Article in AFR on 7/4/2022
Iluka says bipartisan funding wave looms for critical minerals

More Australian miners are expected to secure financial support from governments in coming weeks and Iluka Resources chief Tom O’Leary says there is now bipartisan support for the trend in many nations.Iluka secured $1.2 billion worth of support for a domestic rare earths refinery on Monday from the federal government’s Export Finance Australia, a loan that dwarfs the $719 million in total loans, guarantees and bonds issued by the same agency last financial year.Australia’s major defence partners in the US, Britain and Japan have also shown interest in securing their supply chains by lending or assisting Australian producers of “critical minerals”, and at least two Australian miners are understood to be close to winning funds from foreign governments.The US government has named 50 minerals it considers “critical” to national security and economic growth, including lithium, nickel, antimony and cobalt to name a few, and President Joe Biden last week enacted wartime powers that make it easier for his government to directly invest in critical minerals projects.Those powers may be extended to Australian companies.The Biden administration sits on a different side of the political spectrum to Scott Morrison’s Coalition government, but Mr O’Leary said the fact both were prepared to support minerals projects suggested the trend was unlikely to be disrupted by the electoral cycle.
“It demonstrates that it is not just simply one end of politics if you like, or one party that is interested in doing this. It is more of a bipartisan approach across the world around facilitating the reductions of carbon emissions by electrification and recognising what that requires,” he said.