 July 2023, the Perth USAsia Centre hosted a briefing on US policies on critical minerals, and the opportunities these policies offer for WA.

The briefing featured a panel of speakers including James Bowen, Policy Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre; Clare Pope, Director of the Australia-Korea Business Council and Partner at PwC Australia; and Rebecca Tomkinson, CEO of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy.
 
The event also launched the Centre’s new report Driving critical minerals partnerships: Leveraging the US-Australia alliance by James Bowen, the first publication in a series that examines Australia’s global role in critical minerals supply chains.
 
Critical minerals are vital to renewable energy, have numerous defence applications, including the AUKUS partnership, and will underpin Australia’s future prosperity. However, a handful of countries control extraction, and China dominates processing and manufacturing.
 
Legislation like the US Inflation Reduction Act and Australia-US Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact are part of US and Australian efforts to diversify critical minerals supply chains. The briefing discussed what these agreements mean in practice for Western Australia, and steps towards building stronger critical minerals partnerships with the US.