Australia deems copper, nickel strategic, opens funding pathway

Australia has opened a door to government funding for copper and nickel projects, putting them on a list of materials deemed essential to the global energy transition but which have not yet faced supply chain disruptions.

Strategic materials will be able to access some $40 billion in government support from agencies including Export Finance Australia, The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, The Value Adding in Resources Stream as well as the National Reconstruction Fund.

The new strategic materials list is separate from the country’s critical minerals list and will include copper, nickel, aluminium, phosphorous, tin, and zinc, all of which have well-established industries, global market depth, price transparency, and stable supply chains.

“These minerals are critical to the greening of our economy and the defence of Australia and our allies,” Resources Minister Madeleine King said in a statement on Saturday.

Australia has already set up a raft of policies to support the production of critical minerals – those that are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions, which came into sharp focus during the COVID pandemic.

The government added flourine, molybdenum, arsenic and selenium to its list of critical minerals, all used in the defence and technology sectors, to bring the total to 30, after deleting helium.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Sonali Paul)