It's not just Australia that destroyed sovereign manufacturing capacity
Basically perpetual outsourcing & multinational corporations always looking to cut costs & globalisation of trade has led to this situation
Australia's low population & relatively high wages along with unionised workforce means we rarely compete internationally where labour costs are cheaper in countries with less rights for citizens & workers, it's a catch 22!
Another part of the problem is our low population means it's harder to sell manufactured products in large enough quantities without exporting more products than we consume domestically so again we must compete with lower labour costs & larger production numbers from other countries
The real tragedy of Australian politics & trade & lack of manufacturing capacity is that governments in Australia do not support more research & associated high value products - instead universities in Australia are very much focused on business models linked to undergraduate fees & international students paying full fees as entry point to settle in Australia
Generally talented Australian's leave the country to pursue technology & research opportunities overseas
We are fortunate that IG & IC had the vision to look at global rare earths mining & processing & they found Ziron Tech which was heavily supported by South Korean University research & South Korean government funding
Somehow Iluka received a $1bn loan for their operations linked to mining & possibly processing of rare earth's despite having minimal experience or proof of refining rare earths
governments can't just give cash away but the Iluka loan seemed disproportionately large & focused despite Lynas & arguably ASM being much stronger candidates for loans - good luck to Iluka & I wonder who ends up on their board in time, but another classic example of politics skewing support & disregarding merit or at the least being selective in providing funding that probably would have been better spread across 2 or 3 companies minimum - not just Iluka....
Anyway..... As Rowena pointed out in AFR article - end users don't want to buy magnet metals direct from Australia at this stage - let's see where that leaves Iluka....
Interestingly POSCO is looking to invest billions in setting up hydrogen energy & green steel projects in Australia according to ABC The business - because they don't want to import hydrogen & steel raw ingredients
My point here being POSCO is very aware of Australian mining & developments within improving green steel & no doubt they are aware & interested in ASM
As others have pointed out looking forward to Ti alloy updates from ASM - perhaps Ti metalization would work better within Australia? Perhaps Iluka is also looking at Ti processing in Australia as they have significant mineral sands deposits.....
(20min delay)